Economy as a Code
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·2 min read·Tristan Méneret

How to measure the indirect impact of your supply chain

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The hidden impact of your activity

When we think about a company's impact, we first think about its jobs, revenue, and taxes. But for many companies, the bulk of their territorial footprint runs through their supply chain.

Consider an example: a services company with 50 employees and 10 million euros in revenue that spends 6 million with its suppliers. Its indirect effects (jobs, taxes, carbon at suppliers) potentially exceed its direct effects.

What indirect effects measure

EaaC indirect effects capture the impact of each euro spent in each supplier's establishments:

  • Indirect EI: total supplier expenditure
  • Indirect SI: jobs generated at suppliers, proportional to expenditure
  • Indirect FI: supplier taxes, proportional to expenditure
  • Indirect CI: CO2e emitted by indirect economic activity

Two calculation approaches

Approach 1: sector-based estimation

Without any private data, EaaC can estimate indirect effects using the INSEE Input-Output Table (TES). This statistical table describes, for each sector of activity, the distribution of purchases by supplier sector.

From the company's NAF code and revenue, the structure of its purchases is estimated and impact indicators are calculated for each supplier sector.

This approach is 100% automatable and relies solely on open data.

Approach 2: precise calculation

The company provides its supplier list (SIREN numbers and amounts). The EaaC engine then fetches open data for each supplier (employees, revenue, location) and calculates the proportional share of impact attributable to the company's expenditure.

This approach is more precise and matches what regulators expect under CSRD.

Why it matters

Indirect effects reveal the true dependency of a territory on a company. When a factory closes, it's not just its employees who are affected, but an entire ecosystem of local suppliers.

EaaC makes this reality measurable and visible.

Going further

Explore the complete methodology on the GitHub repository or get the book Economy as a Code on Amazon.