Cleture: Building the data infrastructure for sustainability

The original idea behind Cleture was rather straightforward – to help enterprises to make sustainability decisions based on more relevant and accurate data. Initially, we approached the challenge from the standpoint of environmental calculations – carbon accounting, product footprinting, water and regulation requirements. However, as soon as we began collaborating with actual companies, we understood that the calculation of these metrics is only the tip of the iceberg. The data used in those calculations were located across ERP, production systems, meters, spreadsheets, documents, and people. To perform any calculations, the companies needed to spend substantial efforts in collecting and verifying the data. It was the realization that changed our approach to building Cleture. Rather than extending our reporting capabilities, we went deep down to the enterprise stack. We created Connect to collect, structure, and validate the operational data. NetZero became the environmental intelligence layer which converts the data into carbon, water, product, and regulation calculations. The Control Tower became the layer of governance of sustainability performance, tracking of regulatory changes and converting the accumulated knowledge into decisions. We follow the same principle when applying AI technologies to our platform. Instead of putting an AI chatbot on our homepage, we use AI in places where it really reduces friction – understanding documents, improving data workflows, detecting anomalies, regulations analysis and assisting people in processing complex information. Our approach to sustainability evolved from the question: "How do we calculate sustainability?" To the question: "What infrastructure does an enterprise need to continuously understand and manage its sustainability impact?" And that is the challenge we aim to solve.