Gain expert insights on advancing sustainability in hospitality through AI-driven data solutions. Discover how seamless data flow can redefine eco-conscious business practices.
Welcome Frederik, could you tell us more about your role at BeCause and how your journey has shaped the company’s mission?
As the CEO of BeCause, I focus on how our AI-powered technology platform fits into the larger narrative of advancing hotel sustainability across the broader travel and tourism sectors. Part of my role is facilitating the connections between BeCause and key industry players to create a global ecosystem where reliable, and trustworthy, sustainability data flows seamlessly between hotels and tourism companies, regulatory bodies, booking platforms, eco-certification issuers, industry organizations, and ultimately, travelers.
When we launched BeCause, our goal was to provide hotels with a more efficient, cost-effective, and transparent way to collect and share their sustainability data. This enables them to a) Reduce the time and cost required to get certified — currently, the main way hotels substantiate sustainability claims and showcase their sustainability credentials; and b) Give the growing number of consumers seeking sustainable accommodations easy access to that information.
As the only company on the market focused on solving the specific challenges hotels and tourism companies face in managing their sustainability data, we have emerged as the standard for data exchange. This is especially significant given where we are in our journey as a company. While the flow of sustainability data might not seem particularly exciting, it is central to modern corporate decision-making and, increasingly, financial operations.
Effective data management processes allow hotel leaders to make the innovative sustainability investments required to reduce the industry’s carbon footprint. Within this context, part of my role is to represent this standard, so I participate in organizations such as the Climate Committee at the Danish Industry Federation.
In terms of how my journey has shaped the company’s mission, I think it’s at the heart of what we do. Growing up in Oman, I witnessed the degradation of coral reefs firsthand, much of it caused by tourism. This experience left a lasting impact on me. Like many, I love to travel and explore the world, but that passion shouldn’t come at the expense of our planet. Opting for more sustainable accommodations is one way we can reduce the harmful effects of travel, but before BeCause consumers lacked a verifiable way to identify which properties were truly committed to protecting the environment.
Professionally, I come from the world of management consulting, so I’m equally at ease with diving into the granular details while maintaining a big-picture perspective – crucial skills for a CEO.
Sustainability has become a key focus for many companies. What do you see as the most significant challenges that businesses face when trying to manage and streamline their sustainability data?
Without a doubt, it is the reliance on expensive, inefficient and siloed manual processes to collect and distribute sustainability data. These outdated processes produce error-prone results that can’t easily be verified and are therefore untrustworthy, which makes it difficult for leaders to make the case for sustainability investments.
And the problem isn’t just on the hotel side. Without BeCause, booking platforms that want to leverage the growing consumer demand for more sustainable travel options are also hampered by the reliance on manual data transmission. To determine whether a hotel is sustainable or not, travel booking platforms will check if a hotel has a valid eco-label. Again, without BeCause these platforms must upload that information to their database manually using spreadsheets. Apart from being error-prone, it’s also labor intensive and, as a result, happens infrequently, if at all. This means that when a booking platform chooses to display hotel sustainability information, consumers see outdated and potentially erroneous information.
BeCause automates and streamlines the entire sustainability data flow through our centralized data management hub. When hotels input their data directly into BeCause they can match it with the requirements from different certification frameworks such as Green Key. While booking platforms can automatically pull a hotel’s eco-label status in real time, ensuring their listings are always up to date.
How is AI transforming the way companies approach sustainability, particularly in terms of data collection and regulatory compliance?
AI is ushering in a new era of data efficiency, reliability, and collaboration. For instance, we use AI to help hotels identify missing data for frameworks within the BeCause ecosystem, such as the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). This ensures maximum compliance, greatly reduces risk, and eliminates the need for ESG reporting consultants to manage the entire reporting process.
Our AI model is also used to identify potential missed opportunities through nudging. Let’s say a hotel is a few metrics away from qualifying for Green Key certification, BeCause will guide them toward meeting those requirements. This makes certifications that once seemed out of reach more attainable and is especially useful for smaller hotel chains or even individual properties without dedicated sustainability teams to manage their data.
Additionally, we use AI to automatically map data to different frameworks, allowing hotels and tourism companies to effectively upcycle their data. This means they can collect a metric once and repurpose it for multiple purposes, whether it is for a sustainability calculator, a certification, or for regulatory purposes. This saves significant time and encourages transparency by eliminating double accounting.
The European Union’s Green Deal is just one of many global initiatives pushing for more sustainable practices. How does BeCause help companies navigate and comply with such regulations while maintaining efficiency?
BeCause functions as a two-way hub for sustainability data, with information flowing in and out. We achieve this by using APIs to pull data from organizations like eco-labeling bodies, giving our hotel customers access to the latest frameworks.
