Sustainability Assessments Are Now Driving Real Decision-making: Akash Keshav, Co-founder & CEO, Sprih
In an interview with Responsible Us, Keshav discusses carbon border regulations, certifications, and more.
Sustainability should be like the Kumbh, where no one needs to guide you; you just know the path, says Akash Keshav, Co-founder and CEO of Sprih. With evolving regulations, increasing investor scrutiny, and the undeniable impact of climate change, companies are shifting from compliance-driven reporting to strategic, long-term sustainability planning.
In an interview with Responsible Us, Keshav discusses carbon border regulations, certifications, and more.
What led you to start this venture, and was it a planned decision or something that evolved over time?
It all started unintentionally. After leaving my job, I spent time with a nonprofit, handling funding and operations. I kept hearing questions about monetisation and impact measurement, which highlighted a real gap in sustainability practices.
As I researched, I realised many companies lacked a starting point, while evolving global regulations added pressure. There was no strong solution to bridge this gap. That’s when my co-founders and I, all from technical backgrounds, decided to turn our passion into something meaningful. What began as an experiment soon became a full-fledged company.
We officially started integrating AI into Sprih on 24 September, but before that, we weren’t heavily reliant on it. The reason is simple—AI is often misused and overhyped, and we wanted to be transparent. Unless our product was truly AI-driven, we wouldn’t claim it was. We dedicated nearly a year to research, resource allocation, and funding before reaching a point where we could confidently say our product is AI-powered.
How is Sprih different from existing solutions in the market?
One key distinction is that AI in Sprih goes beyond data management. Many platforms focus solely on organising data, but that’s just one aspect of what we do. We are building small yet powerful AI-driven solutions, and one of our biggest breakthroughs has been in handling sustainability data at scale.
Over 50,000 corporations have placed sustainability in data; yet the system did not achieve that solely using web scrapping. It tends to analyze over 100,000 reports, provides insightful understanding, and organizes it into a structure that facilitates sustainability reporting for companies. Since sustainability reporting is evolving and no formal standard has yet been adopted, this major challenge required deep learning and artificial intelligence.
Another key differentiator is how we apply AI to supply chain management. Suppliers receive hundreds of sustainability data requests from companies and customers. Manually responding is time-consuming and complex, so many suppliers ignore them unless there’s a direct business benefit. Meanwhile, companies requesting data need structured, standardised reporting, not multiple inconsistent formats.
This is where Sprih bridges the gap. Our system allows suppliers to publish sustainability data in any format—a report, a video, or other documentation. AI then processes the raw data, structures it, and aligns it with the required reporting standards. What used to take days now happens in just minutes.
On the customer side, Sprih provides flexibility in defining custom assessment frameworks. Different suppliers have varying reporting structures based on business type, industry, and regulatory requirements. Our AI ensures that no matter how complex the input, it is converted into a structured, standardised format, helping businesses meet compliance requirements efficiently.
With these capabilities, Sprih is not just another AI-driven sustainability tool-it is solving real-world challenges in sustainability data management, reporting, and supply chain transparency. So, these are the kinds of use cases we are developing with AI.
Data quality has always been a priority for us. We have been ensuring data integrity and applying quality checks since day one. However, these are more complex use cases where AI plays a significant role.
We have always been an AI-driven company, but our focus is on creating something meaningful beyond just a data product. Now, if a customer operates across 100+ locations, they receive close to 3,000 data points every month. Without AI, maintaining data quality and assessing its accuracy would be impossible. That's why we have developed AI-powered data validation to ensure reliability and consistency. These are some of the more concrete applications we are working on.
Have you developed any kind of application or tool for customers?
Yes, but we don’t enforce any specific format or template. Customers can upload their existing Excel sheets or other formatted data, and our system will automatically process it. There are no restrictions on input data formats.
We also encourage integration with existing systems—if a company is already capturing data through a particular platform, they can seamlessly integrate it with ours.
Our goal is to reduce manual effort in data collection while ensuring compliance and standardization. Data can be uploaded in any format, even as an image, where our system uses OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to extract and structure relevant data efficiently.
How do you ensure 95 per cent accuracy in emissions tracking and reporting?
Our system achieves 95 per cent accuracy through a multi-layered data validation process. It begins with data quality checks—if any data points are missing or inconsistent, the system automatically flags them. We use AI-driven anomaly detection to identify deviations, ensuring emissions data aligns with industry standards.
This process minimises human errors and helps companies report emissions and sustainability metrics with confidence and accuracy. If supporting proof for uploaded data is missing, the system flags it. If an approved reference exists, it validates and manages the numbers, reducing human intervention and errors.
