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Founded in May 2020, Re:Dish is a New York based startup focused on reducing waste by providing reusable dishware as a service. Its focus is enterprise-scale foodservice operations such as corporate cafeterias, cultural venues, and K-12 schools. Similar to linen or uniform services, this service delivers clean products like to-go containers and cups, collects the used products, washes them in their facility, and repeats (Source: ReDish, 2022).

The overarching questions Re:Dish for trying to find answers for was: How are companies handling sustainability and ESG reporting, especially Scope 3?

The team consisted of 5 Columbia University graduate students pursuing their masters in Sustainability Management and Science. The team was introduced to Re:Dish through the SUMA Net Impact board, and had a virtual meeting kickoff as well as an on-site visit to the client’s facility. The team distilled the project brief into sub tasks to ensure deliverables could be divided and timelines could be met: the sub tasks were primary & secondary research, and recommendations.

The primary research team outlined the interview tool, which was standardized to pull insights from, and yet, flexible enough for the variety of conversations. The team initially faced challenges in outreach, but was able to overcome this with the support of the Columbia University network and the client’s connections. The team reached out to 50 interviewees through and successfully conducted 12 interviews with practitioners from various fields; sustainability consultants, ESG reporting experts, and in house sustainability managers. The secondary research team focused on acquiring information from sources that are readily available on the internet, as well as research reports from the Columbia University library and information systems.

After completing these two tasks, the team synthesized its findings to create a report and a reporting framework checklist for the most commonly used tools. The team shared its findings of this report for feedback with Columbia University adjunct professor, Jon Dicksinson, who provided specialized insights for Re:Dish.

Drawing from our key findings and secondary research, the team developed a number of recommendations for Re:Dish to consider going forward.

1. Have easily integratable data ready to go for Re:Dish clients.
2. Use the existing LCA for a single Re:Dish to compare to commonly-used materials and translate this into CO2e/unit of weight.
3. Emphasize the value of reducing overall Scope 3 emissions without focusing on a specific category.
4. Find synergies between Re:Dish and Sustainability Frameworks and Guidelines

The team also developed visual tools, including  reporting framework checklist and emissions reporting guide to complement the analysis.

In March of 2022, the SEC gave initial approval to a rule that would mandate public companies to report on climate-related impacts, including their Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. Given this context, our work with Re:Dish has become even more relevant. Scope 3 emissions are becoming increasingly important and within reach for public companies to access and report.

For our SUMANI project, our team was paired with the sustainable undergarment company, In Common. We were tasked with creating a product life cycle assessment (LCA) focusing on GHG emissions that would help the company achieve its goals of accountability and increased carbon transparency. Starting the project was fairly difficult due to an unclear scope and internal indecision about which product the team should perform an LCA on. 

It was not until the midpoint presentation that the team and In Common determined what our final deliverable would be. Although it took us several weeks to get to this point, we were well prepared for the task. We began by doing general research on the materials the company uses, as well as where these materials are sourced from and manufactured. Part of the team members carried out literature reviews while other teammates focused on the data necessary to carry out the LCA. LCAs are heavily reliant on the accessibility of data and it is usually a challenge for a small business to complete them. It was unrealistic for the team to complete an entire cradle-to-grave LCA because In Common did not possess the necessary full value chain information. However, In Common did have some data available, so we were able to perform a partial LCA on one pair of its “Better Bikini” underwear, which analyzed only the sewing process of its manufacturing phase. To do this analysis, we used the EcoInvent database and academic sources to obtain the emissions factors associated with five key sewing processes: fabric lamination, body sewing, elastic sewing, gusset sewing, and finishing. 

We found that the sewing phase for one pair of the “Better Bikini” emits 112.71 g CO2e. To make this more tangible for In Common, we compared this number to the emissions associated with the sewing process of a denim jacket. We determined that approximately 14.8 pairs of underwear are equivalent to one denim jacket and that In Common’s current sewing process– in terms of GHG emissions– is in line with the rest of the fashion industry. Although we were not able to help In Common determine whether or not their products emit less (or more) than similar products on the market, the team provided a comprehensive list of suggestions for the company. We suggested the ongoing collection of data in order to perform a life cycle assessment that will map out a garment from its raw materials phase to its end of life. Additionally, we discussed the GHG hot spots associated with the fashion industry as a whole and how In Common could make changes to its current processes to ensure that the company is minimizing its GHG impact overall. This LCA of their sewing process is a good starting place for In Common to build a full LCA on in the future.  Though there were many learning curves during the project, we found this experience to be extremely valuable for gaining experience in sustainability consulting. 

