Know what a company can actually prove.
Sustainability Decision Intelligence for companies, investors and lenders.
No black-box ESG rating. No score hiding the contradictions.
Built on Sustainability Compass: Evidence to Value — the assessment framework being made publicly available in 2027 under CC BY 4.0.
What companies say is not what the evidence shows.
The Compass asks a fixed set of questions about strategy, governance, operations, environmental footprint, transition and value creation. For each one it returns what the company disclosed, the page it said it on, and whether that is enough to stand behind the claim.
Same companies. Same reports. Same year. Every question comes back with the proof, or with the name of what is missing — and a score that says whether this is a gap, work in progress, or enough evidence to back the claim.
CURRENT COMPASS ASSESSMENT CORPUS · EVERY CONCLUSION INSPECTABLE BACK TO SOURCE
Three jobs, on the same evidence, at the same time.
Sustainability questions usually get answered one report, one metric or one framework at a time. The Compass reads them together, because that is the only way the contradictions show up.
Does the evidence agree with itself?
It reads across reports, targets, metrics, financial information and periods, and checks whether the pieces line up — or whether a target moved, a baseline shifted, or a number in one section contradicts a number in another.
Does the whole business hold together?
It connects governance, capital, products, operations, supply chains, customers and nature, rather than analysing carbon or disclosure on its own. A strong climate target sitting next to unchanged capital allocation is a finding.
What does it mean for you?
The same fact becomes capital risk for an investor, a transformation priority for a CSO, an operational exposure for a CRO, and a purchasing issue for a customer. One assessment, read four ways.
It does not tell you whether a company is good at ESG.
It shows what the business creates, what it costs nature, whether that equation is changing, and whether the evidence supports the strategy. Then it translates that evidence into the decision that matters to you — whether you are allocating capital, transforming the company, managing risk, or deciding whom to do business with.
Four roles. Four questions.
Not a report you file — an evidence base you interrogate. On your own company, on a target, on a supplier, or across a portfolio.
Can we defend the strategy we claim to have?
See where ambition, governance, investment and execution reinforce each other — and where they contradict each other. Then see the gaps nobody in the sector has closed yet, and decide which ones are worth leading on.
Where does sustainability hit cash, capital and enterprise value?
Translate carbon, water, resources, waste and transition requirements into financial exposure, capital-allocation questions and value-creation pathways.
What should we actually change next?
Turn disclosure gaps into a prioritised roadmap. Benchmark competitors. Know what is proven, what is missing, and what evidence would change the assessment.
Which companies are genuinely prepared for transition?
Compare direction, delivery, integrity and environmental coherence across companies, using evidence already available in the public domain.
Carbon is one question. We ask all of them.
Everything read from the same body of company-authored disclosure, in a single reporting period.
Holistic
Climate · energy · water · pollution · biodiversity · materials · circularity · waste · supply chain · product use · end of life
Strategic
Board · targets · business model · growth · innovation · CapEx · procurement · resilience · value creation
Financial
Externality exposure · margin at risk · transition finance · cost of inaction · growth opportunities · strategic optionality
Auditable
Every answer shows the document and page it came from, how firm the reading is, where the wording is ambiguous, and which standard it satisfies.
The methodology is public. The intelligence is proprietary.
The score is the headline. The real output is the structured, sourced answer set behind it, ready to become a strategy document, a value-creation case, a gap list, or a year-over-year progress tracker, depending on what the moment calls for.
Sustainability Compass: Evidence to Value
Publicly available assessment framework for sustainability strategy and value creation.
Not a white paper. In 2027 the full documentation is made publicly available, so any analyst, academic or competitor can read exactly what is asked, why it is asked, and what it is worth.
- Every question, word for word
- The research each question is built on
- How the questions are weighted
Vela Sustainability Compass
Sustainability Decision Intelligence, built on that framework.
What it takes to run the framework against real documents, real portfolios and real deadlines.
- Reads the whole report, annexes and filings — not the summary
- Links each answer to the document and page it came from
- Says where the wording is ambiguous instead of guessing, and flags where the report contradicts itself
- Compares against peers, and against the same company last year
- Prices the footprint, tests the transition plan, rolls it up across a portfolio
Open framework, governed name. The CC BY 4.0 licence permits anyone to copy, adapt and commercially reuse the framework with attribution. Use of the Sustainability Compass name — and any claim that an assessment is official or certified — is governed separately by trademark, so openness never comes at the cost of integrity.
Built in a research group. Argued with in a classroom.
Originated through the Sustainability Strategy Barometer at CEDEP and developed further through research with the Financial Economics Institute at Claremont McKenna College. Continuously stress-tested with executives through teaching and live company assessments.
Mapped to major frameworks including ESRS, ISSB, TCFD, TNFD, GRI, SBTi and other transition and environmental standards.
Bring us a company. We will show you what it can prove.
Tell us which decision you are trying to make, and we will run it.