Sustain.Life
By Workiva Inc
Sustain.Life typical implementation process:
Initial scoping and requirements gathering: Discovery sessions identify organizational goals, sustainability reporting needs, and integration requirements, shaping the system configuration and rollout strategy.
Data collection and import: Teams gather and upload baseline data (utility bills, supplier data, business activity records), either manually or via pre-built integrations; Sustain.Life provides templates and data validation tools for accuracy.
Platform setup and customization: Solution specialists configure modules for emissions tracking, target setting, disclosures, and dashboards to align with business processes, compliance frameworks, and reporting standards.
User training and onboarding: Sustain.Life delivers hands-on training for administrators and end users, covering data management, reporting, and best practices for continuous adoption.
Testing and validation: The platform undergoes data integrity checks and scenario testing to ensure accurate calculations, correct role setups, and readiness for real-world use.
Sustain.Life can be customized to fit specific business needs across diverse industries and organizational structures. The platform offers modular configuration, allowing organizations to enable only relevant features such as carbon accounting, waste tracking, water management, or policy building, tailoring the solution to strategic priorities. Users can set custom greenhouse gas emissions factors, define organization- or site-specific sustainability targets, and select from a broad array of reporting frameworks (e.g., GHG Protocol, CDP, TCFD) to align outputs with regulatory or voluntary requirements.
The data ingestion layer supports imports from various ERP, utility, procurement, and HR systems, enabling automated or manual uploads according to the business’s IT ecosystem. AI-powered tools can be tuned for context-specific scope 3 supplier data, and workflows can be adapted for approval steps, notification triggers, and multi-level user roles. Dashboard layout, widget selection, and custom KPIs allow teams to visualize, benchmark, and monitor what matters most to their unique sustainability journeys.
Sustain.Life offers training and support to new users through a mix of onboarding programs, hands-on customer service, and resource hubs. Upon implementation, users receive structured onboarding that may include live demos, virtual training sessions, and recorded webinars to introduce fundamental features and facilitate ease of use. The company provides a dedicated support team, ensuring one-on-one assistance, rapid response to questions, and ongoing guidance for practical reporting or platform optimization needs.
Users benefit from a knowledge base, downloadable guides, and an in-app help center that includes step-by-step instructions, templates, and FAQs to troubleshoot issues independently or build foundational skills. Sustain.Life’s customer support is highly regarded for its responsiveness, expert guidance, and understanding of real-world sustainability challenges, with proactive engagement throughout the user journey. For organizations or consultants rolling out Sustain.Life to multiple teams or clients, the platform can provide tailored training, ensuring all users—from sustainability managers to business unit leads—are equipped to achieve their ESG and climate goals efficiently.
Sustain.Life implements a robust array of security measures to protect customer data, combining physical, technical, and organizational controls aligned with industry best practices. The platform has achieved SOC 2® Type 2 compliance, which involves a thorough independent audit of its internal controls—ensuring confidential, reliable, and available handling of sensitive sustainability and carbon accounting data. Sustain.Life’s security program includes routine penetration testing to proactively identify vulnerabilities, and continuous source code analysis to detect software flaws and copyright issues before they impact users.
In addition to technical reviews, Sustain.Life enforces data encryption for all information in transit and at rest, ensuring that communications between the platform and users are secured and that stored data is protected from unauthorized access. Multifactor authentication (MFA) and strict access controls further reduce the risk of unauthorized entry, only allowing verified users access according to the principle of least privilege. Monitoring and logging of access activity support rapid detection and response to anomalies or threats.
Sustain.Life releases updates on a regular, structured cycle to ensure users access the latest emissions data, methodologies, and product enhancements. Emission factor updates are reviewed and incorporated quarterly, with each release following the publication of new or revised data from over 70 authoritative sources. When new factors are published, the platform recalculates existing emissions inventories so users always work from the most timely and accurate information. Customers receive advance notifications—via email and in-app banners—about upcoming updates and recalculations, with an opt-out option available through customer success for organizations with special reporting needs.
Methodological and feature updates, such as new reporting capabilities or compliance modules, are generally rolled out biannually but may occur more frequently in response to regulatory changes or user demand. Sustain.Life manages releases with transparency and user control, prioritizing minimal disruption and full auditability. This approach ensures clients benefit from continuous improvements, up-to-date emissions factors, and evolving industry standards, all managed with robust change and communication protocols.
Sustain.Life’s policy on data ownership and portability ensures that customers retain full ownership of all data they input, generate, or store within the platform. Organizations using Sustain.Life have the exclusive right to their utility, emissions, supply chain, and sustainability data, with no transfer of ownership to the provider. Users are empowered to export their complete datasets at any time, using platform tools designed for easy reporting, auditing, or migration to other systems. This portability extends through the term of the agreement, and, upon contract termination, users can request data export before Sustain.Life deletes the information in compliance with privacy and retention policies.
Sustain.Life strictly adheres to privacy regulations, making clear that customer data will never be sold to third parties or used for any purpose outside the contracted service without explicit permission. If aggregated or anonymized data is used internally, it is structured to prevent the identification of any individual customer or organization. These policies are designed to give enterprises peace of mind, ensuring both vendor accountability and business continuity if transitioning between platforms.
Sustain.Life contract renewal and cancellation policies are structured to offer clear timelines, flexibility, and mutual protections for both parties. Subscriptions typically begin on a specified start date and proceed for the agreed Subscription Term as stated in the Order Form. Following the initial term, the contract will automatically renew for additional one-year periods unless either party provides written notice of non-renewal (email is acceptable) at least 60 days before the end of the current term. Any pricing or terms changes for subsequent renewal periods are reflected in the renewal invoice.
For cancellation or early termination, either Sustain.Life or its customer may terminate the agreement in the event of a material breach, provided the breaching party does not remedy the issue within 30 days of written notice. If the customer terminates for breach, Sustain.Life will refund any unused, prepaid subscription fees for the remainder of the term after the effective date of termination. Conversely, if Sustain.Life terminates for customer breach, the client must pay all outstanding subscription fees covering the remainder of the applicable term.
Sustain.Life meets a broad spectrum of leading global sustainability, ESG, and data security compliance standards, enabling organizations to confidently manage their disclosure obligations and regulatory risks. The platform is officially certified for SOC 2® Type 2 by AICPA, verifying robust controls for data privacy, integrity, and security throughout the system—a standard widely recognized for financial, healthcare, and enterprise-grade software.
For ESG and sustainability reporting, Sustain.Life supports the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards, ensuring alignment with the world's most widely used sustainability disclosure protocols for environmental, social, and governance topics. The platform also enables seamless compliance with frameworks such as CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project), TCFD (Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures), SASB (Sustainability Accounting Standards Board), and the GHG Protocol for comprehensive carbon accounting and reporting. Sustain.Life further enables disclosures in accordance with the SFDR (Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation) and is structured to help companies prepare for SEC climate rules and evolving legislation like California’s SB 253/261 and the EU’s CSRD.
