From e-commerce to mapping CO₂eq

Written by Benjamin W. Sørensen, Software developer

From e-commerce to mapping CO₂eq: joining Målbar as an IT developer

When I joined Målbar, I walked in with zero climate knowledge.

Before this, I worked as a full-stack developer at a wine company. I was responsible for pretty much all the tech in the company. The work was straightforward in the best way: build a platform, sell a product, make sure everything runs smoothly. The goal was clear, and the product already existed.

Målbar was… something else entirely.

 

A product you don’t just “pick up”

What surprised me the most when joining Målbar was how complex the product is. We’re not just selling something – we’re building something that helps companies understand their climate impact at a very deep level.

Suddenly, I was surrounded by abbreviations, internal rule sets, datasets, and terms I had never heard before. One of the first things I learned was CO₂e – CO₂ equivalent. I’ll be honest: I didn’t even know that was a thing before joining.

And that pretty much sums up the learning curve.

It’s steep. Very steep.
But also incredibly motivating.

 

Learning climate through data

As a developer, my entry point into climate impact isn’t theory – it’s data.

My work revolves around understanding the processes and resources that go into making a product. That’s the foundation of what we’re building at Målbar: mapping out full production and manufacturing lines and then calculating emissions based on that.

To do this, we work with vast backend datasets and connect them in a way that reflects real-world complexity. Every product is different. Every supply chain is different. That means the platform must support all possible scenarios, and not just the simple ones.

From an IT perspective, that’s both challenging and exciting. It forces you to think broadly, design flexibly, and constantly ask:

 

“Does this actually reflect how products are made in the real world?”

 

Building for many different users

One thing that really stands out at Målbar is how many different people we’re building for.

In tech, we always try to understand what our users need. At Målbar, that means understanding engineers, product developers, and sustainability professionals: all at the same time.

My work helps our engineers handle the growing amount of data in the platform, but it also helps customers input the right data in the right way. That bridge between complex backend logic and usable interfaces is where I spend a lot of my time.

 

Real impact. Not just personal choices

Before joining Målbar, I always thought that making a difference in climate change required something bigger than individual lifestyle changes. And in many ways, I still believe that.

What’s changed is that I now see how impact scales.

Working at Målbar has completely changed my understanding of which products emit a lot of CO₂eq, and which don’t. I now understand what I should (and shouldn’t) buy if I want to influence demand. And when enough people make those choices, companies are forced to respond.

Seeing large companies rely on and trust what Målbar stands for is incredibly inspiring. Knowing that the product we’re building helps them take real steps toward their climate goals makes the work feel meaningful in a way I haven’t experienced before.

 

A team that believes in what we’re building

A thing that makes Målbar special is the people.

Everyone here genuinely believes that what we’re doing matters. There’s a shared excitement about helping customers reduce emissions, and that energy is contagious. It makes you want to build better, more robust solutions – not because you have to, but because you want to.

The team has also been amazing at onboarding me into a completely new domain. Climate impact is complicated, and I’m far from done learning. But I’ve never felt alone in that process.

 

Still learning

I’m still learning about climate impact. I’m still learning about production. And I’m still learning how all this fits together in a way that makes sense both technically and in the real world.

From a developer’s perspective, the work can sometimes feel like “just” handling huge datasets and complex calculations. But when you step back, you see the bigger picture: a full product lifecycle, real emissions, and real decisions being made based on the systems we build.

And that’s what makes it worth it.