Sustainability teams of course use the classic company tools like communication tools (e.g. Teams, Slack, emailing tools) to interact with internal or external stakeholders, and all other tools like the ones for collaboration and productivity (Excel, Docs, spreadsheets, you name it).
But also tools that are specific to their function.
Specialised sustainability tools
Sustainability managers use tools specifically designed for their function, and we’ll review several subcategories.
Carbon accounting and management software
These platforms allow sustainability teams to calculate their company’s CCF (Corporate Carbon Footprint). The principle is that company data is being imported into the tool, and the tool processes it to return carbon data as a result.
From there, these emissions can be included in the company's ESG reports and analysed to support its decarbonisation efforts.
Why carbon management software is so helpful
Where spreadsheets are inefficient, error-prone, and impractical for managing complex emissions data, specialised software offers key benefits.
Starting with time efficiency, carbon accounting software simplifies the data collection process, which allows sustainability teams to dedicate more time to taking action and engaging stakeholders as they reduce the time spent collecting company data.
Tools like Plan A provide intuitive interfaces combined with advanced data ingestion capacities (e.g. PDF import with Optical Character Recognition technology), and the flexibility to adapt to the company’s available data (e.g. if the company only has distances or distances + fuel type for the vehicle fleet emissions).
Explore Plan A's software via the interactive demo below:
Trying to build in-house software would require spending a lot of time gathering the relevant emission factors and calculation formula necessary to convert the collected data into CO2 data. On the other hand, carbon management software like Plan A embed these elements natively as their dedicated scientific team is in charge of updating and expanding the database of available emission factors and calculation methods that align with internal standards like the GHG Protocol.
Once the emissions are calculated, sustainability teams using this technology can work on continuously monitoring their environmental data. The software securely stores the data, allowing companies to compare emissions year-over-year, measure progress toward net-zero goals, and adjust strategies accordingly.
Such tools also help transform emissions data into targeted reduction strategies by identifying carbon hotspots and recommending high-impact actions like switching to renewables or optimising logistics. The decarbonisation potential of the different actions can be estimated easily as the platform knows the company’s emissions profile, which enables businesses to prioritise initiatives with the greatest impact.
Lastly, these services can include educational support and expert consultations to help teams navigate the complexities of carbon accounting and find the right solutions for their company
How sustainability teams use it
Sustainability teams are usually the main users of carbon management software. They manipulate it in the data collection phase, eventually engage with other teams to access the right company data, and once the calculations are done automatically by the software, they can export the results and also access the dashboards and analytics modules to better understand their company’s emission profile.
If it’s not their first exercise they can also compare the results with the previous calculations to analyse the trends and observe the results of their actions. They then look into the actions that are recommended to reduce emissions and design a strategy based on those insights.
A good example of how sustainability teams can be empowered to make data-driven decisions is Plan A’s custom dashboards feature: It allows companies to go beyond surface-level data analysis by creating dashboards that provide granular analysis of emissions data for specific departments, business units or projects based on custom tags.
A big part of the work is also communicating internally and externally about emissions and what can be done to reduce them. For example, convincing the leadership to really invest in decarbonisation projects and highlighting the business benefits that come with them.
Product carbon footprint software
Similar to corporate carbon footprint tools, these software solutions allow organisations to calculate the specific footprint of individual products.
Let’s take a fashion company for example. They can calculate the carbon footprint of each of their products for the specific collections and communicate this information to their customers to increase transparency. Solutions like Fairly Made can help fashion companies complete their PCF.
Then, at the company’s level, they would include the product carbon footprint (PCF) data into their corporate carbon footprint (CCF) calculations (for instance using Plan A) to get highly accurate results.
ESG reporting software
Many sustainability teams use software to centralise and manage Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) data.
This helps them strengthen their ESG practices and performance, while also making it easier to comply with reporting frameworks and regulations such as:
- CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive)
- B Corp certification questionnaires
- Other ESG disclosure requirements
A platform like Plan A helps a lot with carbon-related reporting, which is often a critical part of ESG reports.
You can generate a visual carbon report instantly, showing emissions across multiple dimensions, and export detailed emissions data for further analysis and integration with other systems.
Developing custom tools for better sustainability management
As they work on their tech stack to manage their sustainability journey, sustainability teams might need to access customised tools that match their company’s unique needs.
For example, a company might notice they haven’t been tracking data related to their waste or that they don’t have a system in place to collect data about employee commuting habits.
To address such situations, companies usually have 3 options:
Purchasing dedicated 3rd party tools
There might be tools directly available to solve the specific use cases that have been identified (e.g. a tool to collect employee commuting emissions).
Pros:
- Ready to be used
Cons:
- Often expensive
- Long purchasing process
- Potential lack of customisation
Requesting the in-house IT team to build these custom solutions
Companies usually have an IT department that manages the tech stack for the whole company or, in the case of a software company, develops the company’s digital products. These teams could be solicited to build the missing tools for the sustainability teams.
Pros:
- Potential to get very customised tools
- Possible integration with existing in-house tools
Cons:
- IT teams might not be able to prioritise your projects
- Relying on the IT team for any changes to make
Building the apps they need with No-Code tools
The 3rd option allows sustainability teams to build their own apps with the help of specific tools that make this process very easy and fast.
By doing so, teams gain greater autonomy and can close gaps in their tech stack with custom apps. Sustainability teams, in particular, often lose time to manual processes that could be digitised and streamlined with small, bespoke applications. No one understands their needs better than the teams themselves, especially which tasks are most time-consuming, such as collecting and reformatting data before importing it into emissions-calculation software. Thanks to today’s technology, sustainability teams can now build these apps independently and avoid delays caused by internal procedures, provided they are properly trained to use the company’s approved no-code tools.
Guillaume Duvernay, Growth lead and no-code expert at Plan A
Examples include:
- Collecting and storing employee commuting data thanks to an internal app build with a tool like Airtable, TimeTonic, Baserow, or Notion. The data would then be very easily exportable as a CSV that you can feed into your carbon accounting software
- Implementing QR code next to the place where waste is being managed to help employees send the waste data (e.g. weight of the different categories) by filling a form that’s built with a tool like Softr, Typeform, Tally.
Pros:
- Increased autonomy for the sustainability team
- Fast iterations cycles
Cons:
- Learning curve
- Might require adding tools to the current tech stack
Sustainability teams are frequently rather small teams that are responsible for driving most of the company’s sustainability strategy and efforts, which requires them to manage their resources in the most efficient way possible if they want to achieve ambitious goals.
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