Quick Key Facts What Are ‘Grasslands’? Grasslands — also known as savannas, prairies, steppes and pampas — are ecosystems found in parts of the world that do not get sufficient consistent rainfall to support forest growth, but get enough to avoid the landscape turning into desert. Often, grasslands are a transition ecosystem between deserts and […]
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MINI’s funky Volvo EX30 rival goes on sale in June, with prices starting from £31,800
This week marked Earth Day 2024, and as we navigate an increasingly data-driven landscape and harness the burgeoning power of artificial intelligence, there are few justifications for organisations to not manage and report their environmental, social and governance (ESG) data with enhanced efficiency and transparency. Global ESG standards are on the rise, and Australia is at the forefront of this movement. In June last year, the Australian Government took decisive steps by initiating mandatory ESG reporting for large companies and financial institutions, set to commence this June. Yet, the question remains: are our large corporations adequately prepared?
As we strive for a future marked by accountability, the selection of data partners will critically define an organisation’s capability not only to meet but to surpass ESG standards. Transitioning to advanced data systems transcends mere compliance; it is a strategic imperative that accelerates our progress towards sustainable development goals.
Despite many Australian organisations committing resolutely to new ESG standards, they face hurdles in achieving their objectives due to data challenges within the supply chain, which can inadvertently lead to unintended greenwashing. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission recently found that 57% of 247 businesses surveyed might have engaged in greenwashing through their claims.
Frequently, the data required is already present within organisations; however, the challenge lies in unlocking this data and integrating it with other vital datasets for comprehensive analytics. This enables management to obtain a holistic view. A 2023 survey disclosed that over 80% of Australian organisations still depend on spreadsheets to collect, analyse and report ESG-related data, instead of leveraging modern AI and analytics platforms. This reliance on outdated methods means that most of our reporting has been backward-looking, whereas the need of the hour is for real-time, actionable insights for immediate impact.
The principal obstacle is not merely the availability of data but the capability to seamlessly integrate and analyse it to ensure accurate and reliable reporting of ESG data, thus avoiding the risks of greenwashing. With ESG data predominantly unstructured and scattered across various formats and locations, this presents a significant challenge.
According to the same study, more than 70% of Australian senior business leaders surveyed last year cited data collection as the most challenging aspect of the ESG reporting process. 47% of respondents indicated that incomplete and missing ESG data was a significant obstacle, with another 33% reporting inconsistent and irregular data collection procedures, and 47% citing poor data quality as a key hurdle.
Consider the example of Woolworths, Australia’s largest supermarket chain, which once struggled with common data challenges such as fragmented databases and complex integration. The adoption of Qlik technology transformed Woolworths’ operations, enabling more effective inventory management and reducing food waste by allowing comprehensive analysis of customer segmentation, trading hours, expiration dates and sales patterns, thus optimising markdown policies and stock rotation of perishable goods.
Similarly, organisations with extensive property portfolios, such as the Australian National University (ANU), stand to benefit from improved data collection for enhanced energy efficiency insights. ANU’s initiative to replace outdated dial-based electricity meters with more contemporary digital meters feeding Qlik’s energy dashboard — processing data from over 1000 electricity meters every five minutes — illustrates the transformative power of integrating advanced data systems.
Ultimately, to adeptly manage and report ESG data, businesses must select the right data partner and build a robust data foundation by effectively collecting, integrating and delivering trusted data into your preferred environment, be it on-premise, in the cloud or a hybrid. Once established, AI-powered analytics can be used to transform that data into actionable insights and strategies — creating visualisations, generating predictions and providing interactive, rapid responses that benefit not just reporting efforts but the user’s overall business operations.
As the climate crisis intensifies and the targets set in the Paris Agreement become increasingly daunting, trustworthy and timely data will play a crucial role. During this Earth Day week, it’s imperative for all of us to commit to advancing our data practices to achieve our ESG goals and foster a more sustainable world.
Mark Fazackerley.
Top image credit: iStock.com/Boy Wirat
Researchers from Colorado State University have explored the potential of using carbon financing to fund green wastewater-treatment approaches that go beyond existing greywater treatment practices.
Carbon financing is the mechanism by which companies will voluntarily buy ‘carbon credits’ on an open market in order to offset their own emissions. These credits represent a reduction or removal of carbon from the atmosphere that can be accomplished in a variety of ways (eg, tree planting, renewable energy projects, carbon sequestration).
Based on data collected at over 22,000 facilities, the report from Colorado’s Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering explored the relationship between emissions, costs and treatment capabilities for utility operators and decision-makers. It found that if carbon financing were to subsidise green infrastructure and technology solutions, this could save US$15.6 billion and just under 30 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions over 40 years. The findings have been published in Nature Communications Earth and Environment.
The work examined both point-source water treatment and non-point sources of water pollution.
Traditional point-source water treatment facilities — or ‘grey-infrastructure’ systems — such as sewage plants remove problem nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus before releasing water back into circulation. Existing facilities already account for 2% of all energy use in the US and 45 million tonnes of CO2 emissions, according to Braden Limb, first author on the paper and a PhD student in the Department of Systems Engineering.
A significant source of freshwater contamination in the US comes from non-point source activity such as fertiliser runoff from agriculture entering rivers. Other non-point sources of pollution can come from wildfires — aided by climate change — or urban development, for example.
Limb said that rather than building more grey-infrastructure treatment facilities to address these growing issues, the paper explores green approaches financed through carbon markets that can tackle both types simultaneously.
“There could be a switch to nature-based solutions such as constructing wetlands or reforestation instead of building yet another treatment facility,” he said. “Those options could sequester over 4.2 million carbon dioxide emissions per year over a 40-year time horizon and have other complementary benefits we should be aiming for, such as cheaper overall costs.”
While there are financing markets for water that operate in a similar way to carbon financing, water has the challenge of being more localised than air quality and carbon — something that has limited the value of water market trades in the past. The paper suggests that these existing markets could be improved, and that carbon markets could also be leveraged to change some of the financial incentives farmers have around water treatment and impacts from their activity.
The researchers found that using the markets could generate $679 million annually in revenue, representing an opportunity to further motivate green infrastructure solutions within water quality trading programs to meet regulated standards.
“These findings draw a line in the sand that shows what the potential for adopting green approaches in this space is — both in terms of money saved and total emissions reduced,” said Braden Limb, first author on the paper and a PhD student in the Department of Systems Engineering.
“It is a starting point to understand what routes are available to us now and how financing strategies can elevate water treatment from a somewhat local issue into something that is addressed globally through market incentives.”
Mechanical Engineering Professor Jason Quinn, a co-author on the study, said the findings had some limitations, but were an important first step in modelling both the problem and opportunity available now. He said the results in the paper have supported new research at CSU with the National Science Foundation to further develop the needed carbon credit methodology with stakeholders.
“This is the first time we are considering air and water quality simultaneously — water is local and carbon is global,” he said. “But by bringing these market mechanisms together we can capitalise on a window of opportunity to accelerate the improvement of America’s rivers as we transition to a renewable energy and restored watershed future.”
Image caption: The Big Thompson River in Rocky Mountain National Park. Image credit: Colorado State University.
