ISS-Corporate Acquires Carbon Accounting Software Provider, SustainaBase: Executive Insights

ISS-Corporate, a leading provider of compensation, governance, cyber risk monitoring, and sustainability offerings to help companies improve shareholder value and reduce risk, last month announced the acquisition of SustainaBase, a provider of carbon accounting and data management software solutions for corporate sustainability reporting. In a new interview, Head of ISS-Corporate Marija Kramer and SustainaBase CEO Gaida Zirkelbach outline how this exciting development advances ISS-Corporate’s position as a holistic provider of sustainability solutions for corporates.

Gaida Zirkelbach: SustainaBase is a provider of carbon accounting and data management software solutions, supporting regulatory and voluntary reporting. Our platform streamlines greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reporting and helps users develop a sound data infrastructure. Our entire team is excited to join the ISS-Corporate family, and we look forward to helping thousands of companies develop, manage, report and act on their carbon footprint with credible, auditable data.  

Marija Kramer: SustainaBase’s SaaS platform delivers a holistic carbon accounting solution to our clients, providing a foundational pillar of support as companies set out to understand, measure, and act on their carbon footprint. The addition of SustainaBase allows us to more fully aid clients throughout their sustainability journey, beginning with strategy development and guidance through conducting double materiality assessments and reporting framework gap analysis; providing them with software solutions to manage and track their sustainability data; and technical solutions to calculate their GHG emissions and climate risk assessments. 

GZ: Carbon accounting refers to a framework of methods used to measure and track the amount of GHG emissions a company produces. Evolving regulatory compliance, including the SEC’s climate disclosure rules, California SB 253, and the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), is a primary driver of the need for carbon accounting, but other factors—such as investor demand for verifiable data, customer calls for transparency, and supply chain alignment—are becoming increasingly important. To stay competitive, companies must go beyond compliance, preparing for investor scrutiny, meeting stakeholder values, and managing reputation risks.  

MK: SustainaBase’s carbon accounting software bolsters our emissions data collection and reporting capacities, allowing us to support clients more holistically in CSRD-aligned reporting. Our entire suite of sustainability solutions benefits from more accurate carbon data and an enhanced ability to respond to climate regulations – furthering an integrated sustainability offering that combines data management and regulatory reporting capabilities with deep expertise in specialized capabilities. We believe that audit ready sustainability data will become an integrated part of corporate financial reporting and our union with SustainaBase will support our clients to meet these needs. 

MK: New sustainability regulations on the rise globally build on two decades of multi-stakeholder initiatives that have defined expectations around environmental, social, and governance disclosures as well as minimum standards around corporate conduct and performance. At ISS-Corporate, we continue to support our clients in staying abreast of these evolving expectations and in preparing for new obligations. We leverage technology to enable time and resource-efficient workflows for sustainability management and regulatory reporting. Our clients have been asking for increased support specifically around GHG inventories and climate change management, both topics which regulation across all regions has prioritized and which have been areas of focus for investors and lenders. In SustainaBase, we found a partner that brings deep expertise and a proven solution for carbon accounting – and a team with a fantastic work ethic, vision, and culture. Our integrated teams will endeavor to help our clients navigate transformative market developments and leverage current and new sustainability frameworks to increase business resilience.