Driving Decarbonization in Asia: Inside Zeroboard's Climate Tech Mission

Zeroboard is a climate tech company originating from Japan that develops and provides a comprehensive cloud solution for the collection, management, and disclosure of ESG-related data. In Southeast Asia, including the Philippines, the company primarily focuses on offering its cloud platform, Zeroboard, which supports businesses with the highest demand in calculating, visualizing, and managing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

What sets Zeroboard apart is its comprehensive approach to decarbonization, integrating GHG tracking with reduction solutions, green financing, and policy incentive partnerships. With a growing presence in Southeast Asia, Zeroboard collaborates with governments and ecozone authorities—such as PEZA in the Philippines—to support companies in adopting sustainability practices and staying competitive in the global low-carbon economy. With that, let’s dive deeper into Zeroboard’s mission and innovation with its Managing Director and Head of APAC Regional Business, Shintaro Suzuki. 

What inspired the founding of Zeroboard, and how has its mission evolved since then?

Zeroboard was founded in Japan around four years ago to support the country’s transition toward a decarbonized society. Our initial offering was a GHG (greenhouse gas) calculation platform designed to help Japanese companies begin their decarbonization journey—because accurate emissions tracking is the essential first step. Although we originally explored creating a carbon credit trading platform, we quickly realized that most companies weren’t yet ready to offset emissions—they first needed to understand what their emissions were.

Over time, we saw growing demand from the ASEAN region, particularly in Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam. This prompted us to expand our mission beyond Japan and focus on Southeast Asia. Today, Zeroboard helps companies across the region take that critical first step of carbon footprint calculation, enabling them to manage emissions more effectively and eventually move toward carbon neutrality.

How does Zeroboard differentiate itself from other players in the APAC regional business and digital innovation space?

At Zeroboard, we differentiate ourselves through our holistic approach to decarbonization. While many carbon accounting platforms in the APAC region focus solely on calculating and visualizing CO₂ emissions, we believe that’s just the starting point. Calculating your carbon footprint is important—but it's not the end goal. True decarbonization requires ongoing support to help companies actually reduce those emissions.

That’s why, beyond providing a GHG calculation and visualization platform, we’ve built a broader ecosystem with partners in each country we operate in. These include solution providers who offer emissions reduction technologies, green finance partners, and even organizations that help secure tax incentives. By connecting users with this network, we offer comprehensive decarbonization support—from calculation and visualization to reduction planning and implementation. This integrated, ecosystem-based approach is what truly sets Zeroboard apart in the region.

Are there any client or project success stories that highlight Zeroboard’s impact on digital innovation or sustainability?

Let me share two projects in Southeast Asia that demonstrate Zeroboard’s impact on sustainability and digital innovation. While our core offering is a SaaS platform that helps companies calculate and manage their carbon footprint, we've also taken a proactive role in regions where regulations or incentives for decarbonization are still developing. 

Zeroboard develops and provides a cloud platform called “Zeroboard” for calculating and visualizing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We are particularly strong in supporting both company-level and product-level GHG calculations, as well as data integration and consulting services for decarbonization. Our partner, Iwatani Corporation, holds the top market share in Japan for environmentally friendly biomass PET resin.

In a project in Thailand, we used Zeroboard to connect CFP (Carbon Footprint of Products) data supplied by Indorama Ventures, the world’s largest PET resin producer and a key supplier to Iwatani. By using PET resin, an essential material for low-carbon manufacturing, we were able to reflect manufacturers’ GHG reduction efforts in the CFP data and link this data across the supply chain. In the future, CFP data calculated by Indorama Ventures will be shared with downstream companies, supporting visualization of GHG emissions throughout the entire supply chain (Reference : https://en.zeroboard.jp/news/2801).

Another notable case is in Indonesia, where we collaborated with MM2100, an industrial park operator, to support decarbonization efforts for over tenant companies. We offered seminars, workshops, and access to our platform to help these businesses begin their carbon management journey. Since formal regulations are still evolving in many ASEAN countries, we believe building successful use cases like these can establish a de facto standard for the region. It’s our way of taking the lead—rather than waiting for policy—so ASEAN companies can stay globally competitive in an increasingly carbon-conscious economy (Reference: https://en.zeroboard.jp/news/3655).

What are the key goals Zeroboard aims to achieve through its partnership with PEZA in driving decarbonization and sustainability within Philippine ecozones?

Our collaboration with PEZA (the Philippine Economic Zone Authority) plays an important role in promoting decarbonization within the country’s economic zones. As a government agency, PEZA supports approximately 4,000 export-oriented companies in the Philippines. Through this partnership, we provide capacity-building workshops on green transformation and sustainability practices for target companies, and, when appropriate, support the implementation of the Zeroboard platform to assist PEZA-affiliated companies in their sustainability management efforts. Furthermore, PEZA is advancing the development of a sustainability reporting framework and related capacity-building for its member companies, and we are supporting these initiatives based on our memorandum of understanding (MOU) with PEZA.

This partnership also aligns with PEZA’s broader goals of promoting investment and boosting the competitiveness of Philippine companies. By offering sustainability support to PEZA-registered firms, the government can position the Philippines as an attractive destination for international investors. With the Philippines set to chair ASEAN next year, I believe the country is uniquely positioned to take a leadership role in driving sustainability and decarbonization across the region. As a Japanese company, we see this collaboration with PEZA as a critical step in fostering stronger ties and shared progress between our nations.

How does Zeroboard’s platform help PEZA-registered companies effectively measure and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions?

Our platform is designed to help PEZA-registered companies easily and effectively measure their greenhouse gas emissions. By simply manually inputting, using CSV import, or API automatic import of invoice or receipt data—such as fuel and energy consumption—companies can automatically calculate their CO₂ emissions through our system. The platform also features a dashboard that allows users to simulate GHG reduction scenarios and manage key performance indicators (KPIs), including emissions across the entire supply chain. This makes it far more efficient and reliable compared to using spreadsheets or manual BI tools.

Beyond the software itself, our team is committed to supporting capacity building in the Philippines. We regularly send team members to conduct workshops and training sessions for PEZA companies, helping them understand the importance of decarbonization and guiding them through practical steps they can take. So, our value lies not just in providing a digital platform but also in being a hands-on partner in their sustainability journey.

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Shintaro Suzuki is the Managing Director and Head of APAC Regional Business at Zeroboard, a leading climate tech company from Japan. Through his leadership, Zeroboard is collaborating with regional stakeholders—such as the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA)—to build capacity, promote green innovation, and help companies align with global sustainability standards. Shintaro is committed to accelerating decarbonization efforts in Asia by making carbon management more accessible, actionable, and impactful.

Visit www.techshake.asia if you would like to know and connect more with Zeroboard.