Gurujal is a nonprofit organization in India, dedicated to solving the water scarcity problem in Gurugram. Over the past few years, the organization has collaborated with different stakeholders to engage in water conservation. Today the organization shows successful results of collaboration with locals, the government, and other stakeholders in addressing the water scarcity problem of the city. In an effort to better communicate and report their impact, the organization reached out to Net Impact at Columbia University to get recommendations to update their sustainability communications strategy. Successful completion of the project required identifying gaps in the current communication strategy and communicating holistically with different stakeholder groups.

The team divided the success of the project into three main deliverables that would separately address different questions raised by Gurujal. The first deliverable provided new components on the impact report. The second deliverable followed the first one by providing new metrics to holistically portray its impact relative to a bigger problem in Gurugram. The third deliverable focused on providing new ways to engage with stakeholders to produce community engagement with all groups that benefit and engage with Gurujal’s work. The project group split into teams that performed landscape assessments of each components and conducted research to compare findings to current Gurujal’s approach. The process was concluded by recommendations that provided suggestions to overcome the gaps identified.

One of the main priorities of Gurujal was to strengthen its collaboration with its stakeholders by adjusting its strategy to each group. Because India had a different culture than the United States, it was important to provide recommendations tailored to India’s culture. Additionally, different stakeholders groups required specific attention, so providing one method for each group was not an option for the team. Therefore, each new communication strategy had to be specific to each of the groups to address different expectations. Despite these challenges, the team could overcome them through the clarity of expectations and the good communication of Gurujal’s team.

As a result, the team of consultants at Net Impact was able to understand the expectation and fill in gaps of information through regular communications through Gurujal’s point of contact. The amount of information provided on Gurujal’s website was one of the main drivers in understanding the Gurujal’s current strategy. Different meetings between the team of consultants, and other teams at Net Impact resulted in recommendations that were tailored to the Indian culture.

One of the things students retain from working in this project is the importance of collaboration. The regular check in with Gurujal allowed students to fill in gaps in information during the research process. Internal check ins within the team allowed to get updates on the progress of each tasks and to move forward to other priorities. The check ins with Net Impact allowed the team to receive feedback on their different findings and to also receive recommendations and new suggestions. As a result, the final output became the result of a collaborative effort within Net Impact, which strengthened the importance of communication in delivering a successful project.

Alexa Lorillard, Ava Chang, Bryan Rupprecht, Carlotta Franchin, Winston Palmeri, Ying Fam

Veris Wealth Partners is an independent B-Corp, 100%-impact focused wealth management firm that “walks the talk”. Aligning wealth with values to create meaningful impact is central to their identity and culture. Their mission to direct capital towards sustainable and regenerative endeavors is implemented advising their clients on investments across all asset classes through four environmental and social themes.

Veris engaged SUMANI to help improve their annual Impact Report, based on 1) updates to the regulatory landscape, 2) updates to reporting frameworks Veris already utilizes or should consider adopting, 3) industry benchmarking and best practices.

The project started in February and concluded in May with a presentation to the entire company, including CIO and CEO! The approach was simple – we divided (and conquered) the research over the first half of the project (sources included good old Google searches, asking professors and colleagues’ advice and talking to a peer company) and spent the second half consolidating and synthesizing all the information gathered into potential recommendations. We then refined them thinking through the implementation challenges discussed with the client. These included data availability, applicability of existing frameworks and metrics to multi-assets portfolios and to an advisory firm, not directly investing, and avoiding reporting, for “reporting’s sake”.

The final deliverable summarized recent regulatory developments and our suggested improvements:

○ Performing a materiality assessment as a building block of the company’s impact approach

○ Expanding the use of sustainability frameworks – enhancing Veris’ current use of SASB, UN SDGs and IMP and considering adopting the TCFD Framework

○ Revising the Report’s organization, adding, removing or moving sections and improving storytelling

○ Developing a Sustainability Roadmap, including baseline and targets, to signal further commitment

The main challenges we faced during the project were to narrow down a substantial amount of information and diving deeper enough to make our findings relevant for Veris. Industry practices, especially among private companies, vary widely and Veris’s independent status, 100% impact focus and advisory role make it a unique company, making the selection of “peers” and “best practices” quite difficult. But the team did a wonderful job thinking critically about the feedback received and identifying many different and relevant industry examples. That resulted in a final deliverable we were proud of and many compliments from the Veris team and management.

