Sustainable? But by plan

It had to be catchy and new, but somehow also sound familiar. One of the trickiest tasks that entrepreneurs face when they set up a company is finding the right name for the enterprise. When Vincent de la Mar was looking for a name for his start-up in 2021, all sorts of analogies kept popping up in his mind. He was certain of one thing: Sustainability had to be part of the package. After trying out all kinds of ideas, he came up with the perfect combination: Sustaira. “It sounds like a goddess of sustainability.” That fits: Sustaira, a global company running out of Boston, Montreal, Rotterdam and Singapore, helps companies become more sustainable by aggregating, calculating and recording indicators such as CO2 emissions as well as social and regulatory aspects and assisting them with the planning of a more sustainable future.

And that requires a goddess? You bet, Vincent de la Mar says. After all, sustainability is becoming one of, if not the dominant corporate objective, not least due to increasingly strict laws and public pressure. The focus is shifting away from counting kilograms of emissions or waste containers to improving the environmental KPIs and to social sustainability and governance. Such issues are covered in laws like the German Act on Corporate Due Diligence in Supply Chains. This law holds companies responsible for human rights violations or exploitative working conditions at suppliers in other countries. Counting and documenting are no longer enough. Sustainability must be planned and deeply embedded in a company’s objectives.

Most new customers start with the sustainability planner, which allows them to playfully simulate measures and their impact on CO2 emissions. In the next step, customers often choose the KPI app that they use to track initiatives, such as the impact of a job ticket for the public transport or a new heating system. The next step is carbon aggregating, collecting and reporting Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions data based on the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, which is connected to the ERP software system via interfaces. The app automatically adds up the associated CO2 emissions for all raw materials and goods that pass through the company. Once a company has put together its menu, the apps appear on a web interface, the Launchpad. This is where the company plans, tracks and evaluates its sustainability indicators and targets. From there, new apps can be added or co-created, such as Disclosures, Scenario Analysis, Supplier data aggregation and engaging employees with Sustainability.

But aren’t there already quite a few such platforms? De la Mar hears this objection all the time. His answer: “Uniquely, the Sustaira platform is based on agile low-code building blocks, enabling co-creation with customers such as California State University, and partners such as Siemens and Capgemini. More often than not, do we collaborate with existing software and become the flexible Sustainability app layer for the end-users.” One thing is important to him: “In addition to environmental criteria, our modules also take into account social criteria such as diversity, equity and inclusion and governance aspects, i.e., compliance with legal framework conditions and corporate responsibility – that is unique."

Large + agile = Siemens Xcelerator

Around 300 accounts – including Siemens – already use Sustaira’s services. There is a close relationship with Siemens. Sustaira is a partner on Siemens Xcelerator, the digitalization platform at Siemens. Customers can combine sustainability planning with other Xcelerator digitalization services on the platform. One example is Castor, a start-up from Israel whose software can calculate in seconds whether a component can be produced economically using 3D printing. Sustaira founder de la Mar is also a member of the Siemens Xcelerator advisory board where he is involved in the strategic development of the platform. “Siemens is huge and thorough, but not as flexible as we are as a start-up because of its size,” says de la Mar. This is precisely the genius of the Siemens Xcelerator: “The platform is powerful and brings many partners together. Similar to Sustaira, many members of the Siemens Xcelerator Ecosystem are smaller and therefore agile and quickly put new things into practice.”

While companies used to focus on just one performance indicator – namely profit – CO2 accounting has added another dimension. But it won’t stop there. Sustaira wants to gradually offer a holistic view of sustainability with its menu. This initially relates to other environmentally relevant parameters such as water consumption or waste, with the clear aim of achieving the most circular economy possible, in which all recyclable materials are reused for new products. Biodiversity, i.e., the preservation of animal and plant species, could also be a key figure. On the employee side, diversity and inclusion are further aspects of sustainability.

Vincent de la Mar says: “At the end of the day, an entrepreneur has to answer two questions: What does my company stand for, and what difference do I want to make to society with my actions? Sustaira helps provide the answers and the transparency.”