Monica Sanders is Building Bonne Terre Labs: The ESG Solution for AI Infrastructure

AI may be in the headlines, but behind the scenes the digital infrastructure sector is booming. Firms are investing millions in data center development, with these facilities serving as the engine room for the AI economy. 

Amidst unprecedented growth, however, often come regulatory hurdles. Data center developers, investors, and planners are walking into a tightening web of regulation, rising compliance costs, and growing litigation risk, particularly related to ESG. 

Part of the challenge is that ESG disclosure remains largely fragmented, and conflicting standards between the SEC, EU, and ISSB create confusion. As a result, these fast-moving organizations are being exposed to inconsistent risk assessments and accelerating enforcement, leaving many to abandon compliance altogether.

With decades of experience as an attorney, educator, and founder, Monica Sanders recognized that for the digital economy to grow without compromising the environment and local communities, firms would need a better way to measure their environmental impact. So she set out to launch Bonne Terre Labs.

Introducing Bonne Terre Labs: Turning Compliance Into a Competitive Edge

Bonne Terre Labs is a technology studio designing tools that helps organizations translate sustainability goals into measurable progress. By unifying multiple research and analysis products into a single platform, Bonne Terre is helping customers simplify ESG reporting and turn compliance from a constraint into a competitive edge. 

Most organizations need to juggle a variety of siloed tools to support ESG compliance, increasing manual work and making it difficult to navigate fragmented regulatory standards. Consequently, data center developers often aren’t fixing problems until they face greenwashing penalties, ESG-related class actions, or reputational blowback.

Bonne Terre Labs is presenting a new solution — a unified platform that supports siting intelligence, funding accountability, community engagement, and more — enabling infrastructure growth that is resilient, responsible, and future-proof.

In addition to its commercial platform, Bonne Terre Labs is promoting an open-source climate hub called the Ten States Project for Equitable Climate Risk, built in partnership with Every. The hub’s aim is to make public environmental data more accessible to organizations and individuals, focusing initially on the ten most climate-vulnerable states in the U.S. It includes:

• A law tracker showing which states still have active environmental protections and innovation laws, following the rollback of certain federal agency functions
• A national mapping tool showing where the digital divide and climate vulnerability overlap, and what that overlap costs — built specifically for resilience and sustainability officers

In the long run, Monica believes that by providing access to better tooling and information, Bonne Terre Labs will help make the digital economy profitable, green, and just for all people.

Monica’s Journey to Bonne Terre Labs

The company’s name, “Bonne Terre”, French for “good earth”, was drawn from Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, where Monica's ancestors first landed in the United States. Terrebonne, translating to "good earth for cultivation," is a phrase with bittersweet resonance. Originally renowned for its fertile soil, the parish is now home to the infamous Cancer Alley after decades of industrial waste mismanagement. 

Recognizing the rising wave of data center and energy infrastructure investment, Monica asked, “what would it look like for the environments in which development is taking place to not just absorb the costs of the digital economy, but to actively participate in its benefits?”

Monica believed that with her multidisciplinary background including decades as a climate and environmental justice researcher, law educator, and founder, she could make an impact. Since launching as a solo founder three years ago, Monica has built a team of four, including technical personal and climate and environmental justice researchers.

Monica’s Advice for Fellow Founders

Many founders focus on the big picture. But Monica notes it’s important to think small, too. “If you've done accelerators, they tend to tell you to start from the top up. I would say start from the bottom up. Get your administrative, your workflows and your financial flows sorted out before you even get to your first MVP. It’s so important." With your administrative foundations in place, you’re in a better position to scale when the opportunity unfolds. 

And as you’re on your founder journey, don’t lose your sense of self and sense of fun, Monica emphasizes. “Don't forget self care and fun as you're going on this journey, because there'll be plenty of stressful situations,” she says. “We're better if we pull away for a little bit and come back with a different perspective or just well rested."

To learn more about Monica’s founder journey, you can follow her on LinkedIn and visit bonneterrelabs.com/.