ClimateHero

In his youth, Robert Sabelström was an avid surfer, frequently flying around the world in pursuit of the next adrenaline rush. As the climate crisis gained public attention, he became increasingly curious about his own carbon footprint.

After some searching, he came across various carbon calculators, but they were all filled with moralizing messages and lacked practical solutions.

“They mostly told me I was using up the resources of three planets and should feel ashamed. Something was clearly missing,” says Robert Sabelström.

That realization sparked the idea for a more engaging and positive alternative – a free service that could guide households toward more sustainable habits using encouragement and nudging.

In 2017, ClimateHero was born. The first iteration of its climate calculator launched the following year. The timing was right.

“We went live in spring 2018, right when Greta started protesting outside her school. Then came that hot summer, which many remember as a kind of wake-up call.”

After several years of rapid growth, ClimateHero has helped 1.7 million households calculate and reduce their climate impact – half a million in Sweden, the rest abroad.

The business model is simple: the tool is free to use. ClimateHero only generates revenue from a small margin on the climate projects users can choose to support after completing the calculator.

But one question kept coming up, says Sabelström:

“Most individuals are also part of a professional context. From our very first year, we started getting questions about whether we could also help companies and workplaces calculate their emissions.”

Initially, the answer was always no. But over time, Robert and his co-founders realized there was a huge market of small and medium-sized companies lacking effective carbon accounting tools.

“There are already lots of complex solutions for large enterprises, but 99 percent of companies are small or medium-sized. We wanted to build on what we already had and keep things simple. Now we’re targeting businesses with 2 to 250 employees, and there are more than 40,000 of those in Sweden alone.”

With no heavy regulatory burden yet in place for companies in this category, the demand is mostly about being able to track and compare their climate actions.

“Many companies switch to EVs, offer more plant-based food, or install solar panels, but they don’t know the actual impact on their emissions. That’s where we can help.”

ClimateHero has already helped around a hundred companies calculate their emissions through manual processes in Excel, and roughly a thousand businesses have used their simplified tool.

But to offer a truly appealing product for the business segment, ClimateHero needed more functionality. Should they buy a tool or build one themselves? The team researched a hundred companies working with climate data.

“What we found was that most players have developed increasingly complex solutions in response to legislation and investment demands, and are now targeting larger and larger clients. We wanted to stick with the free model and the simplicity.”

Robert had previously worked with Prototyp on startup projects and felt they were the perfect fit for this one as well.

A full-time developer from Prototyp embedded with the team for eight weeks. Jacob Broms Engblom took on the task and describes the technical process:

“We started from a large PDF document and turned it into a web application with a complex form flow for logging CO₂ emissions. We built a simple login system using Supabase Auth that only requires an email address. Then we worked with the CTO and other developers to shape the UI and UX.”

Moving from a consumer-facing tool to a functioning business solution was no small feat, says Jacob Broms Engblom:

“We’re dealing with completely different types of emissions at a much more detailed level than households. The tool needs to support Scope 1, 2, and 3 reporting.”

He quickly realized how complex it could get:

“How do you log emissions from a hybrid vehicle, for instance? And even with an electric car – what type of electricity was used to charge it? We’ve built a pre-populated database with emissions factors, but users can also manually configure data as needed. The service must be as comprehensive as possible, yet still simple to use. That’s the core challenge.”

The eight-week timeframe was no coincidence. And things moved quickly.

“The first four weeks were about developing a proof of concept. Then we added more modules and populated the database during the sprint phases. We actually got further than expected. Now it’s all about testing and evaluating what might need to be refined.”

According to Robert Sabelström, the results exceeded expectations.

“We started with four weeks to lay the foundation, then ran two development sprints. So after eight weeks, what we’ve got is not just a minimum viable product, it’s better than that. Maybe it’s a minimum lovable product? It’s good enough to launch for business customers while also letting us begin using it internally.”

He emphasizes that the time aspect was a critical part of the brief to Prototyp:

“Our core requirement was fast time to market. We’re a team of just seven people, and our CTO oversees everything from development to UX design. So we needed someone highly flexible who could jump in and work closely with us. Both I, our CTO, and our climate consultants have been actively involved throughout.”

Besides the rapid pace, Robert also highlights the value of expert validation during the process:

“It’s essential to feel confident that the technical decisions being made are right for a product like this in 2025. You can check forums, Google, or ask an AI today, but having a partner like Prototyp involved in those choices has been incredibly important.”