Focus on sustainability: How pacemaker.ai supports companies in their sustainable transformation

Sustainability is no longer a “nice-to-have” – it's a must. But how can companies meet complex requirements while remaining profitable? pacemaker.ai answers this question with an innovative solution: its Sustainability Management Platform (SMP) makes sustainability tangible – and therefore manageable. This technology helps companies take responsibility and act in a future-proof manner.

New rules for sustainability?

The EU is currently conducting the so-called omnibus discussion to revise the legal requirements of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). The CSRD is an EU directive that requires companies to report comprehensively and according to uniform standards on their sustainability performance. The aim is to create transparency and comparability, thereby providing customers, the capital market, and the public with reliable information on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. The adjustments to the CSRD as part of the omnibus discussion are expected to be finalized by the end of 2025.

Greater transparency and accountability – that is the goal of the CSRD. For companies, this means that reports must be accurate, consistent, and comprehensible. Sounds like a challenge? Yes, but it is also an opportunity. After all, those who take sustainability seriously and communicate openly will gain the trust of customers, investors, and partners. And that is exactly where pacemaker.ai comes in with its Sustainability Management Platform (SMP).

pacemaker.ai: Smart AI solutions for businesses

pacemaker.ai is a technology company specializing in supporting global supply chains using artificial intelligence (AI). Its core competence lies in developing modern and tailor-made software solutions for optimizing global supply chains – by industry, for industry.

With a focus on solutions for demand forecasting, raw material price forecasting, and inventory management, pacemaker.ai enables companies to accurately predict actual material requirements. This helps avoid overproduction, reduce unnecessary inventory, and make transport routes more efficient. Not only does this reduce costs, it also significantly reduces CO₂ emissions along the entire supply chain.

The combination of raw data, industry knowledge, and machine learning creates accurate forecasts and balance sheets in global supply chain management. This helps the company's customers make better decisions, save resources, streamline processes, and reduce costs. Supported by a versatile team and close collaboration with researchers, pacemaker.ai is shaping the future of supply chain management.

As a subsidiary of thyssenkrupp Materials Services – one of the world's leading materials distributors and service providers – pacemaker.ai has first-hand knowledge of the challenges of complex supply chains and the potential of their digitalization.

Experience that pays off. At thyssenkrupp Materials Services, pacemaker.ai has long been in use worldwide and is an integral part of the company's digitalization strategy.

An all-in-one platform for holistic sustainability management

The company has also followed this credo with its acquisition of the Luxembourg-based start-up WAVES in 2025. “By integrating WAVES into pacemaker.ai, we are jointly advancing our vision of making supply chains efficient and sustainable, and making sustainability transparent and therefore manageable,” explains Armin Neises, founder of WAVES and Chief Sustainability Officer at pacemaker.ai.

The Sustainability Management Platform (SMP) was developed specifically to make sustainability data visible and manageable and to use sustainability indicators for reporting in accordance with CSRD and other regulations. The platform collects important key figures such as CO₂ emissions, energy consumption, and resource use and visualizes them clearly. This allows companies to identify areas with potential for optimization with just a few clicks and to work on implementing appropriate measures.

Two become one: pacemaker.ai and WAVES unite

With the acquisition of WAVES in 2025, pacemaker.ai has expanded its expertise and created a comprehensive solution for modern sustainability management that combines data-based analysis with visual transparency: The Sustainability Management Platform (SMP) developed by WAVES and combined with pacemaker technology create a powerful all-in-one solution for the demanding sustainability goals facing industry and small and medium-sized enterprises. By joining forces, the team enables companies not only to define their sustainability goals, but also to derive and implement concrete measures to meet stakeholder requirements and legal specifications.

The Sustainability Management Platform (SMP) and its advantages

The Sustainability Management Platform (SMP) combines the expertise of pacemaker.ai and WAVES in AI and sustainability in one application—intelligent analyses, clearly visualized. “The SMP is a cloud-based, modular system that helps our customers centrally collect relevant sustainability data from a wide variety of sources and calculate reliable sustainability indicators,” Armin Neises explains.

With SMP, all relevant data is collected and analyzed centrally. “We bundle the data, link it to regulatory requirements, and derive concrete actions from it – from strategy to reporting,” says Armin Neises. “For CSRD, this means automated mapping to relevant ESRS standards, a gap analysis to identify missing data points, efficient workflow management for responsibilities and deadlines, and the direct derivation of reporting elements for the sustainability report. In addition, the finished report is made available for all relevant audits and stakeholders,” he concludes.

Compared to traditional reporting tools or Excel solutions, SMP scores highly in terms of automation, precision, and scalability. Less effort, more impact – exactly what modern sustainability management needs.

“While traditional tools and consulting approaches usually focus on the final report, we start earlier and go further and deeper into the business processes: we integrate sustainability as a control variable into day-to-day business,” Armin Neises explains.

“This means we combine data management, compliance, and performance control in one platform. This results in a real improvement along the supply chains, which can be reliably verified and controlled using correctly calculated sustainability indicators,” he adds.

He elaborates why Excel is not sufficient in this case: “Excel quickly reaches its limits here, especially when it comes to complex data structures, versioning, auditability, and direct connection to regulatory requirements. That's why the Sustainability Management Platform (SMP) is TÜV-certified, offering our customers a high level of security.”

Sustainability management will remain indispensable in the future

Climate change, scarce resources, and rising expectations from customers, investors, and governments are putting pressure on companies to operate more sustainably.

But sustainability is not just a duty, it is also an opportunity. More efficient processes save costs, sustainable brands are more attractive, and those who act early are better prepared for future regulations. Tools such as the SMP make sustainability measurable – and, above all, achievable.

pacemaker.ai has big plans. Armin Neises emphasizes: “We will continue to expand the SMP. In doing so, we are consistently pursuing our vision: We enable excellent decisions that balance sustainability and profitability. Because that is the true meaning of sustainable business and long-term success.”

You can find more exciting insights into our solutions and technologies related to digitalization and sustainability in our Stories.