Q Insights #002

Q Insights is brought to you by KanataQ

This week’s read time: 7 minutes

Welcome to this edition of Q Insights — our bi-weekly newsletter for sustainability and ESG professionals looking to make smarter solution decisions.

Each edition brings you concise, relevant updates on the tools, trends, and technologies driving the sustainable transition. We filter the noise, highlight what matters, and help you navigate the sustainability solution landscape with clarity and confidence.

In this edition, we’ll cover:

• Q Intelligence: Try Before You Buy: Freemium Wins with ESG Buyers 📊

• Q Interview: From Trust Scores to Real-Time Market Intel: The Tech Powering KanataQ’s Platform (An interview with Rich Munro, CTO at KanataQ) 💭

• Q Signals: Companies Double Down on Carbon Markets with Focus on High-Quality Removals, EU considers further amendments in sustainability reporting rules, and other news 🗞️

• KanataQ Corner: KanataQ now hosts 300+ trusted sustainability and ESG solutions! 🎉 + New Listed Providers and Enhanced Trust Score ✅

• and other insights 💡

Q INTELLIGENCE

Across almost every ESG master category, solution providers offering free trials or freemium access are seeing more engagement. Buyers clearly want to test-drive before they commit - especially in hot categories like Climate Action, Reporting & Disclosure, and Sustainable Operations.

Only Strategic Advisory Services bucks the trend (for obvious business model reasons), and Circular Economy has too little data to draw firm conclusions.

With ESG budgets under pressure, low-friction access is now a competitive edge. Freemium isn't just a nice-to-have - it’s starting to look like a must-have.

KanataQ’s Intelligence Portal tracks these trends in real time - helping solution providers fine-tune pricing, packaging, and positioning.

Q INTERVIEW

This week’s guest:

Rich Munro (CTO at KanataQ)

You’re building the engine behind KanataQ - what’s your high-level vision for the company, and how do you see it evolving over the next 2–3 years? 

In the next 2–3 years, we see KanataQ becoming the go-to platform for ESG discovery and decision-making. We are making it easier for buyers to find trusted, high-impact solutions, and for solution providers to grow with real data, visibility, and low-cost qualified leads.

With tools like the Trust Score and upcoming Intelligence Portal, we’re moving the market from noise to real transparency - so the best solutions rise faster, build what’s needed only, and buyers make smarter, faster choices. In the end it's about saving both sides time so they can concentrate on what really matters!   

As CTO of KanataQ, you’re building for both sides of the market - solution buyers and solution providers. How do you balance the product roadmap between these two user groups, and where are you seeing the strongest traction right now? 

Balancing the needs of both sides in a two-sided platform is never easy. 

We started with solution providers - where we already had strong networks. This focus helped us launch quickly with ~100 solutions. Like any marketplace, you need inventory first. No products, means no buyers.

Once we hit 200 solution providers (which many buyers thought was the entire ESG solutions market - but is only ~3%), we shifted most of our focus to the demand side. For example, we rebuilt the directory from the ground up, shaped by feedback from buyers. 

This focus is working well - we’re averaging more than 1,000 weekly visits, and that number is growing fast. But we’re just getting started. We’ve got a wave of buyer-focused features coming soon - that will make KanataQ the only place buyers need to go for ESG solution discovery. 

KanataQ’s Trust Score introduces a novel layer of transparency for ESG and Sustainability solution selection. How is the score calculated, and what datasets or criteria are used to ensure it reflects real credibility and impact? 

The KanataQ Trust Score is designed to bring clarity to a crowded market. After months of testing and industry consultation, we’ve developed a scoring model that reflects real-world credibility - not just marketing claims.

Buyers told us the challenge isn’t just discovering new solution providers - it’s knowing who they can trust. Many default to legacy players simply because they’re a “safe” choice. Our goal with the Trust Score is to change that by giving buyers the confidence to consider innovative, high-impact solutions - backed by transparent real-time data.

The score is based on a growing set of weighted factors, with the most important being client endorsements. These are simple, one-click confirmations from clients that a solution provider has delivered value to. We also look at revenue status, years in business, social media followers, engagement data on the platform, and how often the profile is updated. A full breakdown, including weightings can be found at: https://kanataq.com/trust_score_summary.

Based on our data, solution providers with a high Trust Score (75%+) get 7x more profile views and up to 3x more sales leads. So this isn’t just a credibility tool - it’s a growth lever.  

Beyond marketplace functionality, you’re building out the KanataQ Intelligence Portal. What will this unlock for premium-listed providers, and how do you envision it shifting the sustainability tech landscape?

The KanataQ Intelligence Portal is going to be a complete game-changer - for solution providers and the sustainability market as a whole.

For premium-listed solution providers, it unlocks real-time insights into buyer behaviour: who’s viewing their profile, what is being searched to find them, what matters most to buyers, how much they’re willing to pay, and where demand is growing over time.

Solution providers can also see how the market is pricing and positioning itself - across categories, regions, and more than 10 other variables. They can test new strategies and track what actually moves the needle.

It’s not just for solution providers though, investors (like VCs and private equity) can also tap into these insights to see which categories are heating up and which ones to avoid.

We’re shifting from static listings to live, actionable data. No more guesswork. No more building or investing in what the market doesn’t want. The efficiency gains here are huge.

So if you want to cut through the noise and stay ahead, the Intelligence Portal is for you. It’s coming soon - contact us at [email protected] so you don’t miss out.

Q SIGNALS

Latest developments, insights, and trends

📣 Got news to share?

If you’re a solution provider, we’d love to feature your updates in upcoming issues. Send your latest news, product launches, funding rounds, or new features to [email protected] — and we’ll spotlight them in Q Signals.

