Streamline ESG disclosures with new and expanded reporting solutions

Accurate reporting plays a major role in helping companies reach their sustainability goals, providing a bridge between where they are and where they aspire to be. With the new project ESG reporting (preview) tool, organizations can streamline the reporting process by collaborating on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards and frameworks at the same time.  

In this blog, we explore the capabilities of this management tool and how it helps simplify reporting on multiple levels. Features include a variety of user-friendly templates, workflow management, and extensibility that accelerate the reporting process and boost accuracy. In addition, we look at a new data trail capability in Microsoft Sustainability Manager that improves transparency in data flow and an alternate emissions feature that helps people accurately quantify emissions. Lastly, for game creators, we revisit the Xbox Developer Sustainability Toolkit, released in 2023, to see how it is helping pinpoint and reduce energy usage for gamers. 

Simplify the complexities of ESG disclosure

ESG disclosure reporting can be a complex and challenging process for companies. For example, there is no global standardization in ESG reporting, which makes it difficult to know what metrics to report and how to structure disclosures. Organizations are facing challenges as they aim to report against numerous voluntary and regulatory reporting frameworks.  

Project ESG reporting (preview) solves these challenges by enabling customers to create, complete, and approve reports based on multiple ESG disclosure standards across quantitative and qualitative metrics. The solution offers templates, frameworks, and directives that can be populated and subsequently re-used for future reports, reducing the overall reporting process for years to come. The templates can be customized with flexible data input options—from numeric to rich text—to build a comprehensive report and provide accurate insight into an organization’s ESG performance. Customers also have the option to bring in their own templates. Additionally, they can use collaboration and approval workflows to enhance data quality and consistency.  

The solution focuses on multiple areas that simplify the challenges inherent in reporting, across industries. This includes reducing complexity, enhancing efficiency, and providing greater transparency.

Key features include:   

1. Variety of standard templates. To save our customers time and effort, we included a range of ESG standard and framework templates:

2. Microsoft Sustainability Manager integration for company profile and CSRD data points  
3. Workflow UI for task management and content approval   
4. Disclosure generation in Excel  
5. Extensibility for custom template creation

Explore our collaborative end-to-end ESG reporting solution.

Follow the workflow of data with Microsoft Sustainability Manager to make better decisions

Sustainability data helps company leaders make informed decisions about sustainability with their apps. To maximize the value of that data, we’ve given Microsoft Sustainability Manager data trail capabilities. This feature covers the entire data lifecycle—from ingestion to reconciliation—providing a complete representation of the data flow. Capabilities include a comprehensive preparation report providing the data trail across different time periods and organizational hierarchies. 

Features include: 

• Understanding how data moves and changes in the app (such as who is responsible for the data, data quality, and the outcome of using data) 
• Visibility into each stage of the data journey, delivering a clear, end-to-end view of sustainability in data flow, transformations, and calculations
• Streamlining data access, traceability, and auditability  

Having a data trail helps companies more easily handle the constantly changing regulatory requirements for data traceability and auditability. For auditors, investors, and stakeholders, it also builds trust. 

Learn more about generating a data trail report.

Create separate emissions versions specific to reporting standards or accounting methods

The regulatory landscape is complicated and continues to evolve. The alternate emissions feature in the Microsoft Sustainability Manager calculations engine empowers customers to accurately quantify their emissions using diverse calculation methodologies. The tool generates alternative emission reports tailored to the requirements of different regulatory bodies or regional reporting standards. Users leverage the same activity data, tailoring emission calculations to specific emission scopes and classifications. This can enhance operational efficiency and mitigate risks associated with non-compliance or inaccurate reporting.

The feature’s flexibility simplifies maintaining compliance with regional or industry-specific reporting standards and variations and ever-evolving regulations. Users can configure multiple emission calculation methodologies for each emission category (Scope 1, Scope 2, Scope 3) and its underlying activity data. That includes the ability to choose destination or classification of emissions along with the output activity category within the calculation model. Such capabilities enable the generation of parallel emission reports for different regulatory bodies, regional standards, and customer requests. Users will also be able to filter emission records based on approach or calculation methodology and visualize the alternate results according to methodology or purpose.  

Learn more about calculating emissions for different standards (preview).

Get the latest factor library updates 

Microsoft Sustainability Manager has added new emission factors to the factor library that you can seamlessly import. They are: 

• National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) database: Microsoft Sustainability Manager integrates with the NGER database, enabling users to access accurate and up-to-date emission factors. These factors are essential for calculating greenhouse gas emissions associated with various activities, products, and processes.  

• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) factors for 2024: The EPA regularly updates emission factors based on scientific research and industry trends. Microsoft Sustainability Manager has automatically incorporated the latest EPA factors for 2024, ensuring accuracy and compliance with regulatory standards. 

Encourage game creators to create sustainability goals

Reducing the impact of gaming on the environment requires a collaborative effort. Working closely with studio partners, we’ve done that with the Xbox Sustainability Toolkit. To date, we’ve already seen great success with games like Halo Infinite, Fortnite, and Call of Duty.  

Our game creator stories show that identifying and implementing energy efficiency opportunities in game development doesn’t have to be expensive or time intensive. The results can reduce console energy consumption, carbon emissions, and in-home electricity costs for gamers. The energy optimizations help game creators achieve sustainability goals without disrupting players. Visit Microsoft Game Dev Docs to learn more about our partner collaborations and the toolkit.  

We’ll continue to add to the Xbox Sustainability Toolkit as we expand our number of studio partners. We’ll also continue to contribute and participate in the United Nations Playing for the Planet Alliance to support sustainable game design.  

To learn more, visit Gaming Sustainability. 

Learn more about sustainability solutions with Microsoft  

• Bookmark Microsoft Industry Blogs: Sustainability for the latest updates, including new capabilities in Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability.   
• Discover solutions with Microsoft Sustainability Manager.  
• Explore the Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability Community, where you can find answers to questions and connect with peers and experts.  
• See what’s new in Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability. 

The post Streamline ESG disclosures with new and expanded reporting solutions appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs.

Source: Microsoft Industry Blog