FEATURE Fabric offers sustainability data solutions to help manufacturers build a single source of truth for ESG data. The Copilot feature in Microsoft Sustainability Manager enables naturallanguage interaction to help teams understand the complexities inherent to sustainability work. Finally, Intelligent Insights can identify errors or gaps in data so organisations can act quickly and make informed decisions.” Partners are integrating the new Microsoft offerings into their solutions. For example, Cognite – a leader in industrial DataOps software – is to integrate flagship product Cognite Data Fusion with the Microsoft Fabric data platform. Cognite Data Fusion already leveraged Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Sustainability Manager to simplify emissions data so that operators can visualise, monitor, optimise and automatically report real-time data from industrial operations. Customers are yielding benefits from Microsoft Sustainability Manager too. Take OSTP Group, the Nordic manufacturer of steel tubes, pipes and fittings. It worked with Microsoft partner Fellowmind to build a solution for carbon dioxide data gathering and reporting. With automated reporting and AI-driven analytics, OSTP aims to spend less time collecting data and more time analysing progress towards its goal of carbon neutrality by 2025. Denmark-based FLSmidth, a provider of equipment and service solutions to the mining and cement industries, aims to reach zero emissions and waste by 2030. It is using Microsoft Sustainability Manager to establish emissions baselines, set incremental goals and track progress to build new sustainability solutions for customers. Pharma’s green goals Chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing industries are at a critical juncture in their sustainability journey, Ladha points out. “There are several key areas where these industries can focus their efforts,” he says. “Green chemistry is a key decarbonisation lever for pharmaceutical manufacturers, who are responsible for a small but growing pool of emissions. Green chemistry solutions aim to reduce the environmental impact of drug production by using renewable energy, biodegradable materials and less toxic chemicals. “Some pharmaceutical companies are piloting green chemistry for a small selection of products, but they need to invest in scaling and mainstreaming these solutions to enable operational emissions reductions.” In December 2023, The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) reported that pharma companies are increasingly exploring how they can make their manufacturing processes more sustainable, such as investments in cleaner production methods for medicines. “These practices can involve a wide range of strategies, from optimising production processes to reducing energy and water usage, to transitioning to renewable energy sources for their operations,” says Ladha. “Also, implementing alternative transportation methods can also help reduce the carbon footprint associated with their products’ distribution.” Cutting carbon with AI AI tools can help manufacturers analyse large amounts of data, identify patterns and make data-driven decisions, which offer the potential to reduce carbon emissions. In Microsoft’s most recent Environmental Sustainability Report, it noted that importing data from top research makes AI run more 94 FLSmidth is using Microsoft Sustainability Manager to reduce emissions produced within the mining and cement industries
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