Data-based decisions for a sustainable future with Codio Impact

A sustainable orientation of a company can lead to a long-term competitive advantage. Data plays a crucial role in this regard and teaches how and where companies should take initiative to have the greatest impact, both economically and sustainably. With its platform, the startup Codio Impact supports companies in making sustainable and data-driven decisions. Co-Founder and CEO Tilman Kemper explains the startup's solution and what advantages it offers industrial companies in an interview.

How would you explain your solution in three sentences to a professional colleague from the industrial sector? 

The Codio Impact Platform is a cloud-based software for recording, structuring and managing relevant sustainability data. We focus on industrial companies in the European circular economy, which enables us to provide data-based and, above all, sector-specific recommendations for action. With us, ESG data gains operational relevance and is simultaneously used to cover current guidelines (e.g. CSRD) and standards (e.g. ESRS).

What problem motivated you to start the company? 

How do you make sustainability credibly measurable? There was no good answer. My co-founder, Sonja Radovic-Paul, is an experienced lawyer and has conducted many due diligence processes in environmental law. At the same time, she has been campaigning for equal rights for years. I myself grew up in the waste management industry, which meant that topics relating to recycling and circular flows of raw materials were always topical. After deep market research, it became clear that there was no answer to the question and the associated problem in the industry either - and so we founded Codio Impact with the aim of combining resilient ESG data, regulatory requirements and the circular economy.

How do you convince an industrial company to set up a pilot project with you? 

Sustainability is known to be extremely wide-ranging and still not very standardised. As Codio Impact, we do not believe that there can be a "one-size-fits-all" solution - you cannot compare sustainability and digital processes in the tourism industry with the construction industry. Therefore, we are convinced that only an industry focus really makes sense; for us, these are companies in the European circular economy (more on the customer profile later).
So why set up a pilot project with us? There are two simple reasons: (1) focus/expertise and (2) applicability.

(1) As described, we focus on specific industries and thus have sector-specific expertise. Our team has excellent legal and industry expertise and we understand the specifics and regulatory requirements of our clients' industries. At the same time, we can make better use of data and use our algorithms to further develop our industry benchmarking, which means that the software gains long-term value with each client. (2) Our software is ready to use, intuitive and future-proofed. A pilot project can be launched in a matter of hours while intuitively engaging responsible people from different departments, reducing the complexity of data collection and control. Regulatory requirements (e.g. CSRD/ESRS) are always up to date.

Who are your current customer (groups) and who do you want your potential customers to be? 

Our customers are large, medium-sized German companies and corporates, often with branches in several European countries. Due to the easy implementation of our solution, our software is already used by our customers in 17 countries (e.g. France, Netherlands, Switzerland). As already described, we focus on industrial companies of the Circular Economy, which combines industries such as construction, packaging, materials, waste management as well as certain machinery and plant manufacturers.

Where do you see yourself in 3 years and how can 5-HT support you?

Over the next 3 years, we will offer the leading solution for operational sustainability in the European Circular Economy. Thanks to automated data collection, sector-specific benchmarking and intelligent recommendations for action, the Codio Impact software will become the central tool for non-financial process control. The 5-HT Digital Hub supports as a strong partner through networking, intros and exchange of experiences: sustainability can only be solved collaboratively.