Reliable carbon data is the bedrock of a long-term sustainability roadmap. Automated carbon accounting software enables companies to meet multiple disclosure demands, set realistic targets, achieve efficient emissions reductions, and protect and build business value in a rapidly changing landscape.?
Developing a Long-Term Sustainability Roadmap with Carbon Accounting Software
Sustainability has become a key consideration for business strategy. It influences everything from consumer choices to supply chain stability, brand standing, talent acquisition, the cost of raw materials, access to capital, and more. And the stakes are high: One found that by 2100, without action to decarbonize, corporations could face up to $62B USD just in additional interest payments due to climate risk.?
To respond to these risks and opportunities, organizations need long-term sustainability plans. Rather than approaching climate from a reactive position, they must look ahead and build the capabilities that will allow them to respond to a rapidly changing landscape.?
In this article, we’ll discuss how you can work smarter, not harder, to develop a sustainability roadmap that will help future-proof your company.?
The Role of Carbon Data in Developing a Sustainability Roadmap
For many organizations, it is much easier to make climate commitments than to formulate action plans to meet such commitments. This is where a sustainability roadmap comes in. It sets clear, realistic deadlines and identifies the specific decarbonization levers needed for your industry and organization.?
Reliable, robust carbon data is the core ingredient of a successful sustainability plan. Having clear visibility into your emissions will allow you to make informed decisions, decarbonize efficiently, and communicate with investors, customers, and other stakeholders. It lets you translate your climate goals into real-world action and impact. But calculating your carbon footprint can be a mammoth task, especially for companies with complex operations.?
Sustainability teams sometimes find themselves stuck in a cycle of data management and reporting, spending many months gathering data. This leaves little time to build out strategies that will help the organization mitigate climate risks and thrive in a changing economy.?
A Long-Term, Big-Picture Approach
Many sustainability teams are lean and overburdened. This is why it’s essential to develop a long-term plan that will address all of your climate-related business outcomes — rather than just reacting tactically to each reporting deadline or demand. A good roadmap will set you up to prepare for reporting under many different frameworks. It will not just establish an emissions target, it will demonstrate how you’ll get there (and why). It will help you prepare for climate-related risks and opportunities, so you can protect business value regardless of what the future brings.?
Streamlining Planning With Carbon Accounting Software?
Technology can greatly ease the burden of data management and free up teams to focus on creating a climate program that meets multiple business goals. Carbon accounting software supports long-term, big-picture sustainability planning by enabling you to:?
- Identify Hotspots and Decarbonization Levers?
Carbon accounting software allows you to quickly zero in on the heaviest emitting activities in your operations and value chain. By prioritizing these “hotspots,” you can create a roadmap that will deliver significant reductions early on and demonstrate rapid progress. Reliable data also helps you choose the best decarbonization levers for your specific needs. Tools like Net Zero Navigator, for example, provide tailored guidance on emissions reductions, so you can make informed decisions.?
- Automate and Centralize Data
By automating calculations, carbon accounting software saves staff time and eliminates the need for manual calculations, which are prone to errors. It aggregates data, creating a single source of truth that anyone in the organization can easily reference. Centralized data facilitates engagement with different teams, as well as supply chain partners and external stakeholders.?
- Build Confidence in Disclosures
Climate disclosure is a critical consideration for any sustainability roadmap. Whether you’re reporting through a voluntary body like CDP, a regulation like California’s SB 253, or your own annual report, you need to make sure your data can withstand scrutiny. Some regulations, like CSRD, require assurance, so data needs to be audit-grade. The right carbon accounting platform will incorporate the necessary frameworks and standards (with the latest updates) into your calculations. For example, 麻豆原创 Sustainability Reporting enables you to generate your own GHG metrics reports for different frameworks, including CDP, CA SB 253, CSRD, SECR, and ISSB.?
- Track Progress?
The climate landscape is rapidly evolving, and companies need to be able to adapt and respond in real time. Carbon accounting software allows you to track your progress, benchmark against peers, and ensure you’re using up-to-date emissions factors and frameworks. Reliable, current data will allow you to adapt your sustainability strategy to meet new challenges and opportunities.?
Steps for Using Carbon Accounting Software to Build a Long-Term Sustainability Roadmap?
- Start With Your Business Goals?
Before you begin calculating emissions, you need a solid understanding of your climate-related business goals. This will allow you to get clear on which data to collect and the level of detail you need. For example, if you’re hoping to achieve ambitious decarbonization targets, you’ll want much more granular data than if your priority is to meet voluntary reporting requirements. Alignment on goals will also help you communicate with stakeholders and cultivate internal buy-in — a crucial component of the carbon accounting process.
- Identify Data Owners
Once you understand the information you need, you have to figure out where it lives in your organization. One of the things that slows teams down the most is reaching out to multiple departments to request data. For example, you may need to contact the facilities team for HVAC records, the procurement team for supplier info, and the finance team for utility bills and spend data. If you have a solid grasp of your organizational structure to begin with, this process will be much more efficient. You can find resources and guidance on streamlining data collection here.
- Communicate Value and Cultivate Buy-In
Developing relationships and engagement throughout your organization is one of the most important things you can do to ensure your sustainability strategy is successful. The ability to clearly articulate your business goals will facilitate data collection (e.g., it will be easier to convince your operations team to supply meter data if they understand how it helps the company). Reliable carbon calculations will also support you as you make the case for your program to stakeholders — you’ll be able to show progress, benchmark against peers, and back up your decisions with data.
- Prepare to Scale
As you implement your roadmap, your data needs will likely grow. The more comprehensive and granular your data is, the greater your ability to take action and drive improvements in your value chain. For example, some companies may start by calculating just scope 1 and 2 data, then add in scope 3. If your immediate priority is baseline disclosure, you might begin by using spend-based data before progressing to activity-based data, which supports more targeted changes in your operations and supply chain. If you begin from day one with a carbon accounting platform that will scale with you, you’ll set yourself up for long-term success.
A Roadmap That Future-Proofs Your Company
The pressure to disclose and respond to climate impacts and risks is not going away. To keep up, organizations need to think long-term and establish systems that will enable them to satisfy multiple sustainability demands at once. Carbon accounting software can provide the foundation for a future-proof climate program — allowing teams to meet evolving disclosure demands, achieve emissions reductions, and protect (and build) business value in a rapidly changing environment.?
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