While we ensure strict data quality protocols, we also acknowledge that intent matters. If someone deliberately manipulates data, no system can completely prevent it—just as financial disclosures can be tampered with. However, for those committed to transparency, our system provides strong checks and balances.
To maintain data integrity, we track who is uploading, entering, and approving data. Our approval workflow allows headquarters to review and approve facility-level data before it is used in calculations, preventing inaccuracies from being reported.
Another crucial factor is the reporting framework itself. Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) guidelines have changed twice in the last two years, and further revisions are expected. Without an updated system, reporting errors are inevitable. Our modular, building-block approach ensures continuous alignment with the latest frameworks.
A key element of emissions reporting is the emission factor, which determines how a unit of energy consumption translates into carbon emissions. We regularly update these values to maintain accuracy. In the last five years, the number of revisions in emission factors has nearly matched the total revisions of the previous 40 years—showing how rapidly the industry is evolving. Previously, India updated emission factors every 10 years, but now, updates occur annually.
How are companies benefiting from Sprih?
One of the most tangible impacts we have seen is how companies shift their approach after engaging with us. Initially, they focus on BRSR, CSRD (corporate sustainability reporting directive), and regulatory reporting, but once we unlock the black box of sustainability data, it evolves beyond compliance—becoming a strategic discussion at the board level.
Traditionally, sustainability assessments were seen as a cost center, not a business enabler. We are changing this perception by demonstrating how structured sustainability data can drive real decision-making and action.
A data-driven approach unlocks significant benefits. For example, solar deployment is a low-hanging fruit, but transitioning to energy efficiency solutions requires capital expenditure (CapEx). However, companies must recognise how these investments translate into long-term financial gains.
Carbon taxes and internal carbon pricing will be compulsory in very short order, and they will affect financial reporting. Companies should already be getting ready in order to offset those risks. There is a commercial risk too - companies trading with European enterprises must now comply with stringent sustainability regulations, as Europe is a pioneer in sustainability mandates. We help companies navigate through such compliance hurdles while realising direct business benefits.
India is simultaneously taking a firm stand on sustainability. The country is not only following the global trend but also creating its own path concerning sustainability policies. In fact, clean energy promotion and renewable energy project support have been heavily featured in this year's budgetary allocations. India is moving toward energy self-sufficiency, which means less dependency on fossil fuels, and speeding up the journey toward sustainability.
This shift is also why carbon border regulations (CB) and global regulatory bodies are enforcing stricter measures. There have been quite a few clarion calls on sustainability from the highest levels of government, including the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). Proactive companies today are, therefore, both reducing climate risks and staying ahead of regulations in India and elsewhere.
We are functioning globally, reaching customers from the USA, Europe, or beyond. This alignment with global sustainability frameworks gives credence to our solutions as truly futuristic sitting on the cusp of international regulations.
In the certification business, some certifications are good for manufacturing, logistics, and finance; and as far as certifications across industries go, is there one universal certification for all sectors, or is there some hierarchy among them?
Certifications have different purposes; that is why what matters to certain companies is changing from certificates to useful sustainability data. Since sustainability is a never-ending process, merely getting certified will not suffice.
Nevertheless, they still have their worth in identifying ineffectiveness within firms. Achieving LEED certification or energy audit certification would require rigorous audits of energy, water, and waste. These audits tend to shed light on new inefficiencies that would save costs and optimize performance.
However, in other cases, they may not be essential, and it depends on customer needs and industry standards. For example, we have SOC 2 certification because it is required by our clients in the banking and financial sectors for security and compliance purposes.
For hospitality, a green building certification is relevant because it assesses energy efficiency and sustainable building operation. An excellent certification for a well-deserving company in that sector would be LEED.
In the financial sector (BFSI), there is no single mandatory sustainability certification. However, in European markets, there is Article 8, which applies to green investment funds. If a fund qualifies under Article 8, it becomes eligible for investments from pension and sovereign wealth funds. However, Article 8 is a regulatory classification, not a certification.
Ultimately, the choice of certification depends on the sector, business model, and customer expectations. Companies must evaluate industry requirements and regulatory frameworks before selecting the right certification approach.
If a company files its BRSR report annually, does it still need certifications?
Not necessarily. Usually, regulators cannot require specific certifications for all compliance-related activities. They do require that companies accomplish certain things, but do not dictate which private organization should certify them.
The RBI, for example, states that banks should have cybersecurity standards, including quarterly penetration testing. However, RBI does not specify who should do these penetration tests—just that they need to be done. Similar with sustainability regulations, there is no regulation dictating the standing of the certification unless absolutely required by law.
What would you see as opportunities and challenges in the area of growth?
