Takeaways

• Upright has launched a new AI model that helps businesses and investors measure sustainability impacts, risks, and opportunities using scientific evidence.
• The model supports real-time analysis across areas such as climate risk, double materiality, EU Taxonomy, and UN Sustainable Development Goals.
• By converting sustainability factors into monetary values and enabling scenario modeling, the tool aims to improve future-focused decision-making.

Impact data company Upright has introduced a new AI model designed to help companies, investors, and advisors better understand and measure sustainability impacts, sustainability risks, and sustainability opportunities.

The company said the new large language model (LLM) differs from many existing approaches because it relies on scientific evidence rather than depending mainly on corporate sustainability disclosures or general-purpose AI systems. The technology is intended to provide a more objective way of evaluating how businesses affect society and the environment while also identifying potential risks and opportunities.

According to Upright, the AI model will serve as the foundation of its platform, allowing users to conduct real-time assessments of companies, investment funds, and entire portfolios. The platform is designed to help organizations make more informed decisions by translating sustainability-related information into measurable insights.

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Annu Nieminen, Co-founder and CEO of Upright, said the sustainability sector has long relied on companies reporting and evaluating their own performance. She explained that Upright’s new approach starts with scientific research and uses it to calculate impacts, risks, and opportunities in monetary terms.

The company believes this shift can move sustainability from being primarily a reporting exercise to becoming a practical decision-making tool. By enabling scenario modeling, organizations can explore how different business choices may influence future outcomes and financial performance.

The new impact quantification model can be used across a wide range of sustainability frameworks and assessments. Upright said it supports analyses related to double materiality, climate risk assessment, financial effects, net impact calculations, EU Taxonomy alignment, Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) Principal Adverse Impacts (PAIs), and UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) evaluations.

In addition to its built-in sustainability intelligence, the platform allows users to combine their own reports, operational data, and business information with Upright’s analysis tools. This capability can help organizations compare their performance with peers, evaluate sustainability risks, verify existing assessments, and review the evidence behind specific impact claims.

Juho Ojala, Co-founder and CTO of Upright, said measuring the size of sustainability impacts presents unique challenges because reliable reference data is often limited. He noted that general-purpose AI systems can sometimes generate convincing answers while producing inconsistent comparisons.

To address this issue, Upright developed its AI model to maintain consistency across assessments and ensure that conclusions remain grounded in scientific evidence. The company believes this approach can provide users with more reliable and transparent sustainability evaluations.

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As demand grows for credible sustainability data and regulatory requirements continue to evolve, tools that combine AI with evidence-based analysis are becoming increasingly important. Upright’s latest launch reflects a broader trend toward using advanced technology to improve how businesses and investors assess sustainability performance and long-term value creation.

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Source: ESGtoday