In closing, some of our many lessons learned are: the complex impact reporting guidance out there (so-called “Alphabet Soup”) is evolving, slowly converging and still confusing. Identifying the most suitable and meaningful approach(es) for companies, especially unique ones, is hard. Alignment to largely accepted industry standards is valuable and should be promoted. Quality and quantity of data remain a problem, but narrowing sourcing efforts to the highest-value areas, showing progress (not perfection) and adding details and context are good interim steps. “How you say it” is as important as “What you say”. Even companies that would rather focus on delivering more change have to take time and resources to not only report but also “communicate” their work, omissions may be perceived as lack of transparency and weak storytelling may limit the reach of really good work. Cute graphs go a very long way. Last but not least, SUMANI projects are fun. Join one!

Daniel Perkes, Eriketi Mytilineou, Johannes Geiger, Kushagra, Helena Kilburn, and Briana Fowler-Puja

Voltpost is a NYC-based startup whose founding team includes two SUMA alumni. The company’s mission is to decarbonize mobility in cities, and it accomplishes this by transforming lampposts into smart electric vehicle charging stations managed by a mobile application. This solution accelerates EV adoption by providing cities scalable curbside charging for drivers.

During the Spring 2022 semester, our team created a proposal to deploy a Voltpost charging station on Columbia University’s property. The Voltpost team is in the process of developing their prototype system and is looking to secure initial pilot deployments this year. Our work complemented the Fall 2021 SUMANI team which prepared GIS analysis of electric and ICE vehicle ownership in the greater New York metropolitan area.

We were tasked to perform stakeholder mapping, research potential demo and pilot locations, and work with university staff to understand how best to deploy the Voltpost EV charging system on campus. At the beginning of the project, we identified three groups of stakeholders relevant to Voltpost’s work on the Columbia University pilot project:  New York City government;  Upper Manhattan community groups;  and Columbia University.  We understood that the Voltpost team had already established relationships with the Department of Transportation, Con Edison, and the offices of some local politicians. Because of this, most of our Stakeholder Mapping work was focused on the latter two groups.

One challenge during this project was agreeing on the nature and scope of the deliverables that the Voltpost team wanted from us at the conclusion of the engagement. At one point in the project, our understanding was that the best approach was to create one “Official Proposal” for Columbia University executives and a second document with a more detailed work description and research report for the Voltpost team’s internal use. However, as we got closer to the end of our project, we spoke with the Voltpost team and determined that the most impactful way to conclude the project was to prepare just one document where all elements of it were appropriate for a university executive audience.

That final version of the report was the one we produced for Voltpost at the end of our consulting project. It is a modular document, which can easily be taken apart and customized based on the scope of the discussion with a particular stakeholder. After extensive discussions with employees in various university departments and research on a variety of locations, our team’s final recommendation was that Voltpost should partner with Columbia University’s Department of Public Safety for the demo project, because Public Safety has the largest EV fleet on campus. Our final report included a company overview, stakeholder identification, location research, and a detailed technical proposal tailored to the Public Safety fleet managers. It also suggested a community engagement strategy that included specific suggestions of which community groups and business development organizations would be helpful partners for future pilot deployments.

Our team had a great time working on the Voltpost project this semester and enjoyed the experience of working with various stakeholders in the university. We got an inside look into the university’s plans for sustainability and transportation infrastructure in the years to come. We are excited about the future of Voltpost chargers in New York City and beyond, and we are proud to have played a part in the company’s technology development and deployment planning. We look forward to seeing everything that Voltpost will accomplish in the future!

The Growth of a Tech Start-Up in High-Impact Spaces

Working with a tech start-up this semester was an educational experience that felt refreshing, empowering and impactful. The client, Voltpost, Inc. is launching a demonstration and pilot program to retrofit lampposts with Level 2 EV charging and equipping the technology with cloud-based software for booking, billing and connecting. Not only does lamppost charging allow for minimal physical impact on the street landscape, but provides accessible infrastructure in dense urban spaces and places. Voltpost is an exciting entrepreneurial group that certainly faces barriers to market-entry and competitive recognition, but hosts an abundance of opportunity and niche value in the ever-growing EV industry. As our team dived into sustainability consulting, we integrated our project’s impact into a larger business strategy. We hope that our project will support Voltpost in navigating the challenges and opportunities they will face as they launch their cutting-edge technology.

