Advance ESG programs to reduce emissions – and exposure to risk

Companies with integrated data and automated workflows are leaders in achieving climate targets 

With every hurricane, forest fire, or flooding event, climate-change targets and the associated deadlines seem to loom larger. Companies around the world in sectors from energy to finance have become increasingly motivated to track the progress of their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) programs. And not meeting regulatory standards has led to lawsuits and financial penalties for some.  

An automative giant was sued in 2021 for “delayed sharing of emissions-related reports” while, the following year, the US SEC fined an investment bank $4 billion “for failing to follow ESG investment policies and misleading its customers.” As the saying goes, you can’t manage what you don’t measure, and organizations amplify their risk when their ESG programs aren’t keeping up with the pace of change in regulations. 

How to achieve ESG maturity with ServiceNow  

Although any reduction in carbon emissions, terrorist financing, or cybercrime (to cite some ESG examples) is a step in the right direction, C-level executives are facing increased pressure, including from key stakeholders, to accelerate their progress along the ESG maturity spectrum. 

ESG programs at many companies aren’t as effective as they could (or should) be. Consider hindsight and foresight. Some review ESG data solely for compliance reporting; that’s a hindsight view of the data use. Farther ahead on the spectrum, foresight comes into play. Companies with advanced EGS maturity seek insights from the data to inform corrective-action initiatives to drive climate-change reductions. Enterprises even farther ahead use data for modeling and scenario planning in ongoing efforts to support ESG practices.  

ServiceNow’s integrated platform is an all-in-one solution that can help organizations use ESG data more strategically, efficiently, and effectively by eliminating corporate functional silos, improving workflows, and enhancing transparency. It offers a holistic approach to ESG programs across an enterprise’s operations, enabling cross-functional teams to work more cohesively to achieve large-scale sustainability goals. 

Take action to move ESG plans along the spectrum  

The cultural shift toward ESG maturity can be a game-changer. However, many enterprises aren’t far ahead in their journey. They’re still using energy-draining hardware that contributes to emissions, rather than curtailing them. And the systems and tools that legacy technology supports make it onerous and time-consuming for business units to analyze the disparate streams of data. Other organizations are well into their overall digital transformation but haven’t fully embedded ESG into their end-to-end operations. They might still see ESG data as an add-on rather than an untapped source of real-time intelligence.  

As a ServiceNow consulting partner working with companies to help them achieve maturity in their ESG journey, Capgemini first leverages our industry-specific experts for a two-part discovery process. Our qualitative assessment evaluates the organization’s readiness for change, while our quantitative assessment involves baselining the empirical data, they’ll use to drive their ESG program. 

Capgemini is leading by example. We’ve already embedded leading ESG practices and behaviors into our own operations. By continuously improving our programs over just 15 months, we are now on track to reach net zero by 2040, a 10-year improvement from our original target. Moreover, we are on record in our commitment to help our clients decarbonize through our advisory services, the engineering of sustainable products, the optimization of supply chains and operations, the deployment of sustainable technology solutions, and finally, ESG reporting. 

Shift from assessment to implementation 

There’s a tremendous volume of data that companies can access and draw insight from, and ServiceNow has developed specific solutions, including an ESG module for carefully assessing an organization’s risks. It gathers data sets from disparate locations – such as ERP and CRM systems, financial general ledger, and cloud systems – and pulls it into automated workflows. Then the data can be processed and synthesized to produce seamless and secure ESG reporting.  

ServiceNow is also using the power of generative AI to make the technology itself more efficient by only accessing essential data sets. This ensures that what could be a resource-taxing solution is sharpened and fit for purpose. Then Capgemini can get very granular in the ways we help our clients drive more effective programs and scenario plans for improving ESG practices. 

Our expertise, technological know-how, and understanding of the global marketplace presents an excellent opportunity for Capgemini and ServiceNow to drive comprehensive ESG programs for our partners, complete with robust workflows and transparent reporting to lower carbon emissions and reduce your risk exposure. 

In part two of this blog, I explore the importance of auditing your own IT resources.