Accelerate your Net Zero journey with Salesforce
Written by Frode Nygaard
07 March, 2023
Soon, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) will set a higher bar for sustainability reporting. Even if all details aren’t there yet, CSRD will likely require measurement and reporting based on scope 1, 2 and 3 which indicate where emissions from greenhouse gases occurred in the supply chain.
Businesses will also have to align with the EU Taxonomy, the regulation for an objective assessment of the sustainability of economic activities. Even though Nordic companies have a head start when it comes to sustainability, the regulations require a new level of granularity when it comes to ESG data.
Compliance as a catalyst
To most companies, even today’s sustainability reporting is a tedious task. Spreadsheet-based and manual processes, lack of automation and inconsistent data, among other things, will make it even harder to advance reporting to meet tomorrow’s standards.
Due to the increased complexity, no wonder there is a trend toward tech-enabled and data-driven ESG management. Among my clients, I also see that compliance works as a catalyst; the necessary investments help meet sustainability demands from customers, investors and partners, which, in turn, strengthens competitiveness and empowers new business models.
The trend is backed up by numbers: IDC has predicted that by 2024, 30% of organizations will advance their ESG metrics and data management beyond reporting capabilities to generate sustainably driven cost and competitive advantages. By 2024, IDC said, 75% of large enterprises will implement ESG data management and reporting software as a response to emerging legislation and increased stakeholder expectations.
Engineering sustainability
What’s the best way to accelerate your company’s sustainability journey? Start with the data; quality environmental data is a game-changer. This is also a core expertise within Cognizant’s sustainability practice where we help ensure that environmental information is complete, accurate, verifiable and actionable. We also help build an effective digital reporting process and to identify the integrated carbon accounting solution that meets the needs of your stakeholders.
What solution do we suggest then? A solution from our partner Salesforce: its Net Zero Cloud is now the clear leader in Forrester’s Wave for emerging sustainability technologies. It combines preloaded data from climate reporting repositories with existing enterprise data logged in Salesforce. Outputs are calculated based on the well-known GHG Protocol and will be presented in dashboards. In addition, Einstein (AI and ML) will suggest next best actions to reduce GHG.
Involving the whole ecosystem
Net Zero Cloud serves as a single source of truth for environmental data, a platform where you easily collect, analyze and report on carbon emissions (scope 1,2 and 3) and waste management data across the ecosystem, including suppliers.
This is also where the magic happens; by collaborating with the ecosystem, and tracking scope 3 emissions from the supply chain, the environmental effects are leveraged. You can set science-based targets, simulate scenarios and accurately forecast emissions to measure progress against net zero goals. The information can be used to improve decision-making or be delivered to external stakeholders.
Currently, the solution is implemented at Cognizant company ATG, something I follow with interest. One of the expected outcomes is a 77% faster time to carbon accounting, which could be seen as a fast track to both compliance and competitive advantage.
If you’d like to learn more, please contact Frode Nygaard, Customer Experience Salesforce Service line Lead in the Nordics on +47 92 83 27 20 or send an e-mail.
