Sustainability is good for business – be it retail, manufacturing, financial services, energy, or public sector. There are numerous examples of companies that leverage technology to solve sustainability challenges (see e.g. Sustainability. Good for Business. Executive Playbook). Quantifying the carbon emission is only the beginning. The other areas include:
“Microsoft Sustainability Manager is an extensible solution that unifies data intelligence and provides comprehensive, integrated, and automated sustainability management for organizations at any stage of their sustainability journey.” (Microsoft Sustainability Manager overview).
First, it allows the recording of the emissions footprint of any organization and its value chain. Additionally, it supports the emission analysis and reports preparation, enabling proactive emissions monitoring to plan sustainability strategies. Lastly, thanks to the ability to set goals, it is possible to take actions to reduce the emissions footprint.
Businesses looking to leverage the power of ESG reporting to stay ahead of the competition should consider cooperation with trusted Data & AI Partner like Elitmind.
Based on the organization’s activity profile, size, and location, the reporting and regulatory requirements change. Therefore, it is essential to correctly identify the reporting requirements at the beginning of the process. For this purpose, conducting business-oriented Proof of Concept that ends up with a ready-to-use Minimal Viable Product (MVP) is the best approach recommended by Microsoft (Recommendations for implementing Sustainability Manager) and Elitmind.
The process should start with the identification of each organizational unit participating in the evaluation. As a next step, it is important to define the organizational structure and indicate facilities and their locations. To ensure the process is efficient, the decision body should nominate the main stakeholders in the process, including the Sustainability/Regulatory Specialist who will lead the entire reporting activity. Then, there are a couple of mandatory steps to be successful:
Proof of Concept is the best approach to check the technology in real life and showcase Microsoft Sustainability Manager capabilities, but it is also building a blueprint to replicate by the team consisting of many stakeholders (Sustainability and Regulatory Specialists, Area Experts, Data Analysts, Data Engineers, Report Tool Developers and Administrators) and responsible for future reporting enhancements by adding new data sources, KPIs, or goals.
New regulatory requirements (like CSR Directive) make it necessary to review the current approach and adapt to the new normal.
According to the new regulations by European Parliament “To ensure companies are providing reliable information, they will be subject to independent auditing and certification. Financial and sustainability reporting will be on an equal footing and investors will have comparable and reliable data. Digital access to sustainability information will also have to be guaranteed.” (European Parliament adopts new reporting rules for multinationals).
The idea behind these changes is to “end greenwashing, strengthen social market economy and lay the groundwork for sustainability reporting standards at global level.” (Ibid.).
New EU sustainability reporting requirements will apply to all large companies. These requirements will start applying in the EU market between 2024 and 2028. There are many stakeholders involved:
There are a couple of mandatory steps to be successful in implementing ESG reporting:
Finally, depending on the requirements identified there is a need to collect relevant activity data for ESG reporting including emissions (scope 1, 2 and 3), social responsibility and corporate governance.
This is the best approach to check an organization readiness for current and future ESG reporting requirements. After the successful assessment, the following areas will be identified, and any organization will be ready to deploy modern set of tools for ESG reporting:
Learn more: here
At Elitmind we accelerate the development of the organizations by making data usage their competitive advantage. We work with companies that have built or want to build a work culture based on data values.
What counts for our clients is not only the final product but also the speed of implementation and flexibility. We are committed to environmental sustainability, and we maintain the culture of diversity & inclusion.
Elitmind is part of the Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability initiative (see Shaping a Sustainable Future; e-book available in polish). We rely on Microsoft Sustainability Manager internally and we are happy to share our hands on experience with the solution.
Learn more: here
Don’t hesitate to schedule a meeting if you are interested in:
