Orki vs Watershed

The La Madeleine Carbon-Plus-LCA Platform vs the San Francisco Delaware Default

Orki is operated by ORKI SAS — a French société par actions simplifiée incorporated on 16 February 2023, registered under SIREN 949 104 533, headquartered at 14 rue Jean Mermoz in La Madeleine (near Lille) with an office in Paris. The platform addresses a specific gap in the EU sustainability-tech landscape: unified corporate carbon accounting (scopes 1, 2, 3) plus product life-cycle assessment (ACV/LCA under EN 15804 and ISO 14040/44) plus environmental product declarations (FDES, PEP ecopassport, Environdec) plus CSRD/VSME/EcoVadis reporting — in one platform with one data model. Orki integrates natively with Ecoinvent and Base Empreinte (the official ADEME French emission factor database, 100,000+ emission factors), produces the ACV project report required for third-party verification, and publishes directly to INIES, PEP ecopassport, and Environdec.

Watershed is operated by Watershed Technology Inc. — Delaware-incorporated, headquartered in San Francisco. The platform is the market reference for enterprise carbon accounting at scale, with particular depth on supply-chain scope 3 emissions and primary-data collection across large global vendor networks. Reference customers include Walmart, Spotify, Airbnb, and Shopify. Under the Delaware corporate structure, CLOUD Act plus FISA Section 702 reach applies to Watershed as a US corporation regardless of hosting region.

For European organisations where sustainability data — carbon footprint, product LCA inputs, supplier emissions, EPD methodology, CSRD disclosures — must sit under EU jurisdiction at the corporate-parent level, Orki is the structural French alternative. For manufacturers of physical products subject to EN 15804 or sectoral EPD requirements, Orki’s unified LCA + corporate carbon + EPD-publication workflow is a structural differentiator vs Watershed’s corporate-plus-supply-chain focus.

Jurisdiction Comparison

	Orki	Watershed
HQ	La Madeleine (Lille), France + Paris office	San Francisco, California, USA
Corporate entity	ORKI SAS (SIREN 949 104 533)	Watershed Technology Inc. (Delaware)
Founded	16 February 2023 (incorporated)	2019 (Taylor Francis, Christian Anderson, Avi Itskovich)
Ownership	Private, French-parented, Bpifrance-backed	Private, US-VC backed; ~$1.8B latest valuation
CLOUD Act exposure	⚠️ Indirect (French parent, but hosted on AWS Paris — US sub-processor)	Yes (US-incorporated parent)
FISA 702 exposure	None	Yes
Data residency	EU-hosted (AWS, Paris region)	US + global regions
Framework scope	ADEME, GHG Protocol, CSRD, VSME, CDP, SBTi, GRI, EcoVadis, EN 15804, ISO 14040/44	GHG Protocol, CSRD, CDP, SBTi, GRI, SEC climate disclosure

Product Capabilities

Corporate Carbon Accounting (Scopes 1, 2, 3)

• Orki: Bilan Carbone methodology (ADEME-aligned) + GHG Protocol dual-compliance. Scope 1 (direct emissions), Scope 2 (electricity + heat), Scope 3 (upstream + downstream value chain) with Base Empreinte emission factors.
• Watershed: GHG Protocol-aligned corporate accounting with deep scope 3 primary-data collection tooling across large global vendor networks.

Notable: Both cover corporate carbon accounting thoroughly. Watershed is deeper on supply-chain primary-data collection at very-large scale; Orki is deeper on French-specific methodology (Bilan Carbone certification pathway) and ADEME emission factor fidelity.

Life-Cycle Assessment (ACV / LCA)

• Orki: Full LCA under ISO 14040/44, EN 15804 for construction products, native integration with Ecoinvent + Base Empreinte, 100,000+ emission factors, ACV project report drafting for third-party verification.
• Watershed: Supply-chain focus with some product-emissions capability; EPD / FDES methodology not the primary strategic focus.

Notable: This is where Orki’s structural differentiation is strongest. For manufacturers producing physical products requiring EN 15804 EPDs or sectoral life-cycle disclosure, Orki’s integrated LCA workflow (methodology + database + verification report drafting + database publication) is materially more complete than Watershed’s offering.

Environmental Product Declarations (EPD)

• Orki: Direct publication to INIES (French buildings database), PEP ecopassport (electrical and electronic products), and Environdec (international EPDs).
• Watershed: Not a primary platform focus.

Notable: EPD publication is non-trivial — it requires methodology-compliant LCA, third-party verification, and submission to the official declaration database for the product category. Orki covers the full workflow; organisations wanting to publish FDES or PEP typically combine Watershed with a specialised LCA consultancy.

CSRD + VSME + EcoVadis Reporting

• Orki: Unified data model across CSRD (EFRAG ESRS), VSME (voluntary SME version), and EcoVadis supplier rating management.
• Watershed: CSRD support with EFRAG ESRS alignment; EcoVadis integration via connectors.

