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Value creation & commercialisation

Value creation and commercialisation

Sustainability is increasingly shaping what drives growth, influences buying decisions, and builds long-term customer loyalty.

For companies ready to lead, it unlocks new revenue streams, sharpens value propositions, and delivers cost savings that reduce both carbon and spend. But to realise this potential, sustainability must be embedded into the commercial core, not treated as an external add-on.

We help companies commercialise sustainability

We help companies integrate sustainability into product development, sales strategy, and pricing models, Transforming it into a lever for growth, margin, and differentiation.

Commercialisation

We work with companies to turn sustainability into a commercial advantage, whether that means enhancing existing offerings or developing entirely new green value propositions. Our approach includes:

  • Sustainable product development: Defining customer value propositions and business cases for sustainability-led offerings
  • Go-to-market strategy: Segmentation, channel strategy, and roll-out planning for green products and services
  • Commercial excellence: Identifying high-potential customers, optimising customer targeting, and embedding sustainability KPIs into sales incentives
  • Sales execution: Quantifying and communicating sustainability impact, building hero cases, developing sales playbooks, and training commercial teams on green claims and sustainability-driven storytelling

We tailor our approach based on where the client is in their commercial sustainability journey, from validating existing benefits to building entirely new business models.

Sustainability-linked cost savings

We help clients reduce operational costs while simultaneously cutting CO₂e emissions. This dual-value approach integrates financial and environmental outcomes, identifying initiatives that unlock immediate wins and long-term impact. Examples include:

  • Reducing energy consumption across operations
  • Switching to low-carbon alternatives for IT or materials
  • Integrating CO₂e performance into supplier selection
  • Cutting production waste and inefficiencies
Our support unfolds in two phases
  • Initial assessment: A rapid scan of potential CO₂e levers with indicative cost and carbon savings.
  • Full realisation: Prioritisation, business case development, and implementation planning — including both quick wins (e.g. indirect procurement) and longer-term strategic moves (e.g. materials, production methods).

Our featured cases within value creation & commercialisation

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Jakob Blindum
Jakob Blindum
Director
jeb@thefootprintfirm.com about mailto:jeb@thefootprintfirm.com

“Sustainability isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s a powerful lever for business. We help organisations unlock new markets, increase revenue, and drive profitability through sustainability-led innovation and cost efficiency.”

Explore our full range of services supporting every step of the sustainability journey

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Polaris

Sustainability strategy & ESG reporting benchmark in private equity

Polaris is a leading Nordic private equity firm investing in mid-sized companies across the region. As ESG expectations continue to rise in the investment landscape, Polaris partnered with The Footprint Firm to take their sustainability strategy to the next level and establish a structured, forward-looking approach to ESG reporting, culminating in the publication of their first annual Polaris sustainability report.

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Services

Industries

  • Private equity
The project

Polaris set out to define the next step in its ESG journey, both as a responsible investor and as a company. The objective was twofold: to develop a clear and actionable ESG strategy that could guide portfolio engagement, and to build a reporting framework aligned with leading international standards. We were brought in to support both aspects.

Our approach

We supported Polaris in expanding the ESG focus across two levels: the fund manager perspective and internal operations. This included identifying key sustainability priorities across funds, aligning with global best practice frameworks (SASB, GRI, TCFD, and the GHG Protocol), and strengthening integration of ESG into the investment process and active ownership model.
A key outcome was the development of the Polaris Sustainability Program - a structured framework designed to create value, build ESG capabilities, and drive sustainability performance across the portfolio.

We also supported the onboarding of portfolio companies to the program to ensure consistency, engagement, and long-term value creation across Polaris’ investments.

The impact

Our collaboration enabled Polaris to take a major step forward in formalising the fund’s sustainability approach, both in-house and across its portfolio.


With a clear strategy, an actionable ESG program, and a strong foundation for reporting, Polaris is now well-positioned for responsible ownership in the Nordic private equity space.