Technology Record - Issue 22: Autumn 2021

132 www. t e c h n o l o g y r e c o r d . c om M icrosoft announced the release of its new Cloud for Sustainability at Inspire 2021. The cloud platform was created to help Microsoft and its partners meet their carbon reduction and sustainability goals, and to acknowledge the commitment that is needed from organisations worldwide to affect change. At ITSCREDIT, we develop straightforward, innovative and flexible credit solutions that address market challenges and client needs, so we have made sustainability central to our busi- ness mission. Sustainability module is one of our emerging concepts for 2021. It provides questionnaire mod- els adapted to individual needs regarding envi- ronmental issues and derives an environmental sustainability analysis model, which allows finan- cial businesses to score customers on sustainabil- ity key performance indicators. We want to help financial services companies focus on clients that adopt best-in-class sus- tainable practices and avoid the rising costs of non-compliance. Our emerging concepts not only focus on environmental sustainability, but also socio-economic sustainability. Our Recovery and Resilience Plan is the central pillar of Next Generation EU, a European Union recovery package that supports member states hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. This distinctive module allows financial institution partners to convert a specific analogue process into a single specific digital technology workflow. There are three parts to the Recovery and Resilience Plan, withover €670 billion (US$784 bil- lion) of funding available.The first is the Resilience Dimension, which aims to address areas such as housing and social responses, elimination of pov- erty pockets, and forests and water management. The second is the Climate TransitionDimension. Through it, we are helping the EU to support change in sustainable mobility, industry decar- bonisation, energy efficiency in buildings, and hydrogen-based and renewable fuels. And the third part is the Digital Transition Dimension to address digital schooling, industry 4.0, and the digitalisationof public administration. Sustainability is good for business and invest- ment returns in the long term. A new concept of ours links the interest rate of bank loans to meet- ing pre-agreed sustainability performance targets. In other words, the better a firm’s sustainability performance, the lower the interest rate, thereby reducing debt financing costs. Despite the tumult of the last few years and the challenges we all face going forward with regards to the environment and navigating a new business world, we are doing our best to help our custom- ers make informed decisions that help them, and their own clients, do better. We don’t want to fol- low the market; we want to establish it. Ricardo de Campos is CEO of ITSCREDIT The sustainable side of financial services With increased awareness of social and environmental sustainability issues, ITSCREDIT is adjusting its offerings to affect change R I CARDO DE CAMPOS : I T S C R ED I T V I EWPO I NT “Sustainability is good for business and investment returns in the long term”