Rethinking Sustainability From the Bottom Up
The next sustainability frontier isn’t strategic — it’s operational, local, and quietly leaking money.
It started with $250 a day. That’s what a mid-sized Ghanaian construction company was losing in fuel. Enough money to hire an additional two full-time workers.
It was no dramatic loss: No theft or fraud was involved, as we were soon to find out. Rather, it was a slow, silent leak in their operations.
No dashboard flagged it. No ESG report mentioned it. But the company’s truck drivers knew. Mechanics knew. And once I started asking the right questions, the truth spilled out fast.
I came in with models, Python code, and testable hypotheses.
I left with notebooks full of interviews, cross-checked Excel logs, and a very different understanding of where sustainability lives.
Spoiler: sustainability doesn’t live in strategy decks. It’s in the systems no one is looking at, with the workers that no strategy consultant worth their salt deems important enough.
Top-Down Isn’t Enough
Coming from physics and machine learning, I was trained to think in hypotheses: define the system, isolate variables, build a model, test it, refine.
I brought that mindset into sustainability work. And for a while, it worked. But this case reminded me how far abstract models can stray from the lived reality they’re supposed to represent.
My models were elegant. But they weren’t real.
The data I needed didn’t exist in any clean table. The variables weren’t even defined yet. And the stakeholders—the ones who actually knew what was happening on the ground—weren’t consulted in the original diagnostic.
Bottom-Up Data is Messy — and That’s the Point
So I changed tack. I went into the field. Talked to drivers. Sat with mechanics.
Asked questions that weren’t in any formal sustainability questionnaire. “When do you refuel? What happens if you’re running late? What condition are the roads in?”
We matched odometer logs with fuel receipts. Compared official usage assumptions with real-world wear and tear.
Cross-checked three different and elaborate Excel sheets, none of which aligned until we asked the people who made them what they were actually tracking.
Operational sustainability isn’t in the ESG dashboard.
It’s in the back office.
The garage.
The route plan.
The results were not pretty — but they were real.
Fuel was being burned inefficiently due to poor maintenance.
Drivers were speeding over potholes to meet unrealistic timetables.
Procurement was buying cheap fuel to cut costs, not knowing it reduced mileage.
And none of these issues had made it into the company’s disclosures.
From Insight to Model
Once we had the pieces, we could begin to model them — but from the ground up.
We compared expected fuel use based on manufacturer specs to what was actually happening in the field. We layered in terrain corrections, traffic delays, load weights, and — where possible — GPS breadcrumbs.
In some cases, we had to interpolate entire data stretches based on driver interviews and common sense.
Each vehicle became its own unit of analysis. Each route told a different story. We identified specific combinations of vehicle, driver, and route that were responsible for disproportionately high losses.
The result? We calculated a reliable estimate of daily and monthly loss, both in financial terms and carbon emissions. When we presented this to the company, the reaction was immediate: procurement got involved, route planning was adjusted, and driver incentives were reevaluated.
This Is Everywhere — We Just Don’t See It
What shocked me most wasn’t the loss itself. It was how unremarkable it felt.
Since this project, I’ve seen versions of the same blind spot everywhere — across industries, countries, and even highly regulated sectors.
Everyone wants to believe the model reflects reality. But if the data pipeline skips the people closest to the problem, the model is a little bit blind.
It’s like managing your health but ignoring the junk food. The little things matter. And they add up.
We love talking about sustainability at the strategic level. But emissions, waste, and resource inefficiencies happen at the operational edge — the part of the business that doesn’t write reports or attend sustainability panels.
The Bottom Line: Build From the Ground Up
This is not about throwing polished sustainability decks into the trash. I do not write this to discount corporate strategy or to block myself from further strategy.
I’m writing this because I’ve realized that strategy alone is not enough. The operational reality is crucial in every sense. And, perhaps because it seems less glamorous, many seem to overlook it.
I want to remind you that everything rises and falls with smooth operations.
Good strategy + good operations = invincible companies.
Bad strategy + good operations = the ship losing course, but not fatally so.
Good strategy + bad operations = a big fat failure.
Bad strategy + bad operations = failure also.
Talk to staff. Map real-world workflows. Look at where data is missing — and ask why. Listen for what’s not being said.
We won’t get real sustainability until we ask the people who already know where things are broken.
Wangari’s Curated Reads
- ’s new piece explores how a growing number of athletes and sports organizations are recognizing that the natural environment is not just a backdrop, but a foundational element of sport itself. Environmentally focused sports are gaining momentum—emphasizing sustainability, inclusion, and ecosystem protection as key performance areas. Food for thought: if the sports industry fails to value and protect nature—responsible for everything from breathable air to playable conditions—the entire "Jenga tower" of sports, from athlete performance to fan experience, is at risk of collapse.
What I Learned from Reading 100 Fashion Headlines This Month —
’s thoughtful reflection cuts through the greenwashed noise to spotlight the real currents shaping sustainable fashion. From circularity initiatives that still neglect equity, to the flashy rebrands of fast fashion giants masking deeper issues, her piece is a reminder that true change in fashion must center people, purpose, and justice—not just innovation or image.- is back with a take on solar panels: According to the data, most clean energy employment is in deployment, not manufacturing—meaning that cheaper imports can actually boost job growth by accelerating installation. While reshoring manufacturing may appeal politically, especially in regions seeking blue-collar revival, the trade-offs often mean fewer total clean energy jobs unless subsidies keep costs down. It's a sharp reminder that when it comes to building a green economy, cheaper tech can mean more work for more people—if policy sees the bigger picture.