Voltpost’s entrance into the EV market couldn’t be timelier. The NYC Mayor’s Office of Climate and Sustainability is aggressively advocating for policies to reduce barriers for EV charging, while the Public Service Commission is putting $700 M into the Make Ready Program to fund offset incentives for EV charging infrastructure costs. In order to get an idea of where Voltpost could make a splash as they plan their pilot program, they asked SUMANI to prepare a priority-siting and location analysis of zip codes in NYC and Westchester. These zip codes were found using a methodology the team created through initial research of EV siting strategies, evaluation of datasets and scrubbing, and the weighting of such datasets.

Our research came from an abundance of existing reports on EV siting, with authorship ranging from the National Renewable Energy Lab, NY DOT to urban planning consulting firms. For example, the report “Curb Enthusiasm: Deployment Guide for On-Street Electric Vehicle Charging,”[1] explained that there are different planning scenarios which may direct you to different data criteria, and thus different location analyses results. The high-utilization scenario would recommend areas with car-dependent employees and residents, as well as car-driving visitors, and demonstration of EV demand in residential areas. Alternatively, a high-visibility scenario would focus on areas that have streets with commercial overlays and offer high turnover opportunity for station siting.

We took this research and shared our proposed method of map siting to the client. They shared with us that their business model revolves around a residential-heavy market, and so we took our initial understanding of EV charging siting and refined to match the client’s needs. By the end of the semester, the quantitative-portion of our project was complete with the following 2 analyses:

We concluded our GIS-mapping with the following two analyses to provide our final zip code recommendations off of: 

1. Zip codes in the whole area with above a 2% EV registration percentage  
2. Zip codes in the top 25% percentile of car ownership, and the corresponding EV registration percentages 

Based on the yellow and red stars, the analyses logically give different results of zip code priority. The first analysis offers a high-demand scenario, in which you are looking at areas that have the highest percentages of EV’s, and thus would have the greatest need for EV charging. The second analysis offers a high-incentivization and high-utilization scenario, in which these communities rely heavily on vehicle ownership, as they have the highest car counts in NYC and Westchester.

We provided Voltpost with multiple other layers that they could use to further weight their zip code priorities. These layers included residential/commercial zoning, existing charging stations, public transportation routes, and demographic data such as income, property value and commuter base. In order to get some ideas on how they might effectively utilize various data tools and dataset criteria, we engaged in a qualitative analysis, as well.

Though data can be a great tool for any company or organization to narrow their focus of participation and presence, there are so many important conversations and processes that must happen to make a successful business model. Paired with our GIS zip code priorities, we provided Voltpost with policies, political representatives, and community organizations that could empower Voltpost to become a leader in EV’s in each zip code. With this knowledge, Voltpost will be equipped to make strategic decisions about which communities of NYC and Westchester they could empower and work with to make climate-friendly changes. Community-based stakeholder engagement not only incorporates the foundational pillars of environmental justice and equity into the deployment approach, but ensures trusted and valued relationships that will spur Voltpost’s market growth and success. We also gave Voltpost the names of local political representatives to kick-start garnering city buy-in for smooth deployment.

Voltpost can use the tools we provided them in this project to increase access to innovative funding opportunities, policy advocacy and community outreach. With so many optimistic partnerships in their path ahead, Voltpost will have a formulated and informed strategy to begin retrofitting lampposts for the future.

[1]https://www.wxystudio.com/uploads/2400024/1550074865953/Final_Curb_Report_Nov2018_web.pdf

It was quite a pleasant surprise when I received the mail from SUMANI that I have been chosen as a Program Manager for the project “Nature Counter”. That mail was the beginning of one of the most enriching experiences I have had at Columbia University. From working on an intriguing project to managing a diverse and extremely talented team, I enjoyed every aspect of my association with SUMANI. 

“Nature Counter” was my first preference amongst the list of projects that SUMANI had shared with us. The problem statement shared by the client intrigued a lot of interest in me and I immediately knew that I wanted to work on this project. Nature Counter is a public health initiative by CrowdDoing that aims to create awareness around the health and nootropic benefits of spending time in nature and simultaneously, decrease the dependence on people on various medications. The project wants to utilize the research studies done on the subject for creating a mobile application that encourages people to spend more time in nature. 

