Delivering powerful ESG insights with partner data connectors
As we continue to expand the capabilities of Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability to accelerate net-zero, we’re leaning into the strengths of our global partner ecosystem to accomplish even more, faster. We’re actively working with partners who provide Microsoft Sustainability Manager solutions, including specialized connectors, to streamline ingestion, collection, and aggregation of Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 data.1 The resulting insights will play a critical role in helping organizations meet growing regulatory requirements and their own sustainability goals.
Organizations need to import environmental data from all their sources
Microsoft Sustainability Manager helps customers import and store emissions data for all three scopes of impact, with prebuilt calculation methodologies for Scopes 1, 2, and most categories of Scope 3 (The balance of Scope 3 categories will be covered soon). It also provides a growing set of water data management capabilities. Waste data management capabilities are coming soon.
The solution can be integrated with virtually any business system, enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, or platform—connecting directly to data sources, breaking down data silos, and helping to automate data integration with the publicly available Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability data model. Beyond prebuilt data connectors and dynamic calculation methodologies, Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability also provides flexibility to use outside connectors, emission factors, and formulas.
Importing data from partner solutions is essential for capturing more of an organization’s operational footprint. To this end, we’re building a robust catalog of prebuilt and custom data connectors from third-party providers. We’re prioritizing prebuilt connectors to partner solutions that aggregate data across key emission categories to scale the benefits to as many customers as possible; and we’re enabling custom connectors that address more specific data scenarios to be built, using an in-app experience for importing data. Here are details on some of those.
Arcadia: Empowering grid decarbonization
We’re pleased to announce the preview of the Arcadia Data Connector, now available in Microsoft Sustainability Manager, to help streamline data collection and eliminate time-consuming, error-prone manual processes. Arcadia is a tech company empowering energy innovators and consumers to fight the climate crisis. The company’s software and APIs unlock energy innovation by creating unprecedented access to data and clean energy that’s needed to decarbonize the grid.
Today’s businesses need accurate data to take control of their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting, but the process of gathering that data can be difficult, confusing, and time-consuming. Additionally, without access to the right data, it can be challenging for businesses to understand the effectiveness of their sustainability efforts and ROI.
Arcadia’s Arc platform aggregates historical, current, and ongoing data from thousands of utilities in more than 50 countries to save time and resources and provide valuable insights. This automated access to monthly energy, water, and gas consumption data is essential to powering accurate and consistent environmental reporting and validating ongoing efforts around a company’s environmental impact.
Seeq: Leveraging operational data analytics and virtualization
The Seeq Solution for Microsoft Sustainability Manager enables sustainability managers, business managers, and environmental engineers to monitor, manage, and report on Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, leveraging the Seeq advanced analytics platform on Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Sustainability Manager integrated and automated sustainability management capabilities.
Manufacturing and energy companies using the Seeq platform will be able to access operational data from their manufacturing sites, cleanse and contextualize the data, perform monitoring and root cause analysis, and automate the reporting of those analyses in Microsoft Sustainability Manager.
“The Seeq Solution for Microsoft Sustainability Manager is the latest of our solutions built on the Seeq platform to make time series data insights available to all stakeholders for improved outcomes in process manufacturing.”—Megan Buntain, Vice President of Cloud Transformation, Seeq.
Johnson Controls: Automating emissions data collection to centralize insights
Johnson Controls (JCI) OpenBlue smart spaces technology integrated with Microsoft Sustainability Manager automates partner integrations and data collection activities while visualizing emissions across an organization’s operational data sources through a single dashboard. This helps free up time to focus on energy consumption and emissions tracking toward carbon reduction goals.
The solution is available on Microsoft AppSource and is on demonstration at Microsoft Technology Centers (MTCs). At MTCs, visitors can explore the solution’s data pre-processing and carbon footprint calculation features for onboarding environmental data and accelerating progress.
Cognite: Powering more sustainable, data-driven industrial operations
Cognite Data Fusion®, also available through AppSource and on demonstration at MCTs, liberates data from siloed sources and gives it context that subject matter experts, data scientists, and AI can understand—helping to accelerate full-scale digital transformation to improve the dependability and sustainability of operations. Using it, customers and partners can quickly and reliably build and scale new analytics dashboards, production solutions, and digital twins.
Cognite Data Fusion® creates open, unified, real-time industrial data models that humans and machine learning applications can easily access, empowering data-driven operations to increase production, reduce waste, and make their operations more sustainable. It’s purpose-built for industry, intuitively designed, and helps organizations lower the costs and complexity of scaling solutions.
Mesa: Advancing organizational ESG progress and compliance
Mesa’s IMPACT platform, available on AppSource, helps companies enhance their sustainability management by efficiently overseeing ESG processes and environmental and social performance, ensuring compliance with international standards. This results in risk minimization and enhanced corporate value creation.
IMPACT is integrated with Microsoft 365, Power BI, Azure AI, and Microsoft Teams. It’s also seamlessly integrated with Microsoft Sustainability Manager, making it possible to:
- Connect data and accurately represent an organization’s emissions footprint and add other necessary data according to international standards or other parameters to produce sustainability reports.
- Stay connected with stakeholders and easily design your sustainability strategy in line with materiality.
The platform enables companies to continue their efforts to reduce emissions, increase efficiency, and make lasting changes.
Explore the growing range of robust, specialized Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability partner solutions
Stay plugged into Microsoft AppSource as our worldwide partners continue to offer new industry-tailored sustainability solutions to support organizations’ unique ESG data management needs.
Try solutions at our Microsoft Technology Centers. Find an MTC location near you.
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Microsoft Sustainability Manager
A solution that unifies data to help you monitor and manage your environmental impact.
1Scope 1 emissions directly result from an organization’s business activities. Scope 2 emissions indirectly result from producing energy such as electricity or heating and cooling. Scope 3 indirect value chain emissions result from all other business activities, such as building and construction materials or transport. Scope 3 emissions represent the largest bucket of emissions for most organizations.
