How automation is improving ESG reporting

Who Cares Wins also included an acronym to highlight the three key areas of environmental, social and governance that the report’s authors said needed to be factored in investment decisions to “contribute to more stable and predictable markets”².

And so ESG received its first mainstream mention in the modern context³.

Almost 20 years on and Australian businesses must now meet mandatory ESG reporting requirements or are under increasing pressure to voluntarily disclose their commitments and measurements. PwC has declared “the stakes for ESG reporting are at an all-time high”⁴ and suggested ASX200 disclosure levels will need to be “significantly enhanced” to meet global disclosure standards proposed by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB)⁴.

The challenges are particularly critical for the natural resources sector, which knows it is under heightened scrutiny and dealing with enormous complexity as it tracks emissions in its supply chain. Companies are struggling with manual and decentralised collection of emissions and energy usage data, in turn making it difficult to monitor performance against sustainability goals across siloed business functions and distributed supply chains.

Five steps to improving your ESG reporting

To help your organisation improve ESG reporting and achieve instant impacts and long-term sustainability, here are five steps to boost the journey to net zero:

1. Adopt the right strategy – capturing and reporting on emission data is one thing. Doing so without it being a drain on your resources is another. Assess priority areas that are most important to your operations, considering requirements, operations and dynamics. Then ensure your company-wide ESG strategy has KPIs that factor in how you will measure and track sustainability performance. Start small, perhaps limiting focus to Scope 1 emissions on a single site, before growing to the entire operation, enhancing reporting to Scope 2 and Scope 3, and automatically integrating data from across your supply chain. For an insight into the difference between the three scopes, check out the Australian Government’s Clean Energy Regulator guidelines⁵ or this quality greenhouse gas resource⁶ by leading consultants Deloitte.
2. Remove the guesswork – thanks to cutting-edge technology and automation, companies no longer need to merely hope they are capturing the right data. As enterprise-level central sources of truth for carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions, platforms such as Salesforce Net Zero Cloud are helping companies around the world reach emissions reduction goals faster, more easily and comply with regulatory obligations. By feeding them consumption data, they help users understand and interpret data through the likes of analytics reports and real-time emission dashboards that identify efficiencies to drive emissions reductions and productivity improvements across regions, energy types, buildings and data centres. Intuitive to use, they can be accessed by everyone from sustainability management staff to business leaders and auditors.
3. Automate everywhere – imagine not just taking the manual slog out of wrangling data but accelerating its collection. With end-to-end automation platforms like MuleSoft, it can be a reality. Featuring a central automation platform, it can automate the collection of energy usage from PDF files or websites, directly supporting the collection of utility bills, field vehicle invoices, business travel and more. It also has point-and-click capabilities that allow sustainability managers to move forward with confidence and speed, even when tackling tricky Scope 3 reporting for downstream/upstream supply chains. How do you put a value on reducing frustrations while enabling broader regulatory compliance obligations?
4. Use data to make better decisions – humans are visual creatures and that is why well-presented data changes the game. Platforms such as tableau turn data into colourful dashboards that reinforce ambitious targets are within reach and inspire teams to double-down on opportunities. The platform further enables predictive intelligence, supporting complex what-if scenarios like determining the impact of sustainability measures on emissions forecasts. Alternatively, users can go granular, such as tracking emissions for a specific site or function. There’s nothing like a bit of healthy competition to bring targets ever closer.
5. Partner wisely – ESG measuring and reporting is too complex to get it alone. Lean on experts who know the platforms and processes to put in place. Early wins are crucial for raising enthusiasm among colleagues and inspiring further investment from executives and a technology delivery partner such as Innovior can work with your team to ensure seamless integration and deliver results faster. Knowledge is not just power – it is a smaller carbon footprint and that is not only good news for ESG reporting but a win for our children and their children.

Be it mining, oil or gas, pressure is on the natural resources industry to cut waste and streamline processes. Learn how Innovior is helping companies automate work order reporting, digitise FIFO camp management and create workflows for plant design changes.

Reference:

[1] What is the history of ESG? - The Corporate Governance Institute
[2] 04-37665.global.compact_final (unepfi.org)
[3] From “Who Cares Wins” To Pernicious Progressivism: 18 Years Of ESG (forbes.com)
[4] Environmental, Social and Governance reporting (pwc.com.au)
[5] Greenhouse gases and energy
[6] What are scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions? | Deloitte UK