The project scope shared by the client consisted of several research questions for which the client expected us to conduct a literature review. After multiple rounds of discussion with my team, we realized that given our bandwidth we need to limit the scope of work to a maximum of five research questions (each team member was to work on one research question). Once we had the initial level of findings, we presented it to the SUMANI Board and our client for feedback and to discuss the next steps. The mid-term presentations proved to be helpful as our client suggested certain new perspectives that my team could explore to further validate the health and social benefits of spending time in nature. For the next phase of the project, the team members were grouped to look into the direct health benefits, indirect social benefits, and propose the strategy for a mobile application. 
The final deliverable to the client consisted of a presentation that included the summary of our literature review, a synopsis on the various physical and mental health benefits and ancillary social benefits associated with spending time in nature, and a strategic framework for the nature counter mobile application.

One of the most challenging aspects related to the project was that the initial scope of work required skill sets that none of the team members possessed. However, once we clarified and communicated that to our client, he was very accommodating and tweaked the scope of work to suit our areas of expertise. Another area where we faced issues was doing the literature review for answering the research questions posed by our client. Many of the publications presented contradicting data that made it difficult for us to conclude. This was overcome by doing an extensive literature review to identify the conclusion that is supported by the majority of the publications. 

To conclude, being a part of SUMANI helped me and my team to use our strengths in adding value to a project which has the potential to greatly benefit our society.  As a project manager, I learned that despite meticulous planning things may not go as expected and one should always be prepared for the unexpected. I was fortunate that I had the support of my team members and Blake (Director of Projects) to help me navigate through this journey. 

– Sonali

GreenPortfolio is an enterprise with the goal of helping people understand the impact of their lifestyle choices on climate change, encouraging regular individuals to shift to greener options once they know how much carbon is emitted from their everyday activities.

The client asked the assistance of SUMANI to conduct a study to measure how much carbon is reduced when one move’s his/her money from a conventional fund to a green one. In addition, the team was tasked to compare it against sustainable lifestyle changes practiced in the US, such as purchasing an electric vehicle, going vegan, avoiding flights, and paying a premium to buy green energy from the utility company.

To deliver a solution, the project members were grouped into four sub-teams responsible for driving the accomplishment of the following milestones: (1) a carbon calculator, (2) a use case that shows the emission comparison between a green fund and a dirty fund, (3) a use case of select lifestyle changes’ carbon footprint, and (4) the final whitepaper with the team’s findings and recommendations.

After four months of work, a ton of meetings, and a few setbacks, the team presented the final paper to the client with the following takeaways:

• Green funds and dirty funds are not directly comparable – This is due to the fact that dirty funds often have more companies in it and a greater market capitalization. These two factors affect how GHG Emissions are computed (based on currently available best practices). Therefore, emissions data of funds have to be normalized before they are compared.
• Carbon emissions data are sometimes dirty, incomplete, and (outright) erroneous – There is no regulation in the United States that requires publicly-listed corporations to disclose their emissions data. All of the publicly available datasets are voluntarily disclosed, which entails loose governance, resulting in bad quality data. This affects the comparison of funds, since one’s benchmark emissions may be incorrect from the get go.
• Moving one’s 5-digit savings from a dirty fund to a clean fund is worth it – This is comparable to avoiding flights for half a year (transatlantic flights are the largest contributor of carbon, next to bringing a baby into the world).

On a more personal note, it was a great experience for me, the project manager. I had the privilege of working with an awesome team, one that was diverse, smart, and passionate about changing the world. There were many challenges that could have hampered our success, but the members persevered and ran the course. Their efforts bore fruit when the client commended us after our final presentation and offered to take us in after their funding rounds! I have to give the credit to Megha, Sahil, Patricia, Kivia, and Kushagra for the project’s success.

– Josh

This semester my team worked with the India-based non-profit, GuruJal. GuruJal is an Integrated Water Management Initiative, which aims to address the issues of water scarcity, ground-water depletion, flooding and stagnation in the Gurugram District of Haryana State. Their projects include the restoration of wastewater ponds, the creation of biodiversity parks and the developing of technological and communication tools. Their long-term goal is to make the district water neutral, if not water positive.

The SUMANI team collaborated with GuruJal to develop tools and resources that would aid in securing funding for their biodiversity park. This required an analysis of costs and benefits of the park itself, the creation of a pitch presentation for potential funders, and extensive research of potential financial and non-financial partners to be contacted by the GuruJal team.

