50 in the innovation Sustainable Winning market share is no longer the only driver for leaders of modern enterprises. Along with the requirement for companies to compete in challenging commercial environments, an ability to operate sustainably – and to be able to demonstrate that fact – is paramount. Microsoft made its Cloud for Sustainability generally available in May 2022 to help businesses meet this challenge. The platform will enable enterprises and public sector organisations to leverage an increasing number of environmental, social and governance (ESG) capabilities from Microsoft and its global ecosystem of partners, helping them to accelerate sustainability progress and business growth. At the time of launch, Microsoft said: “Organisations need more accessible, centralised data intelligence to make the high-stakes decisions that are required right now to address complex issues, weighing both business and ESG criteria to direct capital toward investment opportunities that balance growth and impact. Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability solutions will provide the intelligence and data management capabilities that organisations need to respond to changes with agility and confidence.” The Cloud for Sustainability aims to help businesses become more sustainable in four key ways. Firstly, it can help organisations to unify data intelligence by streamlining data ingestion, integration and calculations, and enabling them to easily analyse and report environmental impact and sustainability progress. Secondly, the platform can be used to build a sustainable IT infrastructure by helping businesses to identify opportunities to replace tools, systems or activities with cleaner options. This could be done by adopting technologies that are sustainable by design, and assessing and improving compliance with global, regional and industry standards. BY E L LY YAT E S - ROB E R T S Cloud technologies and data are being used in new ways to help organisations reach sustainability goals while protecting profits. Microsoft solutions and those of its partners are playing a key role COV E R S TOR Y cloud
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