In the case of government regulations such as CSRD, which is a massive game-changer for companies operating in Europe, we simplify the process by identifying the relevant data points for hotels and tourism companies. While the framework includes over 1,000 data points, not all apply to these industries. Relying on external auditors, end-to-end, can be extremely expensive and time-consuming, often taking months to collect the necessary data points – which is something the BeCause platform can minimize and even automate in many areas as well as delegate efficiently to the relevant internal or external knowledge holders.
For companies looking to integrate sustainability more deeply into their operations, what role do you see data analytics playing, and how does BeCause enable this process?
Data is at the core of any modern operation – you simply cannot make multi-million-dollar decisions without sound, reliable and trusted data.
You also can’t improve without benchmarking your organization’s performance vis a vis the larger industry. With over 50,000 hotels and booking platforms using our centralized hub, our goal is to establish comprehensive sustainability benchmarking — a critical capability that remains underdeveloped for the hotel and tourism sectors.
In other words, I don’t think you can integrate sustainability into your operations in a significant way and push for more innovative sustainability practices without proper data analytics. While tools like smart electricity and water meters provide valuable data, without a sustainability management hub like BeCause, that information risks getting lost or underutilized.
Could you talk about the importance of seamless data flow for certifications and compliance, and how BeCause’s technology facilitates this integration?
Automating the data flow for certifications and compliance is key to ensuring accuracy and to alleviating bottlenecks, i.e. improving efficiency, and freeing up valuable time and resources for advancing sustainability efforts. Earlier, I mentioned the manual, siloed processes the hotel and tourism industry face when it comes to sustainability data management. Imagine having to understand and measure a specific metric each time you apply for a certification, even if you have already measured it for other purposes. Or consider the frustration of collecting data for a certification, only to have the framework change mid-process without your knowledge. Sustainability managers shouldn’t be spending the majority of their time dealing with spreadsheets, performing manual data uploads and cross-checking information. A sustainability data management platform like BeCause streamlines the entire process, quickly and accurately transferring data between parties, allowing sustainability specialists to focus on higher-value projects.
In your experience, how do companies balance the need for sustainability with the pressure to maintain or increase profitability, and what role does BeCause play in this balance?
While indeed requiring certain initial investments, sustainability and profitability are largely not at odds with one another. Rather the contrary, fortunately. Becoming more energy or water-efficient will help hotels save on their utility bills in the long term and could potentially make them eligible for government subsidies, depending on the jurisdiction. It can also help organizations drive revenue by appealing to the growing consumer segment that is actively looking to make more sustainable choices with their dollars.
But again, reliable data is the key to driving sustainability investments. That’s what BeCause offers its partners, and my hope is that by enabling industry-wide benchmarking and predictive modeling, leaders will be able to quantify how implementing greater sustainability measures positively impacts profitability and gain stakeholder buy-in.
What advice would you give to sustainability managers who are struggling with the complexity of data management and the evolving landscape of sustainability regulations?
For those sustainability managers operating within a legacy system full of manual processes, the truth is: your systems are failing you. Humans aren’t machines. We aren’t meant to process endless pages of data.
As a sustainability manager, maybe you don’t have the power to change the process, but you can find a supportive advocate who understands your challenges. That’s why it’s important to invest in technology that allows you to do what you do best: developing creative solutions to complex sustainability issues.
Lastly, what are your ambitions for BeCause, and how do you see the company evolving to meet the future needs of sustainability in the business world?
When companies think about managing their sustainability efforts, I want BeCause to be the first name that comes to mind. That’s the dream of every founder — to become THE go-to solution in your industry. Right now, we are focused on hospitality and travel, but there are so many sectors that lack affordable, efficient, and user-friendly sustainability data management tools. So, I don’t think it’s out of the question that we explore expanding BeCause’s capabilities for different verticals.
Frederik Steensgaard
CEO at BeCause
Frederik Steensgaard is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of BeCause, a startup enterprise software company that enables sustainability data to flow simpler, faster, and cheaper for travel companies. The company’s AI-powered sustainability hub allows companies to collect and communicate their sustainability efforts in one place, empowering them to make sustainability a regular part of their operations and a competitive advantage for their business.
Prior to founding the BeCause platform in 2021, with a vision to help companies unlock the full potential of sustainability, Frederik honed his entrepreneurial, technology, and managerial skills in project management and consulting. He acquired these skills while working for employers such as Demant, Market Minds, and 180 Degrees Consulting over the course of more than a decade.
Frederik is also an elected member of the Climate Committee at the Confederation of Danish Industry, where he contributes to discussions and initiatives aimed at promoting sustainable business practices for its members. He holds a master’s degree, summa cum laude, in business, sociology, and entrepreneurship from the Copenhagen Business School.
