Introduction

The European Innovation Council supported a set of beneficiaries in assessing and mitigating their greenhouse gas emissions through an initiative known as the EIC GHG Programme. One beneficiary featured in that programme is Tapp Water. The Madrid based company designs and sells home water filtration systems and applies artificial intelligence methods in its water sector work. Tapp Water joined the GHG Tool exercise to map its emissions and identify high impact mitigation options.

What Tapp Water says it does and the claims it makes

Tapp Water describes itself as a business that produces faucet filters, filter jugs, bottles and reverse osmosis units. Company management told the EIC that to date they have sold roughly 150,000 filters and that customers have replaced close to 100 million single use plastic bottles. The company also highlighted ancillary effects they link to their products. These include a per bottle carbon footprint they cite at about 250 to 500 grams of CO2 equivalent and a claim that producing one litre of bottled water requires about three litres of water upstream. Tapp Water further stated that their product users on average reduce household plastic waste by what the interview text lists as a figure between 800 to 1000 per year. That figure is ambiguous in the source and may be a typographical error or shorthand for bottles saved or an economic saving. These assertions come from the company and deserve independent verification through lifecycle analysis and third party testing.

The EIC GHG Tool and the programme context

The GHG Tool was developed under the EIC Greenhouse Gas Programme which ran from January 2021 until December 2022. The tool followed the GHG Protocol approach to accounting and allowed beneficiaries to calculate footprints, simulate mitigation potential and track progress. Within the EIC framework products of the assessment included badges that signal CO2 footprint calculation and CO2 reduction planning. The EIC later indicated the GHG Tool is no longer in use and that further activities will be announced.

Key findings from Tapp Water's GHG assessment

According to Tapp Water, the EIC assessment clarified where the majority of their greenhouse gas emissions originate. Office based emissions were minor. The main emissions came from production facilities and international logistics. The company estimates that shipping from Asian factories to European markets represents about 30 percent of their total footprint. The assessment made clear that many of the most important emissions were outside the company's direct control, classed as upstream supplier and transport emissions.

Measures implemented or planned

Tapp Water described a mix of operational and strategic responses after the assessment. Operationally the company already runs a low emission office culture with employees commuting by public transport or bicycle, flexible workspace and no company cars. Strategically the company is pursuing supplier dialogue to secure commitments on CO2 reduction and renewable energy at factories. They are also evaluating bringing some production closer to European markets to reduce long sea freight impacts and to shorten supply chains. The company expects further gains if factories switch to renewables and if European manufacturing reduces transport distances.

Claims on impact and return on investment

The company expressed confidence that moving production closer to customers and convincing factories to switch to renewable energy will yield environmental and economic returns. They consider potential gains to be both reputational and operational but offered no quantified business case in the interview. The EIC story repeats company supplied metrics such as 100 million replaced bottles and per bottle carbon figures. Those numbers provide an indicative headline but they should be treated cautiously until subjected to a published lifecycle analysis or third party validation.

How Tapp Water judged the GHG Tool compared to other tools

Tapp Water's founder said the GHG Tool helped the company focus on the highest impact parts of their footprint rather than spending effort on low impact items. They also welcomed the EIC badges as a way to showcase commitment. The company praised the GHG experts who supported their work, particularly for helping identify where reliable data could be obtained.

Policy and sector context

The case sits at the intersection of the EU's broader policy push on single use plastics, circular economy objectives and industrial decarbonisation. EIC support for startups to measure and reduce emissions is part of a wider effort to mainstream climate considerations in innovation funding. At the same time the policy context is moving toward more stringent requirements for corporate reporting and product level environmental claims. That will raise the bar for companies wishing to translate programme level badges into market facing sustainability claims.

A sober reading of the Tapp Water case is that the GHG assessment provided useful direction. It spotlighted scope 3 priorities and prompted practical conversations about supply chain changes. The next steps that will determine environmental impact are implementation of supplier commitments, switching factory energy sources and transparent verification of claimed plastic and carbon savings.

Concluding observations

The Tapp Water account illustrates how a relatively small consumer hardware company can use a structured GHG assessment to prioritise actions. The most valuable outcome in this case was a shift of attention to production and freight emissions. The practical challenge ahead is turning supplier dialogue and commitments into measurable emissions reductions, preferably with published lifecycle studies and third party verification. Badges and internal pledges help with signalling but they should not replace robust measurement and public reporting.