Supply Chain + Procurement

• Watershed: This is Watershed’s structural strength — primary-data collection from large vendor networks, procurement-emissions reporting, scope 3 at global scale.
• Orki: Supply chain emissions covered; depth matches well for European mid-market and large-cap manufacturers, less tailored to multinational-corporation vendor network scale.

Reporting Output + Verification

• Orki: Produces audit-ready outputs for CSRD auditors, Bilan Carbone certification, SBTi submission, and the ACV report format for EPD third-party verifiers.
• Watershed: Audit-ready outputs for GHG Protocol, CDP, SBTi, and SEC climate disclosure (US-regulated reporting).

Notable: The regulatory framework split matters. For EU-regulated organisations (CSRD, VSME, French ADEME Bilan Carbone certification), Orki’s native methodology alignment is a time-to-value advantage. For SEC-regulated US organisations, Watershed’s native SEC climate disclosure tooling is the equivalent advantage.

Sovereignty Model

The structural distinction is corporate parentage:

• Orki: French parent (ORKI SAS, SIREN 949 104 533); EU jurisdiction; GDPR-native under CNIL oversight; no US parent, but hosted on AWS (Paris) → indirect CLOUD Act exposure via a US sub-processor.
• Watershed: US parent (Watershed Technology Inc., Delaware); CLOUD Act and FISA Section 702 reach applies regardless of hosting region.

For French and European organisations where sustainability data — containing supplier emissions data (potentially commercially sensitive), product LCA input compositions (potential IP), carbon reduction strategy details (board-level content), and CSRD risk disclosures — must sit under EU jurisdiction at the corporate-parent level, the French SAS structure is materially cleaner.

Reference Customers

Orki’s public reference customer base spans:

• Infrastructure + construction: Vinci (world’s second-largest construction group)
• Shipping + logistics: CMA CGM (one of the world’s largest container shipping groups)
• Defence-adjacent + aerospace: Thales
• Certification: Ecocert (organic/natural product certification body — meta-relevant for sustainability tooling)
• EV infrastructure: EVBox — featured case study combining Bilan Carbone + PEP ecopassport + EcoVadis (https://orki.green/etudes-de-cas/evbox)
• Media + technology: Broadpeak
• Industrial: Altopi

The Thales + Vinci + CMA CGM references are particularly notable for the regulated and defence-adjacent + strategic-industry context.

Pricing

Offer	Orki (public grid)	Watershed
Bilan Carbone — Conformité	from €1,440 HT, scaling by sector + headcount	Quote-based
Bilan approfondi	Quote-based (above Conformité)	Quote-based
Stratégie de réduction (SBTi aligned)	Quote-based (above Bilan approfondi)	Quote-based
ACV / FDES / PEP / EPD	Quote-based	Not primary focus
CSRD / VSME / EcoVadis	Quote-based	Quote-based
Users included	Unlimited across all tiers	Varies by tier
Commitment	None	Varies

The public €1,440 starting point for Bilan Carbone Conformité is a transparency signal in a category where most vendors keep all pricing behind sales qualification. Orki’s unlimited-users-no-commitment model is also structurally different from most enterprise SaaS procurement patterns.

Who Should Switch?

Orki is the structural choice for:

• French organisations subject to Bilan Carbone certification requirements (regulatory for companies above certain thresholds)
• EU manufacturers producing physical products requiring EN 15804 EPDs or sectoral life-cycle disclosures
• Construction companies needing FDES (environmental declaration for construction products) published on INIES
• Electrical / electronic manufacturers needing PEP ecopassport declarations
• EU public sector with sustainability procurement requirements under EU regulations
• CSRD / VSME-focused organisations where EU-specific regulatory alignment is the primary driver
• Mid-market industrial companies wanting carbon + LCA + EPD + CSRD in one platform rather than three separate tools
• Teams valuing pricing transparency — public grid vs quote-only models

Watershed remains the right choice for:

• Very-large US-headquartered multinationals needing deep scope 3 supply-chain tooling at global scale
• Organisations subject to US SEC climate disclosure rules where Watershed’s native SEC-reporting tooling is a time-saver
• Multi-year Watershed Enterprise commitments with sunk-cost commitment
• Teams requiring Watershed-specific integrations into US-market procurement platforms

The Bottom Line

Watershed is a mature market-leading carbon accounting platform with unmatched scope 3 supply-chain primary-data collection capability for very-large multinational enterprises. Its reference customer base (Walmart, Spotify, Airbnb, Shopify) demonstrates deep US enterprise procurement acceptance.

None of this changes the underlying jurisdictional reality: Watershed Technology Inc. is a Delaware US corporation, and CLOUD Act plus FISA Section 702 reach applies to customer sustainability data regardless of hosting region.

For European organisations — particularly French manufacturers subject to Bilan Carbone certification, construction companies needing FDES publication to INIES, electrical/electronic manufacturers needing PEP ecopassport, and CSRD-focused organisations wanting EU-regulatory-aligned methodology — Orki is the structurally aligned choice. ORKI SAS (SIREN 949 104 533) in La Madeleine under French jurisdiction (hosted on AWS Paris); EN 15804 and ISO 14040/44 compliant LCA; Ecoinvent + Base Empreinte native integration with 100,000+ emission factors; direct publication to INIES + PEP ecopassport + Environdec; unified CSRD + VSME + EcoVadis workflow; reference customers Vinci, CMA CGM, Thales, Ecocert, EVBox; public pricing grid with unlimited-user tiers and no commitment.

