Deloitte announced new connectivity-based approach to ESG (environmental, social, and governance) data collection and sustainability management that brings together technology from AT&T and Salesforce. This will help organisations streamline their processes, enhance data integrity and accelerate the identification of sustainability improvement opportunities across their operations and extended enterprise.
This available approach integrates AT&T’s asset connectivity solutions with Deloitte Digital’s Sustainability 360 offering a sustainability management solution powered by Salesforce Net Zero Cloud. In addition to supporting organisations in collecting and reporting on ESG data, this collaboration builds on Deloitte and Salesforce’s commitment to the AT&Ts connected climate initiative, which focuses on helping businesses collectively reduce one gigaton of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by 2035.
“Across the world, organisations are finding it difficult to collect ESG data from across their extended value chain in an agile manner, which helps them maintain alignment with evolving regulatory requirements and provide granular insights into progress against their sustainability commitments,” says Luis Galito, principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP, and Sustainability 360 offering leader. “We believe that organisations can resolve this challenge by taking advantage of the unique blend of sustainability expertise, deep industry knowledge, and innovative technologies that Deloitte, AT&T and Salesforce collectively provide. With a holistic understanding of specific varying regulations, we can help our clients establish a purpose-driven, outcomes-focused approach and enable transparency to their stakeholders on progress against their sustainability-focused goals.”
According to Deloitte’s “2023 CxO Sustainability Report,” nearly a quarter of CxOs says the difficulty of measuring their organisations’ environmental impact was a top barrier to sustainability efforts. For many organisations, this problem impacts their ability to avoid data discrepancies that lead to regulatory compliance issues and greenwashing accusations.
Deloitte’s collaboration with AT&T and Salesforce is focused on tackling this challenge. AT&T’s suite of asset management solutions provides direct connectivity with an organisation’s emissions sources (i.e., stationary and mobile assets), and Deloitte Digital’s Sustainability 360 offering, powered by Salesforce Net Zero Cloud, provides an audit-ready platform for ESG data management. Through this combination of new technologies, organisations can:
- Increase efficiency: Reduce manual data collection by collecting critical data from stationary and mobile assets and manage data through a single source.
- Improve data integrity: Enhance integrity of ESG data presented in sustainability reports and disclosures with investor-grade data collected directly from their source of origin.
- Accelerate insights: Monitor ESG performance and generate asset-level insights around improvement opportunities and emerging risks.
“To change our current climate trajectory, organisations need to collaborate to deliver new climate solutions. That’s why we are excited to join with AT&T and Deloitte to simplify how organisations collect ESG data from across their operations,” says Suzanne DiBianca, EVP and chief impact officer at Salesforce. “The blend of technologies, including AI, from AT&T, Deloitte, and Salesforce Net Zero Cloud is a good example of the innovation required to create near-term lasting change for our planet.”
AT&T’s internet of things (IoT) sensor technology offers organisations the capacity to better track emissions and bolster the granularity of scopes 1, 2 and 3 emissions reporting, in addition to assisting in environmental management, including water, waste and raw materials. AT&T’s IoT technology is also built to support expanded sustainability use cases that help improve business operations, as well as enhance data sharing speed through 5G network connectivity.
“The integration of IoT connectivity with emissions tracking gives businesses tremendous new insights and capabilities for making meaningful emissions reductions,” says Charlene Lake, chief sustainability officer and senior vice president of corporate responsibility and ESG at AT&T. “It’s exactly the type of collaborative innovation the AT&T connected climate initiative aspires to deliver as we help our business customers reduce 1 gigaton of GHG emissions by 2035. We look forward to continuing our work with Deloitte and Salesforce to accelerate the adoption of smart climate solutions across industries and sectors.”
The AT&T connected climate initiative is a consortium of technology companies, AT&T Business customers, universities and nonprofits working together to identify best practices, develop new, broadband-enabled climate solutions and drive impact at scale through improvements that help reduce emissions and mitigate climate change. Between 2018 and 2022, AT&T connectivity solutions have enabled customers to reduce 149.2 million metric tons of CO2.
For additional information about Deloitte Digital’s Sustainability 360, and how organisations can better measure and improve their sustainability performance across their extended enterprise, visit us here.
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