As seen on green.org – Written by Dylan Welch: May 20, 2024
Green.org sat down with Tommy Linstroth, the founder and CEO of Green Badger, a leading SaaS provider simplifying sustainability and ESG in the built industry.
Green Badger is accelerating environmentally responsible construction worldwide by equipping the built industry with affordable technology and the knowledge to automate and easily report LEED compliance and ESG metrics. Pairing the most comprehensive user-friendly software with powerful data analytics and industry-leading customer support, Green Badger saves project teams hundreds of hours per project and helps ensure sustainability goals are met.
- Tommy, thank you for joining us today. Tell us about your background & the mission of your company?
Tommy: I’ve been involved with sustainable design and construction my entire career. I started on the owner’s side as Director of Sustainability for a development company and then ran a sustainability consulting firm before starting Green Badger. I’m a huge proponent of transparency and third-party verifications like LEED but I’ve seen too many projects drop sustainability goals because the certification process can just be awful.
After pounding my head against the wall too many times and seeing 100-column spreadsheets in my sleep, I created Green Badger’s software to eliminate the headaches that come along with the actual certification process. Today, Green Badger is the TurboTax of LEED and ESG automation in the built environment and is making sustainability more accessible, attainable, and effortless for the entire construction industry.
- Why do you think sustainability in construction is such an important topic today?
Tommy: We’ll be constructing more buildings in the next 20 years than we have in the past 100, and the decisions we’re making today are going to have profound impacts for generations to come. Because our industry is a major source of the global waste stream and consumes a significant percentage of the world’s energy we have an equally great responsibility and the opportunity to stem construction’s impacts affecting climate change. However, because sustainability in construction hasn’t been prioritized enough we’ve got a lot of work to make up!
- Why is measuring sustainability efforts within today’s businesses critical to making progress?
Tommy: You can’t change what you don’t measure. To make progress we must have clear, achievable goals and the ability to track our efforts to reach them. It’s easier said than done, of course, and measuring accurate outputs and effects can be difficult. So, while we’re seeing growing demand–from financial, regulatory, and social stakeholders–many businesses are still slow or resistant to taking on the challenge. My advice for companies looking for an entry point: your priority needs to simply be “Get Started.” Track something your business does that impacts sustainability, that might simply be fuel and electricity use, and then set reasonable goals and initiatives that could mitigate those impacts. Measure the data consistently over time, honestly report your progress, and adjust the initiatives as needed.
- Could you describe some of your own company’s sustainability milestones?
Tommy: At Green Badger, we definitely “walk the walk.” While our core product helps enhance sustainability throughout thousands of construction projects, we work to incorporate those same core concepts into our own operations. We’ve been carbon-neutral for the past four years by reducing our emissions and offsetting what we can’t. We actively work to empower our employees to incorporate sustainability into their own lives through initiatives such as providing LED lighting replacements, ergonomic workstations, and home composters. Our internal sustainability committee is tasked with finding new ways to improve our corporate operations and has a specific focus on employee health and well-being.
I’m also particularly thrilled that as our business grows we’ve grown our relationship with One Tree Planted. For every project team using Green Badger, we ensure 10 new trees are planted and have contributed more than 16,000 new trees since we began.
- How do you envision your industry looking in 10 years?
Tommy: In 10 years, we’ll be constructing buildings from low-carbon materials and a majority of new buildings will be targeting net-zero emissions from operation. Perhaps as important, the construction companies that embrace sustainability will be growing much faster than the laggards, which will find it very hard to compete for new projects. And technology, through software like Green Badger as well as machinery/hardware and artificial intelligence, will continue to advance as the adoption of innovations accelerates. I hope we look back in 10 years and see the efforts we’re making today are a tipping point in making positive changes that will benefit our great-grandchildren.
- What is one piece of advice you would give to companies to help them achieve more sustainable practices in 2024?
Tommy: Just get started. I see too often (people and companies) not implementing sustainability practices because they don’t have it figured out 100% – paralysis by analysis. Just get started and grow into it – you don’t have to be completely comprehensive right out of the gate. Companies are worried about a myriad of things from greenwashing to cost to human capital – all of which can keep them on the sidelines vs. diving in and getting started. Don’t wait – get started on an achievable project or strategy tomorrow!
Tommy, thank you for the valuable work you are doing and your efforts to have a positive impact on the planet.
Dylan Welch is the CEO and Host of Going Green, a podcast, website, and social media brand that highlights renewable energy, cleantech, and sustainable news.
