116 V I EWPO I NT decarbonisation strategies. However, this isn’t easy. Common major data challenges include the development of a company-wide collection strategy, a consistent approach to data units, confidence in the data’s accuracy, and building a team with the competence to grasp the data’s insights and make them actionable. Mitigating these challenges and building a successful strategy usually involves three steps: measure, monitor and act. At Schneider Electric, we call this ‘Strategise, Digitise, Decarbonise’. Most people are familiar with steps one and three but overlook, or even undermine, the importance of step two. ‘Digitise’ is perhaps the foundation of an effective policy: it involves tracking all of an organisation’s carbon data and storing it in a singular, easy-to-use location, allowing leaders to record baseline levels of carbon dioxide, set improvement targets, monitor live progress, and report and disclose results to stakeholders. This is particularly important as ESG data around decarbonisation is not yet standardised. Multiple disparate metrics can be used to assess performance, from cost per kilowatt-hour to tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Meanwhile, carbon data is often also siloed in different departments and systems, with fluctuating methods of measurement and management. But how should this information be handled? From ambition to action Smarter technology means corporations are now able to capture and monitor granular energy and resource consumption in real time. Yet many still struggle to turn this data into action. Data is readily available but companies find it tough to ensure quality and use the information to foster sharing and collaboration. Similarly, data can be polluted by erroneous readings, hardware-driven faulty values, meter swap-outs or rollovers, and any number of other sources. Data streams can be diverted by misconfiguration (usually human error) or dammed by communication outages or IT security changes. Data can even dry up when a meter dies. Simply put, emission-reduction programmes require constant attention to ensure they are performing as expected. To capture robust, digitised data, organisations should establish an integrated, cross-functional transformation team, with company-wide representation from departments like procurement, energy, sustainability, operations, supply chain, legal, investor relations and communications. This team can use its ranging skillset to audit different datasets for accuracy, align on corporate and sustainability goals, and collaborate to uncover actionable improvements. This type of change management is hard and may require incentives to encourage participation. Financial rewards that are linked to sustainability targets for everyone can motivate employees to feel a sense of ownership over the programme and drive success. Then, underpinning everything should be a good data management system; one which enables analysis and reporting while staying out of the way of core business priorities, operating in the background to minimise distractions and avoid eating up valuable time. Most importantly, the system must increase data confidence. With a bespoke carbon data management platform, managers can easily collate and publish this data. Then, they can move from yearly carbon estimations to ultra-accurate records of energy consumption and take impactful steps toward reducing their footprint. Leveraging a specialist sustainability platform We’ve already discussed the benefits of ERPs for business leaders, such as the ability to make accurate business decisions, clearly communicate results, and meet financial reporting standards. However, a Schneider Electric and Greenbiz survey of more than 300 corporate energy and sustainability professionals revealed that 52 per cent are still relying on archaic spreadsheets to manage their energy and sustainability data. So, what about using an ERP for ESG, specifically for carbon data management? With a cloud-based software system crafted for sustainability metrics, organisations enjoy “A truly successful sustainability programme requires transformation in every department”
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