📊 New tools, features, and funding rounds from solution providers

Datamaran (KanataQ listed) launched Harbor, a new networking platform designed to help sustainability professionals connect, access expert insights, and manage growing regulatory and stakeholder pressures. Harbor offers virtual and in-person events, exclusive expert insights and thought leadership, global sustainability regulatory updates specifically tailored to professionals navigating rising stakeholder expectations and evolving compliance demands, and much more. (link)

ICE (KanataQ listed) launched its new ICE Global Climate Risk Solution to help investors assess physical climate risks in their portfolios using advanced geospatial data. The tool provides forward-looking climate risk scores and metrics for corporate and sovereign assets, leveraging data on over 1.6 billion buildings worldwide. Covering more than 3 million corporate asset locations across 20,000 companies, ICE plans to expand to 9 million locations. (link)

GIST Impact (KanataQ listed) partnered with Global Canopy to integrate deforestation risk data into its ESG analytics platform, enhancing how investors and financial institutions assess environmental risks. The collaboration incorporates Global Canopy’s Forest IQ and Forest 500 datasets—covering over 2,400 companies and 150 financial institutions—into GIST Impact’s tools to improve the identification and management of deforestation exposure in portfolios. (link)

Novisto (KanataQ listed) raised $27 million in a Series C round to enhance its ESG platform and expand across Europe, citing a major market opportunity amid evolving regulations. Founded in 2019, the Montreal-based firm enables global enterprises to manage ESG data and streamline sustainability reporting. (link)

📑 Industry Insights, Regulatory & Standards Update

🟢 Despite political volatility, companies are doubling down on voluntary carbon markets by prioritizing high-quality carbon removal credits and long-term climate strategies. According to Patch’s 2025 The Hidden State The of the Voluntary Carbon Market report, the number of unique companies retiring carbon credits rose by 6% post-U.S. election, even though the total volume of retired credits fell by 17%. This shift reflects a broader industry move from cheap offsetting to more impactful carbon contribution approaches, where fewer but higher-quality credits—like biochar and reforestation—are favored. Notably, 44% of buyers requested removals-only portfolios, and 79% sought BeZero-rated BBB or higher projects, revealing a clear preference for credible, science-aligned carbon removal over traditional avoidance credits. The market is also experiencing a supply crunch for premium credits, especially engineered and nature-based removals, as buyers increasingly pursue multi-year offtake agreements to secure long-term access. Biochar remains the most in-demand project, while reforestation and afforestation are highly sought after but under-supplied due to stringent quality and pricing criteria. In related news, the EU and UK announced plans to work towards linking their carbon markets, enabling mutual recognition of emissions allowances and aligning climate policies post-Brexit.

🇪🇺 The European Parliament’s ECON Committee is considering amendments that would drastically reduce the number of companies subject to the EU’s sustainability reporting and due diligence rules—going even further than the European Commission’s Omnibus I proposal. According to a draft that is circulating in the media, the committee suggests raising the compliance threshold for both the CSRD and CSDDD to companies with over 3,000 employees and €450 million in revenue, downscaling coverage beyond the Commission’s already dramatic cut. It also proposes capping mandatory ESRS data points at 100 and removing the CSDDD’s requirement for climate transition plans. The proposals illustrate deep divisions within Parliament over the future of EU sustainability regulation.

Meanwhile, a new survey of over 1,000 companies provides detailed insights into how businesses view the EU’s CSRD and proposed Omnibus revisions. The majority of respondents (84%) expressed support for the EU’s broader sustainability goals, and 61% said they are satisfied with the CSRD in its current form. Only 25% voiced support for the Omnibus proposal, with 70% reporting feelings of confusion, frustration, or disappointment about it. The concern that CSRD harms competitiveness was the least cited of six potential barriers. Most companies, including those with 500–1,000 employees, did not support raising the CSRD threshold to 1,000 employees, favoring a lower cut-off. The results offer a structured snapshot of business sentiment and indicate that many companies are willing to engage with sustainability policy development.

📑 Climate disclosure nonprofit CDP is undergoing a major strategic overhaul that includes cutting around 20% of its workforce, aiming to become a leaner, tech-enabled organization focused on reducing company reporting burdens and enhancing innovation. While CDP saw record engagement in 2024 with over 22,700 companies disclosing data, the year also marked a sharp drop in CDP scores—”driven not by political backlash, but by a significant, under-communicated methodology shift that increased reporting complexity”, according to the sustainability community on LinkedIn. Many companies struggled to meet new data demands, leading to incomplete submissions and frustration over rising costs with limited perceived value.

KANATAQ CORNER

What’s new on KanataQ?

🎉 300 Solutions Milestone!

KanataQ now hosts 300+ trusted sustainability and ESG solutions making it easier than ever for companies to find the right partner and move faster on impact. Explore KanataQ today!

📈 KanataQ Growing Family

Here is the list of providers that joined KanataQ since our last edition: Anthesis Group (Strategic Advisory Services), Metrikflow (Climate Action), Carbon Jar (Climate Action), Karomia (Reporting & Disclosure), Rechip (Reporting & Disclosure), Kanop (Biodiversity & Natural Capital), Clarasight (Climate Action), North Star Carbon & Impact (Climate Action), and YuzeData (Digital Solutions & Analytics).

✅ Enhanced Trust Score

After six months of extensive testing and industry consultations, we’ve updated KanataQ Trust Score to enhance its usefulness and accuracy. As a result of this update, we’ve expanded the number of factors under which the Trust Score is calculated from 3 to 6, and adjusted their respective weighting to ensure a proper balance between accuracy, timeliness, and fairness. For more information on KanataQ Trust Score, click here.

Come join us

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