2022: What I Learned This Year

The beauty of working as a sustainability advisor is that I get to work with many different companies and cases in a span of just one year. Here are 3 things I learned this year!

Measuring the real impact is what truly matters

For the last six months, I've worked with an Amsterdam-based early-stage startup Treety. The team is building a tool for investors to measure and report the impact of each portfolio company and the fund altogether. The solution has been praised by Google For Startups, Privium, and many other large portfolio funds already, and I consider this one of the most exciting projects I've worked on in 2022. 

Every startup founder out there can attest to the saying, “What gets measured, gets improved,” but how many investors actually measure what really matters? Turns out - very few! Although we're seeing impact funds being launched left and right, not every one of them has thought through the process of how to quantify the result of their investment. 

Thanks to the SFDR regulation, Article 9 funds are now required to explain how they meet the definition of sustainability. And that's not possible without quantifying the positive and negative outcomes of each investment. 

The sustainability journey should have a timeline

Another truly exciting project I've contributed to this year was the ESG Starter Pack for software startups by the Finnish VC fund OpenOcean. Nina Gunell, Investment Associate at Open Ocean, recognized that although startups in their portfolio will be affected by SFDR (as OpenOcean will start to collect data from their portfolio companies), they don't have clear guidelines on when they should prioritize each of the countless ESG aspects as they grow. 

For an early-stage startup, this kind of uncertainty can take away the capacity to focus on more important things - surviving and thriving. At the same time, this can create a negative effect in the future - not considering any ESG risks at all. The trick is - there is time to think about each of the Principle Adverse Indicators (risk factors included in SFDR reporting - ESG risks). 

The timing depends on the size of the company, local legislation, employee, and expectations, as well as the industry. 

The good in people will surprise you, again and again

The people I've connected with this year have been beyond supportive, helpful, and, most importantly, honest about the real progress behind the scenes.

Companies still are expected to communicate their sustainability progress by focusing on the results and achievements, but what's left behind is the real struggle, the process, and the challenges among the way.

In many of my projects this year, it's been my interest to understand the pain points behind the polished marketing announcement and the best practices behind them. I'm beyond grateful for the people who have opened up and shared their knowledge and insights with me. It’s been a treat!

If you have any questions you would like to ask me or catch up, feel free to book a call with me using my Calend.ly here.