Does your company prepare a “Sustainability Report”? A sustainability report is a document that reports or discloses data on how the company is addressing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues to a wide range of stakeholders, including shareholders and business partners.
In recent years, companies have been increasingly required to disclose sustainability data, and in addition to environmental matters such as disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions, new sustainability reports now cover diversity indicators such as the ratio of female managers, the percentage of male employees taking childcare leave, and the wage gap between men and women based on the Law for the Promotion of Female Success in the Workplace. The new scope of the report also includes diversity indicators such as the ratio of female managers, the percentage of male employees taking childcare leave, and the gender wage gap. Collecting and managing this wide range of sustainability information is an urgent task and challenge for many companies. According to the “Report on Efficient Collection and Strategic Use of Sustainability-related Data (July 2023),”（※１）a survey conducted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, approximately 70% of companies mainly use spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel, and only 24% mainly use systems developed in-house or by other companies. The percentage of companies using in-house or third-party developed systems is only 24%. It has been pointed out that manual data collection is prone to human error and has issues in terms of efficiency and accuracy. Therefore, in this blog post, we will discuss the benefits of implementing a sustainability data management tool.
（※１）Report on Efficient Collection and Strategic Use of Sustainability-related Data（P.37）
＜ Contents ＞
1 Improved efficiency of data collection, aggregation, and management
Gathering and accurately reporting appropriate sustainability information is essential for companies to achieve their sustainability goals, but since various sustainability-related information is collected from different departments and external stakeholders, it is difficult to centralize and manage them. However, the current challenge is that it is difficult to centralize and manage the various sustainability-related information collected from different departments and external stakeholders. With sustainability data management tools, most data is managed in the cloud. Resources can be easily expanded to meet demand, costs are minimized, and data can be accessed from any location with an Internet connection. Multiple users can access and collaborate on data at the same time, making data management more efficient. There is no need to manually update software, keeping management tools up-to-date with security, updated features, and more.
2 Flexibility and scalability
Laws and frameworks in sustainability may change or new formulations may be added based on society’s changing values, corporate social responsibility (CSR) expectations, and international agreements as time goes by. A data management tool with a high degree of freedom for customization can smoothly handle frequent changes and additions.
3 Decision Support
Sustainability efforts require companies to respond to ever-changing laws and conditions and to analyze data. By using data management tools to aggregate and consolidate data in one place, companies can better understand critical data such as environmental impact and energy use, enabling faster and more effective decision making.
4 Liaison with external suppliers
Companies that provide sustainability management tools are also likely to have greater knowledge and expertise in sustainability. By working with outside experts, you can obtain the information you need more efficiently. You will also learn the best practices in sustainability data management, leading to improved information gathering processes.
5 Technology Evolution and Future Prospects
Sustainability data management tools are expected to evolve further and offer new prospects in the future. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) will be used to analyze large volumes of complex sustainability data to better understand trends, and blockchain technology will be used to improve transparency in supply chains and prevent tampering with environmental data. and reliability of data.
Conclusion
Throughout this article, we have introduced the importance and indispensability of sustainability data management tools in a company. Now, we hope you are interested in how much of an impact this information can have behind the scenes in your business. The implementation of sustainability data management tools is more than just a trend, data collection and statistics, or a CSR activity; it is key to the future success of your company. It will be an important tool for strategic decision-making and building a future-oriented vision.
Throughout this article, we have introduced you to the importance and indispensability of sustainability data management tools in your company. We hope you are now interested in how much of an impact this information can have behind the scenes in your business. The implementation of sustainability data management tools is not just for trends, data collection and statistics, or as part of CSR activities, but will be key in the future success of your company. It will be an important tool for strategic decision-making and building a future-oriented vision.
NeuroMagic also offers a sustainability data management tool called “SustainLab. In addition to providing tools, we can also help you identify your own key sustainability issues through workshops, research, and consulting. Please feel free to contact us for more information.
Hiroko Morino
Customer Success Manager
She built her career in the international logistics industry as a customer service and logistics analyst in Japan and the U.S. After moving to a manufacturer, she worked in procurement. Currently, as a customer success manager for a sustainability data management tool, she is responsible for the process from implementation to operation and is passionate about helping customers succeed.