Sustainability is no longer just a commitment – it’s a pathway to achieving long-term success by balancing profitability with responsible resource use and environmental stewardship. As businesses face increasing pressure to reduce their environmental impact and contribute positively to society, we’re here to help.
In this article, we explore four key areas where we can support businesses on their journey to sustainability.
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Accelerated ESG reporting
Navigating complex regulatory compliance with confidence
The global regulatory environment is rapidly tightening, with significant developments in the EU, US and beyond.
In the EU, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) required nearly 50,000 companies to begin disclosing detailed sustainability information; these reports would include Scope 3 emissions, which often account for over 70% of a company's carbon footprint. In the US, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed rules that would require public companies to disclose climate-related risks and greenhouse gas emissions in their filings, potentially starting as early as 2025 for the largest companies.
To help clients meet these evolving standards with confidence, we bring our data expertise for:
- Accurate data management: Meticulous and automated data collection, cleansing and reporting that lays a solid foundation to not only meet the compliance needs but to plan and evolve their sustainability journey.
- Custom dashboards: Providing near-real-time visibility into compliance metrics to facilitate informed decision-making.
- Streamlined digital reporting: Simplifying and automating regulatory reporting processes.
- Analytics and visualisation tools: Offering proactive and comprehensive sustainability insights at a level deeper than compliance and reporting needs.
By leveraging our expertise in data and analytics, our clients establish robust compliance frameworks that enhance transparency and support sustainable growth.
For example, through our supply chain sustainability assessments, we included innovative approaches like satellite imagery verification for deforestation claims. This demonstrates our commitment to providing comprehensive and accurate data for regulatory compliance.
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Decarbonisation solutions
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Achieving ambitious emissions reductions
Reducing GHG (Green House Gas) emissions is a critical priority for businesses worldwide. In 2022 alone, global CO2 emissions reached a staggering 36.8 billion tonnes4, highlighting the urgent need for effective decarbonisation strategies.
We equip organisations with custom tools and insights to significantly reduce their emissions:
- Carbon accounting and tracking: Utilising precise digital tools to monitor and manage emissions.
- Predictive analytics: Proactively identifying decarbonisation strategies.
- AI-driven optimisation: Enhancing energy efficiency with AI-powered solutions that optimise resource use.
- Internet of Things Integration: Offering near-real-time monitoring of energy consumption, allowing for proactive sustainability measures.
- Digital twin technology: Utilising advanced digital modeling to design physical products and spaces that are both innovative and eco-friendly.
Our technology-driven approach enables our customers to not only set ambitious emissions reduction targets, but to also achieve them efficiently and with the desired environmental and operational benefits. For instance, our work in the aviation sector illustrates how applying Machine Learning and predictive algorithms with detailed flight data can optimise routes, fuel usage and cargo loads to help reduce emissions and overall operational costs.
We've also partnered with a leading provider of software solutions for energy and water industries to optimise their Meter Data Management System. This collaboration enhanced the delivery and use of energy and water for utilities worldwide, contributing to more sustainable resource management.
Sustainable products
and brands
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Product carbon footprint management and eco-labelling
According to the Simon-Kucher & Partners 2021 sustainability study, consumer preferences are increasingly shifting towards sustainable products. 85% of global consumers consider sustainability in their purchasing decisions and 34% are willing to pay more for sustainable products.
This presents a significant opportunity for organisations to realise new value. According to a 2023 Deloitte study, a quarter of global consumers are open to spending more on purchases that support biodiversity or adhere to ethical working conditions. We support our clients throughout the product lifecycle, using these concepts to develop and market sustainable, customer-friendly products:
- Sustainable product strategy: Creating data-driven sustainability strategies for products, including supply chain optimisation that reduces environmental impact.
- Carbon footprint lifecycle analysis and management: Calculating, visualising and reducing the environmental impact of products (generally, or in hotspots) from cradle to grave.
- Transparent eco-labelling: Ensuring that products meet sustainability standards and consumer expectations with clear, reliable data-driven labelling.
- Digital eco-labelling: We extend eco-labelling beyond physical products to include digital offerings that leverage methodologies like Software Carbon Intensity (SCI) scoring. This approach helps organisations assess and communicate the environmental impact of their digital products, even as standards for digital eco-labelling continue to evolve.
Our solutions enable companies to create products that not only meet market demands, but also contribute to a more sustainable future. We've demonstrated this through our work with RBC, creating an application to help people cope with the unsustainable impacts of extreme weather conditions in Australia. This solution increases the resilience and protection of homes, showcasing our commitment to developing technology that addresses climate change challenges.
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Green software
Building a sustainable digital ecosystem
The digital ecosystem – that is, IT and software – is a significant contributor to global emissions, accounting for around 2-3% of the total. We committed to reducing this impact by integrating sustainability into the core of our software practice from design to deployment.
As such, we offer a variety of green software services:
- Energy-efficient code: Developing software with optimised code that minimises energy consumption.
- Cloud-native architectures: Leveraging cloud technologies to reduce resource usage and emissions.
- Carbon-aware application design: Building applications with sustainability considerations and deployment strategies from the ground up.
- Green AI solutions: Implementing AI technologies that minimise the energy consumption of AI-driven processes by load shifting and schedule management.
Our adherence to the Software Carbon Intensity (SCI) ISO standard ensures that our clients can measure and optimise the carbon impact of their digital operations, leading to greener, more sustainable IT solutions.
We've put these principles into practice by developing carbon-aware dashboards for developers to identify and address energy-intensive code and creating tools that display near-real-time carbon emissions for digital products. Additionally, we've conducted workshops to identify sustainable solutions in various industries, such as optimising labeling processes in warehouses, demonstrating our commitment to practical, industry-specific sustainability solutions.
As the world grapples with the urgent need for sustainable practices and products, we are dedicated to leading the charge with technological solutions that drive real-world impact. Our comprehensive approach to sustainability, from regulatory compliance to green software development, empowers companies to turn challenges into opportunities for growth and leadership. Our solutions not only address immediate environmental concerns but also pave the way for long-term sustainable business practices.
As we look to the future, we will continue our investment in research, innovation and partnerships to deliver even more effective sustainability solutions. We’re collaborating with our customers not to just adapt to the demands of a changing world, but to actively shape a more sustainable, resilient future for generations to come.