At the start of the semester several proposals were made regarding the best approach for developing a plan to gain funding for this project. Our team explored several options for different assessments to be conducted and integrated into our pitch presentation. Understanding the purpose of certain assessments and their potential benefits presented its own set of challenges as the ESG landscape is made up of extensive jargon with varying frameworks, none of which are standardized. This led our team to determine that a cost-benefit analysis would be most beneficial at this stage of the project, with the current data available, and most impactful in a pitch presentation.

The pitch presentation itself required a number of decisions by the team members leading its creation. Although the purpose of the biodiversity park can be viewed as an environmental initiative, our team agreed that the story of people, those the park would impact, would be more compelling to funders. With the audience in mind, the pitch functioned to prove the capability of GuruJal to take on such a large and important project, identify the current problem in the state, and present the biodiversity park as the solution. The role of projects like this in national and global sustainability was also identified in order to compel companies further, as this information could be directly referenced by funders in company CSR reports. The challenge of greenwashing was identified by our team with the client, as funding a project such as this cannot be advertised as impacting a company’s own value chain thus not improving ESG ratings. However, this does not mean there is no benefit to a participating company. The social, environmental, and reputational benefits are expressed throughout the pitch.

Due to the amount of money GuruJal requires to complete this project, in additional to a list of potential funders (including global companies with offices in the Gurugram District, local businesses, impact investors, and NGOs) we have identified additional processes for collecting donations that we recommended to the GuruJal team to be explored.

Our SUMANI teamed worked diligently this semester to identify how best to develop and complete these resources and are grateful to have contributed to such a meaningful project with such a passionate and community-focused team.

Project Overview 

Sustainability professionals have to navigate a complex world of data that can be time consuming, fragmented, and expensive. Zooterra is a sustainability data platform designed to save time and money for companies seeking to develop and improve sustainability strategies. The platform offers customers the ability to benchmark company efforts against competitors in the industry, to find projects that can help customers achieve their sustainability goals, and to explore project background and history. 

At the time of this project, Zooterra was still in the beta phase. The client approached Net Impact to help them better understand the competitive landscape of sustainability data platforms, whether or not Social and Governance metrics are necessary to include, and to help identify the ideal customer. 

Process

The group was split into three teams with two people on each team; the Data Team, the Social and Governance (S&G) Team, and the Customer Research Team. The Data Team created a database of competitors, identified ten key competitors, and summarized their findings and pricing recommendation in a word document for the client. The S&G Team wrote an executive memo for the client that provided definitions and context of S&G, highlighted sustainability platforms currently in the market with an S&G focus, and made a recommendation on whether or not the client should include these metrics on their platform. The Customer Research Team designed a survey to understand pain points for sustainability professionals and develop use cases in order to help identify a target customer base.

Key Findings and Recommendations

The competitive analysis revealed that an increasing number of sustainability data providers are entering the market, with many large providers acquiring niche players. Our research confirmed the interconnected nature of environmental data with social and governance data, with insights from the competitive analysis, S&G specific research, and customer research all supporting the notion to include S&G data on the platform. The customer research revealed that a recurring challenge for sustainability professionals is having to do manual research and analysis due to the lack of standardization. We recommended that the client target consultancy firms and small cap companies for their customer base. For pricing structure, we recommended a base product with options for add-on features as well as a free trial offering.

Concluding Thoughts

In the beginning, it took the team some time to understand the client’s unique value proposition and to define the boundaries of the project. We also experienced some challenges in finding competitors’ price points because they often required a consultation. The S&G team initially approached the project through a policy lens as a result of their academic backgrounds. When workshopping with the client, they were asked to pivot their focus more on the business case to support their recommendation. 

Identifying the relevant audience for the survey and getting the participants to complete the survey was also an obstacle to overcome. We learned how to use every resource available through our networks and get creative about incentivizing responses. Extra attention was needed to overcome “survey fatigue” that occurs in the industry as a result of so many players working to find the best solutions to the challenges faced in sustainability data and reporting.

Ultimately, we were able to deliver the client with a comprehensive overview of the sustainability data landscape, the importance of including social and governance metrics on the platform, and the customers that would be best suited to use this platform. Throughout the project, the team learned how to pivot when needed and approached each challenge as a learning experience.