A new Estonian technology venture is entering the fast-growing market for carbon reporting, promising to make verified emissions data easier and cheaper for manufacturers to produce.
The startup, Lodestar, has developed a digital platform designed to help construction product manufacturers compile Environmental Product Declarations, or EPDs, documents that set out a product’s full carbon footprint using independently verified data, Estonia’s investment promotion agency, Invest in Estonia, reported on its website investinestonia.com on January 13.
Founded by carbon accounting specialist Anni Oviir, Lodestar grew out of a 2022 hackathon organised by Garage48. Oviir was previously involved in developing Estonia’s national methodology for assessing the carbon footprint of buildings at TalTech and became the first accredited EPD verifier in the Baltic states.
She has since assembled a team of life cycle assessment specialists working from Lift99, supporting manufacturers across Europe as well as in the US and the UK.
“Until now, the topic of sustainability has been largely led by marketers, which can lead to greenwashing,” explains Oviir. “But unsubstantiated environmental claims are worthless. Evidence shows they are now more likely to put off buyers and damage business reputation. Increasingly, it’s only verified impacts that really matter, and so we built Lodestar to make it easier to understand and declare them.”
The idea was first tested at the Digital Construction 2022 hackathon hosted by the Estonian Academy of Arts, where the concept took first prize. Early development was backed by a €69,000 EU grant channelled through Estonia’s climate ministry from NextGenerationEU funds, matched by the founders to produce an initial version of the tool.
Following extensive validation with industry partners in Europe and the US, including a period working in California, the platform was rebuilt in 2025 using the latest AI technology. That work was led by cofounder and chief technology officer Tanel Teinemaa.
Although Estonia has postponed mandatory carbon assessments for buildings, many local manufacturers have moved ahead voluntarily, driven by export markets and stricter requirements elsewhere in Europe.
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