From data to decision: how technology is transforming sustainability management

The promise (and the paradox) of ESG data

‍

Since sustainability became a strategic subject, companies are awash in data: CSR spreadsheets, supplier audits, carbon balances, customer questionnaires, taxonomy, CSRD reporting... And yet, despite this profusion, the teams did not Never had it so much trouble managing their commitments.

‍

Data is scattered, redundant, heterogeneous, and often unusable for decision-making.

‍

The paradox is striking: we talk about transparency, but we remain trapped in Excel files. At Ascend Tech, we wanted to change that.

‍

Harnest: transforming raw data into usable intelligence

‍

We designed Harnest as a software infrastructure, not as a publishing tool. A platform that orchestrate sustainability data throughout their life cycle: from collection to validation, from action plan to decision.

‍

Concretely, Harnest makes it possible to:

• connect the repositories (CSRD, VSME, ISSB, SFDR, etc.),
• centralize indicators extra-financial
• follow the action plans and their evidence,
• generate the necessary deliverables (reports, datarooms, partner exchanges).
  
  

Our philosophy is simple: ESG data is only valuable if it can be linked, verified and shared.

‍

A sovereign and interoperable architecture

‍

We made the choice of a 100% sovereign architecture, hosted on Scaleway (French host), and integrating Mistral AI for use cases involving artificial intelligence.

‍

Why this choice?

‍

Because sustainability data is strategic data. It describes the structure, supply chain, and vulnerabilities of a business. It cannot therefore depend on non-European or opaque services.

‍

Thanks to Scaleway, we guarantee:

• The security And the confidentiality data,
• The traceability exchanges,
• And a interoperability compliant with European standards (ESAP, EUDI Wallet, etc.).
  
  

Harnest is not a “black box”: it is a open and auditable infrastructure.

‍

Useful AI: no magic, but increased rigor

‍

We use artificial intelligence in a sober and targeted way: not to “write reports for you”, but to saving you time and reliability.

‍

With Harnest, CSR departments no longer handle dozens of files, they talk to a real co-pilot. They can query their data in natural language, cross-reference internal information with external information, detect weak signals, and get contextualized recommendations.

‍

A client recently told me that when talking to Harnest, he had the impression that he was talking to a colleague who was doubly expert: a company expert and a sustainability expert.

‍

By asking questions like:” How are the sustainability challenges of my company addressed and, based on similar businesses in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, what ways of improvement do you propose? ”, he obtained a clear, comparative and actionable diagnosis in a few seconds.

‍

Harnest's AI therefore does not write “magic” reports: it helps to speed up the writing of your reports, by suggesting answers to narrative data points based on your data. But above all, it informs decisions, prioritizes issues, reinforces the quality of analyses and provides a reliable, comparable vision that facilitates decision-making.

‍

‍

The product as a common language

‍

Harnest is not just for ESG experts. It is designed for muster :

• The internal teams (CSR, finance, risks, HR, operations),
• The external partners (auditors, consultants, banks, insurers),
• And tomorrow, the public platforms (ESAP, national registers).
  
  

Our belief: sustainability is not a communication exercise, it is a extended business operating system. And this system must be based on a common language — that of data.

‍

From local data to global performance

‍

One of the strengths of our approach is its ability to adapt.

Thanks to the modularity of the Harnest data model, we can create:

• sectoral extensions (industry, defense, agri-food, health, etc.),
• or territorial (for example the VSME+ New Aquitaine, in co-construction with regional actors).
  
  

Each extension is based on the same base, but integrates specific indicators and IROs to the sector or to the territory. This allows better manage risks And of sharing solutions within the same ecosystem.

‍

This is how technology becomes a collective resilience tool.

‍

Indeed, businesses need a trusted infrastructure, able to connect their data, partners and commitments. And this is the mission we are pursuing with Harnest: to make ESG data a lever for management, financing and real impact.

‍

Data-driven sustainability is no longer a promise: it's a technological reality — and it is European.