Q Insights #008

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This week’s read time: 5 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: What the Market Wants vs. What Providers Say 🔍

• Q Thought Piece: Sustainable Value Creation Without Capture Is Charity - thought piece by Nawar Alsaadi 💬

• Q Signals: CDP: every $1 spent on mitigating physical climate risks can yield up to $21 in returns, Tanso raises €12 million, and other news 🟢

• KanataQ Corner: New Listed Providers and KanataQ Co-Founder announced ✅

• and other insights 💡

Q INTELLIGENCE

🔍 What the Market Wants vs. What Providers Say

We recently ran a comparative analysis across 360+ sustainability solution provider descriptions and a dataset of top sustainability-related search terms on KanataQ. The goal? To identify alignment and disconnects between how providers position their solutions and what decision-makers are actively searching for.

📊 Top Findings:

1. Providers like to use the word “sustainability”, likely as a way to distance themselves from ESG backlash, but users search for “ESG” far more than they search for "sustainability".

2. References to “data” and “reporting” are heavily used by providers, but these terms appear less frequently in actual user search behaviour.

3. Words like “carbon” and “climate” are commonly used by both sides. This suggests the supply of carbon/climate solutions is roughly aligned with demand on KanataQ.

4. Terms such as “risk” and “compliance” are actively searched, yet underrepresented in provider descriptions; perhaps an opportunity for solutions providers to close the gap.

📌 Takeaways:

• If you're a sustainability solution provider, your words matter. Consider aligning your messaging more closely with what decision-makers are searching for.

• If you're a buyer or investor, KanataQ helps you navigate a wide array of solutions, while also revealing where the market may be under-serving key needs such as risk management or providing solutions for specific sustainability frameworks.

This is just one way we're using data to help build a smarter, more responsive sustainability solutions ecosystem.

🔵 Solutions providers, solutions buyers, or sustainable investors/VCs interested in accessing our upcoming KanataQ intelligence portal for more analysis of this type are welcome to email us at [email protected]

Q THOUGHT PIECE

Sustainable Value Creation Without Capture Is Charity

By Nawar Alsaadi 

In this post, I’d like to tackle an aspect of sustainable value creation that’s often neglected by those promoting the financial value-creating nature of sustainability, namely the topic of sustainable value capture.
 
Broadly speaking, companies that integrate sustainability into their operations can create financial value through three channels: cost reduction, risk reduction, and business growth. Example: Developing low-carbon products that open new markets (business growth), improving energy and resource efficiency to reduce costs (cost reduction), and business model innovation to enhance resilience (risk reduction). This is basically what we call sustainable financial value creation.
 
On the other hand, sustainable financial value capture is about ensuring that a company retains a fair share of the financial value it helps create. Financial value capture requires designing business models that allow firms to retain the benefits of their sustainable investments. This may mean securing patents for sustainable technologies, leveraging brand reputation for competitive advantage, or using superior sustainable performance to attract capital at lower costs.
 
When companies fail to capture value, they risk acting as sustainable charities, creating positive externalities for society without strengthening their own financial position. In essence, sustainable financial value-creating initiatives lacking a sensible value capture strategy are indistinguishable from business philanthropy.
 
Take an example of a company that heavily invests in developing a new sustainable product line, using recycled materials, ethical sourcing, and a lower carbon footprint. The products are likely to deliver clear societal and environmental benefits. However, if the company fails to effectively communicate these benefits to customers, it will fail to capture the associated business benefits, such as a better reputation and a larger market share. Or take, for example, a food producer that invests in sustainable farming practices with its suppliers, improving soil health and reducing environmental impact. Yet it signs only short-term purchasing contracts with those suppliers, thus losing long-term access to quality sustainable supplies.
 
For a company to truly benefit from the financial value creation benefits of sustainability, it needs to develop holistic sustainable business strategies that don’t only create financial value in a broad sense but also ensure that this value is effectively captured by the business itself. This last point might seem self-evident, but it’s not so to many sustainable business professionals and sustainable solutions providers alike. This is why, for example, it is not enough to sell a company a carbon management tool without combining the tool with robust visualization tools to communicate that benefit to the stakeholders.

