Impact of investing
Upright launches AI-powered sustainability due diligence – changing what ESG analysis can do for investors
For the first time, investors can screen any target's sustainability risks and opportunities in real time, with no source data – tied to the business model, not the compliance report.
Published Feb 26, 2026
Upright launches an AI-powered sustainability due diligence tool for investors – and with it, a fundamentally different way of understanding what sustainability means for a deal.
Any investor, on any deal, can now surface the sustainability risks and opportunities embedded in a target's actual business model – on the day it lands on their desk, with no source data needed.
It is built on eight years of proprietary data development, trusted by the likes of EQT, APG, LGT, Churchill, Coller Capital and Altor.
The problem: ESG analysis has been looking at the wrong things
The issue with traditional ESG analysis is its focus on the smallest, most visible slice of the picture.
According to CDP, internal operations account for just 4% of a company's total greenhouse gas emissions. Yet traditional ESG due diligence has been built almost entirely around what happens inside the company.
The other 96% – value chain risks, supply chain dependencies, end-use market exposure – has largely gone unmeasured.
The result: manual reports that arrive too late, tell investment teams what they already knew, and don’t surface the biggest sustainability risks and opportunities that can actually make or break a company.
What changes today
Using just a target company's URL, investors can now generate a full sustainability risk and opportunity assessment in minutes. The analysis is drawn from Upright's outside-in data engine, which models companies based on their product and service portfolios rather than self-reported disclosures.
What this means for your team
For ESG and sustainability teams:
- Replace manual Google searches, Excel models, and SASB checklists with automated, comparable analysis
- Deliver answers on deal timelines – shift from compliance bottleneck to value creation partner
For investment and deal teams:
- Sustainability analysis as a day-one input, not a late-stage report
- Identify deal-breakers before significant time and budget is committed
- Financial outcomes made explicit — in investment language, not compliance frameworks
For private markets investors:
- Early red-flag screening tied to the actual business model
- Significant time and cost savings across deal pipelines
For asset managers and owners:
- Instant sustainability data on private markets assets with the granularity on par with listed markets
- A scalable alternative to internal Excel-based analysis or consultants, with a credible basis sustainable investment decisions
Upright’s answer to the slow AI adoption in sustainable investment
The sustainable investment field has been slow to adopt AI in a meaningful way. ESG analysis has remained largely manual, self-reported, and backward-looking.
This launch is Upright's answer to that gap – and the first of several real-time applications we will release for investors this year.
Try it
Upright is offering free trial access as part of this launch. Request a trial to screen a real target:
Upright Project
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