For the growing set of European organisations where jurisdiction, product-level LCA methodology, EPD publication workflow, and CSRD regulatory alignment all need to be answered together — Orki answers all four at once.

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Looking for more European sustainability and compliance alternatives? See also: Greenly vs Persefoni, EcoVadis vs Sedex, and dScribe vs Collibra.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Orki based and how does that affect jurisdiction?

Orki is operated by ORKI SAS, a French société par actions simplifiée incorporated on 16 February 2023, registered under SIREN 949 104 533, headquartered at 14 rue Jean Mermoz, 59110 La Madeleine (near Lille) with an office in Paris. As a French entity, Orki is under French and EU jurisdiction — governed by GDPR and subject to CNIL oversight, with no US parent company. However, its legal notice states that it is hosted on Amazon Web Services in the EU (Paris, France), so there is indirect CLOUD Act exposure via a US sub-processor. Watershed is operated by Watershed Technology Inc., a Delaware US company headquartered in San Francisco. Under the Delaware corporate structure, CLOUD Act plus FISA Section 702 reach applies to Watershed as a US corporation regardless of hosting region.

How does Orki's LCA methodology differ from Watershed's supply chain focus?

Orki's LCA (life-cycle assessment, ACV in French) methodology is compliant with EN 15804 (the European standard for construction product EPDs) and ISO 14040/44 (the general life-cycle assessment framework). The platform provides direct access to Ecoinvent (the global reference LCA database) and Base Empreinte (the official ADEME French emission factor database) with 100,000+ emission factors integrated. Orki also produces the ACV project report required for third-party verification and publishes directly to INIES (French buildings), PEP ecopassport (electrical/electronic products), and Environdec (international EPDs). This EPD / product declaration surface is Orki's structural differentiator — Watershed focuses more on corporate carbon accounting and supply chain scope 3 primary-data collection, with less depth on product-level LCA and EPD publication workflows. For manufacturers producing physical products subject to EN 15804 or sectoral EPD requirements, Orki covers the full workflow in one platform.

What is the pricing model?

Orki publishes a public pricing grid at https://orki.green/tarifs — unusual in the sustainability-tech category where most vendors keep all pricing behind sales qualification. The Bilan Carbone (corporate carbon footprint) Conformité tier starts at €1,440 HT, with pricing scaling by sector and headcount. Deeper tiers (Bilan approfondi, Stratégie de réduction aligned with SBTi) are quoted above that. ACV/FDES and CSRD/VSME/EcoVadis offerings are quoted individually. All tiers include unlimited users and no commitment period. Watershed pricing is quote-based across all tiers — not publicly disclosed.

Which frameworks and compliance standards does Orki cover?

Orki addresses: ADEME Bilan Carbone (French official carbon footprint methodology), GHG Protocol (international corporate accounting standard), EU CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive), VSME (Voluntary Sustainability reporting for SMEs), CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project), Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) alignment, GRI (Global Reporting Initiative), EcoVadis (ESG supplier rating), EN 15804 (construction products EPD), and ISO 14040/44 (life-cycle assessment). This unified platform approach means organisations preparing CSRD + EcoVadis + product EPDs do not need three separate tools.

What is the EVBox customer case about?

EVBox — a leading European provider of EV charging infrastructure — uses Orki to combine corporate carbon accounting (Bilan Carbone), product environmental declarations (PEP ecopassport fiches for their charging hardware), and EcoVadis supplier rating management. The case study is published at https://orki.green/etudes-de-cas/evbox. For hardware manufacturers subject to both corporate CSRD reporting and product-level EPD disclosure, this combined workflow in one platform is a structural fit.

How does Orki address CSRD specifically?

Orki's CSRD module consolidates extra-financial data (environmental, social, governance) into audit-ready sustainability reports aligned with the EU CSRD framework. The platform supports the EFRAG ESRS data points, double materiality assessment, and the structured reporting outputs CSRD auditors expect. For VSME (the voluntary version for SMEs that choose to report at CSRD-equivalent depth without being mandated), Orki's VSME-tier reporting covers the full standard. This is a growing EU regulatory burden — CSRD mandatory scope expands through 2026-2029 — and having a French-parented platform under CNIL oversight matters for organisations where their sustainability data itself is a documented sensitive data set.

What certifications and references does Orki hold?

Orki's platform explicitly references compliance with ADEME Bilan Carbone (Association Bilan Carbone — ABC), ISO standards (14040/44, 14064), GHG Protocol, EU CSRD, CDP, Science Based Targets (SBTi), GRI, and benefits from Bpifrance recognition (French public innovation support). ORKI SAS is a French-registered company with public SIREN 949 104 533 available on the French commercial register for direct verification.