The challenges have changed quite remarkably from my perspective of sustainability for the past three years. Initially, by far the biggest challenge was really awareness, getting companies and board members to know that sustainability matters. That, for the most part, has disappeared now. Today, most companies are aware of sustainability requirements. While there may be a separate issue about the extent to which they choose to act thereon, the awareness is there.
Currently, the key challenge is changing mindsets. Many companies still think of sustainability compliance as an obligation instead of a business opportunity. However, top 100 companies are starting to see it as a competitive advantage, not just for regulatory compliance but for business growth.
I often compare this to human rights in business. Companies that prioritized ethical sourcing and labor rights 20 years ago—especially in consumer goods—are thriving today, while those that ignored it have lost business or faced reputational damage. The same applies to sustainability—companies that take it seriously today will be more secure and resilient in the future.
The problem is that many companies still treat sustainability as a checkbox exercise, aiming to meet minimum requirements and move on. But this is changing. Once companies publicly disclose their emissions data, markets and investors begin analyzing those numbers. If emissions aren’t reducing, it signals a lack of real action.
As the need for transparency increases, firms that are complacent to market penalties in the end might soon start acting on sustainability issues. A challenge and an opportunity-not only for us, the company, but for the world. We cannot deny there is a need for action but only how soon we can do this.
Someone asked me, "Why can't it be like a Mahakumbh except with participation by everybody without an invitation?" It should just be like the Kumbh, where there's no need for someone to lead you; you just automatically know the way.
The real challenge is to reshape this sustainability into a culture that is not seen as a one-time effort but an ongoing responsibility. People need to see that they are making a direct impact on their lives.
In developing countries, sustainability efforts still face logistical and economic challenges. However, if we fail to act, we will suffer the most—we lack the infrastructure to handle climate disasters as effectively as developed nations.
How do companies balance profitability with environmental responsibility?
Profitability is defined in many ways, but as Goldman Sachs' business principles suggest, staying out of legal trouble is key—meaning compliance with regulations is essential for sustained profitability. Penalties for non-compliance will soon increase, pushing companies to take sustainability more seriously.
One of our customers recently faced a major crisis, risking the loss of a multi-million-dollar contract with a European insurance company. The insurer required them to set Science-Based Targets (SBTs), but they had no sustainability data in place. With a tight deadline (July to December), our team had to step in and help them establish SBTs before they lost the deal. The entire board was involved, and even the CEO personally reached out for assistance.
This is one of the examples whereby businesses instill the realisation that sustainability can no longer be optional: it has become an essential form of ensuring compliance, financial survival, and growth. A great number of our customers in the United States recognize that if they do not act now, they will have to in a few years; thus, companies must integrate sustainability into their core strategy-or time will eventually make them do so.
As a climate leader, what would be your take on the role these companies play in fighting the global climate crisis?
Another area we focus heavily on is in decarbonization. Through technology, we scale climate research and innovations to ensure that corporations remain in the know of the latest offerings. Through partnerships with research institutions, think tanks, and climate agencies, we promote cutting-edge insights in decarbonization strategies.
Say a company is deliberating over carbon capture: we can introduce them to leading research institutes that are doing work in that space. By means of Memorandums of Understandings with research bodies, we ensure that any climate innovation is close not just in theoretical meaning but practical application in the real world.
Addressing the climate crisis requires collaboration—it’s not a one-company effort. We look beyond individual companies, analysing external data sources and integrating industry-wide insights to help businesses make better sustainability decisions.
This holistic approach defines the role of climate tech leaders—not just as data providers but as strategic enablers driving real impact across industries.
Also read: Interveiw with Vivek Tripathi, CEO, Olive Gaea
Do you connect companies with third parties for carbon credit transactions?
Yes, we have built a network of partners to support companies in their sustainability journey. We assist in two keyways:
System-Generated Recommendations – Our platform provides tailored recommendations based on a company’s sector, size, and emission levels. For example, it may suggest solar panel deployment, energy efficiency measures, or waste management solutions.
Implementation Support Through Partners – Identifying the right solution is just the first step; execution is critical. We have built a strong network of partners, including solar panel deployment agencies, energy auditors, and sustainability consultants, to help businesses act on recommendations. We are actively expanding this ecosystem to make sustainability more accessible and actionable.
What advice would you give to businesses starting their journey toward sustainability and net-zero goals?
Go slow or start taking small steps. Sustainability does not require millions to be invested from the very first day. The first step is to understand the impact currently being made—for example, an IT company that is targeting emission reduction is not the same as that of a cement manufacturing company whose business will have to change very fundamentally to reduce emissions.
Companies should take it gradually, but significant, with long-term sustainability as the focus. Most importantly, it should not be treated as a side activity; it should be part of business strategy. There may not be a business tomorrow to take seriously if businesses don't take this to heart today.
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