At 13books our guiding question is ‘will what a company is making make the boat go faster’? Is it a ‘must have’ or a ‘nice to have’? It helps us quieten the noise and prioritise what actually drives impact and value. At its core, sustainability regulations are meant to help us do exactly that – give us a framework to bring tangible positive impact. However the sheer amount of work they produce has created its own dilemma.
Day in the life of a sustainability analyst before Briink
Sustainability regulation is intended is to be the guiding current for all stakeholders to row towards the same goal. However, the sustainability reporting that comes with it should not be seen merely as an audit or compliance task. Rather, its true purpose is to drive action, accountability, and behavioural change by helping organisations understand ESG risks and opportunities. However, that intent has been lost and it’s easy to see why. Take CSRD which came into force this January – it currently requires 12 reporting standards, 86 disclosure requirements, over 100 KPIs and more than 1,000 data points. Over 50,000 EU companies need to carry out this analysis by the Jan 2025 deadline. This is for one set of regulation alone – now consider that most of these companies operate across multiple jurisdictions with each, their own set of rules. With 15 of G20 members implementing ESG regulations, we can quickly see how the associated reporting becomes unwieldy. Instead of speeding up the road to progress, those at the forefront of this work are at a standstill. Too much time is currently spent going through crucial albeit time consuming, repetitive tasks, leaving no time for people to focus on how we build and support resilient companies who can innovate for regeneration.
This is where Briink comes in. Its AI agent technology brings speed, efficiency, transparency, and productivity to the sustainability workforce. They are tackling the most pressing need for their 40+ enterprise clients – benchmarking and verifying ESG data.
Beyond the buzzwords
With each new version, you might ask why can’t ChatGPT do this? But it’s not so straightforward. ESG data is unstructured and dispersed across multiple formats and sources. Navigating its workflow requires specialised knowledge to find the gaps and spot the discrepancies. To combat greenwashing, the output needs to be traceable and reliable. Briink’s many users have tried generic solutions, but they fail in comparison. By leveraging domain-specific AI and LLMs, Briink’s finetuned vertical solution meets all these requirements whilst achieving over 90% accuracy, with their agents driving productivity at scale. Previously a governance assessment would take days to complete – with Briink this is whittled down to one hour’s work. Its users can now do what they do best and focus on high-impact analytical work which can create a more tangible difference.
AI and ESG – friends or foes?
As AI becomes more entwined in our everyday lives, it is clear what a powerful tool it can be for individuals and companies alike. But we mustn’t ignore the inconvenient truth – the infrastructure required to run such powerful models is resource intensive and has a large carbon footprint. Driving a positive change for people and the planet is one of Briink’s core missions, and AI is the enabler to achieve this goal at scale. Managing this inherent conflict may be a challenge but is one that the Briink founders are more than qualified to handle. They have spent their careers reconciling competing needs whilst ensuring they bring value to their customers. AI for impact was Tomas’s guiding principle as he led product at ROSS Intelligence, which aimed to leverage AI to bridge the access to justice gap. Sam has spent the last decade on commercial applications of AI and ML. Together, they are building a company focussed on delivering results by aligning AI’s benefits with sustainability. With their balanced approach, we understand clearly why some of the world’s largest audit firms, corporates, and funds trust Briink to help them on this mission critical journey.
Charting the course ahead
With Sam and Tomas at the helm, we are proud to join them on their vision for a more sustainable society and planet. They have grown 6x over the last year and with regulatory winds in their sails, we’re excited for what’s to come.
To end on a final boat analogy – Briink is on the lookout for new crewmates, so have a peek at their careers page!
