VivaTech 2026. Four days. Ten stages, panels, live interviews, and news studios. The topics shifted from European expansion to agri-food sovereignty, from startup-corporate collaboration to responsible AI.

But one question kept coming back, in every room, on every floor: how do companies stay competitive, financially resilient, and keep operating as climate constraints tighten around them?

It’s a question Sweep has been helping companies answer for years. This year at VivaTech, we weren’t the only ones asking it. Our partners and customers, PwC, ENGIE, Accenture, Capgemini, were building the same answers alongside us. That’s what made this edition different: the ecosystem was there, in full.

We picked three conversations that crystallized where the industry is heading, and what it actually takes to turn climate data into business decisions.

AI in sustainability drives business performance

One of the most prominent Sweep conversations of the week took place at the AWS Theater, where Rachel Delacour joined fellow climate-tech CEOs to address the tension between AI adoption and environmental mission.

Rachel was direct: without AI, she would fall short of Sweep’s mission. Large companies are managing heterogeneous data at huge volume across disconnected value chains. Getting them to understand where they are most carbon-intensive, and how to act. That cannot be done at speed without AI.

The payoff is measurable. Sweep’s customers save eight months on their sustainability disclosures. Internally, Sweep saves 400 hours per week. But Rachel’s point went further: disclosure should become a playbook for understanding the real impact and risk behind non-financial data. That’s where the business value sits.

Governance is what makes adoption last. In 2026, Rachel said, it’s no longer enough to adopt AI. It’s about how you adopt it over time. Sweep has an AI Steering Committee, a dedicated program owner, and an internal AI certification for all new joiners, with real consequences if it isn’t taken seriously.

Getting the data right changes what’s possible

The conversation between ENGIE, Accenture and Sweep showed this at scale. Managing €18 billion in procurement across 80,000 tier-1 suppliers, ENGIE had relied for years on a few dozen monetary emission factors to estimate its Scope 3 footprint. It was enough for reporting, but not enough for action. 

The shift to granular physical data changes what procurement teams can actually do. At ENGIE, 500,000 data points now replace those few dozen factors. Sweep is the single source of truth for supplier ESG data and Scope 3 emissions. Carbon enters sourcing decisions directly: which suppliers to engage, which categories to prioritize, and what the carbon cost of a sourcing choice will be before it’s made.

Accenture’s message was equally direct: the main challenge in scaling this kind of transformation is governance, process redesign, and organizational change. That’s what makes data influence decisions rather than just reports.

Better data makes the value chain accountable

At the PwC stage, Julien Denormandie and Rachel Delacour spoke about what it takes to make supply chains transparent.

Julien’s starting point: for a food company, around 80% of total emissions sit in the agricultural upstream. For decades, that was invisible to the brands at the top of the chain. Once it’s visible, two things become possible:
First, a real conversation about who pays for the agro-environmental transition.
Second, the ability to identify environmental performance gains and climate risks before they hit the P&L.

Rachel’s message was clear: technology is ready, but regulatory frameworks are still fragmented. Data is still collected in silos. What the whole industry needs is harmonization, so that reporting stops being a barrier for everyone in the chain, not just the large players.