No value creation can be sustained if it can’t be captured.

Q SIGNALS

Latest developments, insights, and trends

The new ‘Disclosure Dividend 2025’ report from CDP quantifies the business case for tackling environmental risks — and signals growing demand for sustainability solutions. Based on disclosures from companies representing two-thirds of global market capitalization, CDP estimates large corporates face $6.5 trillion in potential climate, water, and forest-related impacts, compared to $1.4 trillion to mitigate them. With every $1 spent on climate resilience potentially returning up to $21 (averaging $7), the opportunity for providers — from water efficiency and risk analytics to supply chain traceability — is significant.

CDP finds 67% of corporates and SMEs have identified environmental risks with substantive financial effects, and 90% of large companies have or will soon have systems to address them. Top risks include policy shifts, acute physical events, and long-term environmental changes, with manufacturing, services, and materials showing the highest revenue exposures. For buyers, this heightens the need for robust supplier capability; for vendors, it underscores the value of delivering measurable impact, compliance readiness, and lifecycle risk management.

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

Tanso (KanataQ listed) raised €12 million in Series A funding to expand its sustainability software for industrial companies. Founded in 2021, Tanso offers a cloud-based platform that automates environmental compliance and carbon accounting, helping companies meet EU regulations like CSRD. The software is used by 300+ companies in over 40 countries, including Kärcher and Paulaner. (link)

Neural Alpha (KanataQ listed) launched Responsible Capital 2.0, its largest update yet, aimed at lowering ESG data costs, expanding coverage, and improving sustainability intelligence. Key upgrades include a beta Sustainability Indicators Module mapping 1,000+ ESG and financial metrics to major frameworks, Peer Comparison for benchmarking against sector peers, a 20% AI performance boost for faster, deeper portfolio analysis, improved user experience, and a new marketing site with use cases and case studies. (link)

ISS Sustainable Solutions acquired geospatial risk modeling firm Sust Global to enhance investors’ access to AI-driven climate and nature-related physical risk insights. The deal expands ISS Stoxx’s climate risk assessment tools, integrating Sust Global’s geospatial modeling engine with proprietary asset data to better map risks to companies and portfolios. Founded in 2020, Sust Global serves global investors and will continue supporting existing clients while scaling its products to address growing institutional demand for advanced physical risk analytics.

🎙️ Podcasts & Interviews

One of our KEPs, Wai-Shin Chan, was a podcast guest on ED4S (KanataQ listed) Sustainability in Motion podcast.

Wai-Shin is a Sustainability Advisor to Metis ESG, Director of Research at Asia Research & Engagement (ARE), and former Global Head of ESG Research at HSBC.

They explore:

• The challenges of sustainability in a region with diverse cultures, languages, and legal systems

• Where Asian markets are leading on climate action

• Key areas where progress is still needed

• Insights on ESG trends and climate risk in one of the world’s most dynamic regions.

🎧 Listen to the full conversation on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

KANATAQ CORNER

What’s new on KanataQ?

📈 KanataQ Growing Family

Here is the list of providers that joined KanataQ since our last edition: AreaHub (Digital Solutions & Analytics), Carbon+Alt+Delete (Climate Action), Climate Arc (Climate Action), CO2 Carbon Credits (Strategic Advisory Services), Dasseti (Digital Solutions & Analytics), Fractional Sustainability Leaders Collective (Social & Human Capital), Impact Dragonfly (Strategic Advisory Services), NorthStar ESG Advisory (Strategic Advisory Services), Polecat (Digital Solutions & Analytics), Resordinate (Digital Solutions & Analytics).

🔵 KanataQ has a new Co-Founder

We’re pleased to welcome Ardit Naka, who joins KanataQ as Co-Founder and Chief Growth & Content Officer. Ardit will be leading growth, content, and communications - scaling our reach, amplifying our partners’ voices, and driving the visibility of innovative sustainability solutions worldwide.

Come join us

Are you a sustainability solution provider? Join KanataQ, the platform where sustainability solution providers connect with high-intent buyers. Generate quality leads, gain market insights, and maximize ROI with our commission-free model. List with us today.

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