Customer relationship management software multinational Salesforce has released its Net-Zero Cloud service, which takes data from disparate systems into a reporting platform so that companies can make informed calculations to drive their sustainability efforts, in South Africa.
Salesforce trialled the solution, previously called the sustainability cloud, on its own operations prior to releasing it, and the company has also added sustainability as its fifth core value during the past year, Salesforce South Africa commercial sales account executive Kerim Khoury said during the Salesforce Live event on June 9.
The company has various key performance indicators against which it measures its performance in terms of its five core values, which include sustainability. This initiative is run by Salesforce co-founder Parker Harris, noted Khoury.
"The world is in a climate crisis and the time to act is now. We need to put the planet at the centre of our priorities. This will require new policies, new business models, new values and new investment priorities," said Salesforce solution engineer Romain Confavreux.
However, sustainability initiatives are often siloed and the Net-Zero Cloud solution, based on Salesforce's experience and feedback from its customers, provides the technology for users to tackle climate priorities throughout their organisations, he said.
The issue businesses are trying to solve is that climate and sustainability data often resides in disparate systems and there remains a big gap in terms of companies being able to measure and report on their climate impacts and actions, said Khoury.
"Data is the most important piece of the puzzle and there is a need to ensure that consistent, accurate data is used from many sources, within and outside the organisation," he said.
Measuring emissions and climate actions within an organisation and within its suppliers is complex and the solution overcomes this by integrating the various data sources into a dashboard to enable organisations to engage with the data and measure their transitions to net-zero emissions, said Khoury.
"We have expanded the depth and breadth of sustainability not only in our organisation, but also in our customers and partners, and the main thrust of the development is that we are trying to ensure that [environmental, social and governance (ESG)] efforts are based on data.
“Therefore, the analytics and reporting provided by the Net-Zero Cloud solution have been streamlined to provide near real-time data and it leverages automation to enable organisations to publish reports on demand for investor relations and compliance," he said.
The Net-Zero Cloud solution has analytical tools embedded within it, enabling companies not only to produce reports and view the progress of various emissions auditing processes, but also to do regression analyses and what-if analyses to hone their climate actions, Khoury said.
Organisations must get their ESG processes ready, as it is anticipated that more governments and countries will roll out sustainability efforts and regulations, he added.
"The solution enables organisations to keep track of their sustainability efforts and provides a verifiable record of their efforts when engaging with suppliers, partners, investors and customers," said Khoury.
Every company will need to become net-zero, and the Net-Zero Cloud helps companies to track data and reduce emissions, functioning as net-zero-as-a-service, noted Confavreux.
"While the solution helps companies track emissions data and take informed decisions and actions based on this data, sustainability should be a central focus of companies and they should be engaging with their suppliers, partners and employees to pull together towards net-zero goals," he said.
Meanwhile, Salesforce uses MuleSoft in its clouds, which is able to connect all the data sources of a company and ensure a flow of data to establish and measure key performance indicators, or meet regulatory requirements, said Khoury.
"The Net-Zero Cloud solution can provide visibility of Scope 1 emissions, which are the direct emissions from a company's operations; Scope 2 emissions, which are the emissions from the energy they use; and Scope 3 emissions, which are third-party emissions arising from a company's operations, such as emissions from business flights or rented cars.
"The solution can also be used to track water use and waste management, using Internet of Things systems, so that companies can manage all relevant sustainability metrics. This functionality is embedded in the solution and configurable to the needs of a company," he said.
Confavreux added that the solution can also be used to calculate emissions associated with purchases from suppliers, which also falls under Scope 3 emissions, and companies could look at establishing digital portals for suppliers to upload their emissions data and documents.
"External auditors can also be given access to the dashboard to audit a company's compliance to climate policies and regulations. The solution is founded on transparency to enable all parties to work towards net-zero goals," he said.