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EY redefines sustainability performance management with Microsoft

The EY organization and Microsoft work together to deliver solutions that help organizations meet their sustainability and decarbonization goals, now and in the years to come.

July 11, 2024

Organizations around the world are under pressure to make their operations more sustainable, but a sustainable business transformation is a complex process. First, it requires a multitude of views into a company's data; then, the analytics prowess to drive decision-making; and finally, a solution to combine fragmented processes into one manageable roadmap. Businesses need a strong partner with the technical expertise to simplify a complicated transformation journey.

EY, winner of the 2024 Microsoft Partner of the Year Award for Sustainability Changemaker in the Social Impact category for a second year in a row, has harnessed the power of Microsoft technology to become that partner. EY creates sustainability strategies that provide competitive business opportunities and long-term value for all stakeholders. "This recognition is a testament to our team's focus on creating impactful and forward-looking sustainability solutions for our clients powered by Microsoft," said Jim Little, Global Microsoft Alliance Leader at EY.

Put simply, the EY and Microsoft collaboration operationalizes sustainability performance management. Their work helps customers strengthen enterprise-ready decarbonization efforts and accelerate advancement toward environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals.

Understanding the complexities of a sustainable transformation

Sustainability is a business imperative for organizations throughout the world, affecting both businesses and governments. Leaders face growing pressure to focus on issues surrounding sustainability and make progress toward ESG goals. However, between an increasing volume of sustainability projects and rising demands for robust greenhouse gas, waste, and water reporting, progress is complicated and burdensome without a single platform to manage and measure it. "Companies need a trusted and connected view into their ESG-related data and integrated business process across the value chain to inform decisions that will help them build resiliency and improve their environmental impact," said Sheri Hinish, Global Consulting Sustainability Technology and Ecosystems Leader at EY. "Better decision orchestration is good for business and the planet."

Today, sustainability data is the connective tissue across value chains. Fragmentation of processes and systems across an organization can lead to higher costs, inefficiencies, and an inability to measure return on activities and holistically transform.

"We're excited about the journey we're on with Microsoft, pushing the technology boundaries of sustainability and innovation. Together, we are pioneering innovative solutions that drive real, impactful change towards a sustainable future."

—Hanne Jesca Bax, EY Global Vice Chair, Markets

Developing the right tools to measure and track sustainability

EY and Microsoft strengthen their commitment to building a better, more responsible working world by developing innovative technologies that simplify complex challenges and meet unique customer needs.

Through an expansive portfolio of offerings, they provide enterprise-ready services and solutions across the sustainability life cycle designed to help organizations address planning and implementation of decarbonization and ESG strategies that build trust, create value, and drive change. Sustainability performance management with EY and Microsoft is the new corporate performance management. "With EY solutions, organizations are empowered to accelerate their net zero transformation journey and move to a single global digital sustainability platform," said Hinish.

Microsoft Sustainability Manager (MSM)
EY's ESG Data Management Services paired with Microsoft Sustainability Manager (MSM) is designed to record, report, and help reduce organizations' environmental impact. This solution offers customers a measuring and reporting mechanism to drive decarbonization efforts and EY has implemented the plan with over 100 customers so far.

Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability (MC4S) Data Solution in Fabric (SDSF)
As a result of successful MSM implementations, Microsoft invited EY to participate in the co-development of a new tool, Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability (MC4S) Data Solution in Fabric (SDSF). This solution provides improved insight into environmental impact, helping customers better manage their data estates and meet reporting standards.

Copilot for Microsoft Sustainability is embedded in the solution to provide AI-powered predictive capabilities and anomaly detection, supply and demand forecasting, and data-driven, automated footprint reduction strategies.

The EY Net Zero transformation solution
An expansion of previous efforts, the EY Net Zero Transformation solution gives organizations with existing and reliable data full visibility into their carbon footprint, helping them select, prioritize, and monitor the right intervention pathways and investments for their business. "We're excited about the journey we're on with Microsoft, pushing the technology boundaries of sustainability and innovation," said Hanne Jesca Bax, EY Global Vice Chair, Markets. "Together, we are pioneering innovative solutions that drive real, impactful change towards a sustainable future." The co-developed solution, which uses MSM, Microsoft 365, Power Apps, Power Automate, Power BI, and Azure, helps organizations more effectively plan, manage, and deliver broad decarbonatization strategies at a lower risk.

Two people in hardhats at a wind farm looking at a laptop

"With EY solutions, organizations are empowered to accelerate their net zero transformation journey and move to a single global digital sustainability platform."

—Sheri Hinish, EY, Global Consulting Sustainability and Technology Ecosystems Leader

Advancing the cause

Creating customer tools built on Microsoft technology helped make EY an industry leader in sustainability consulting. With EY's solutions, decision-makers can oversee transformation across their business, combining technology and data to modernize their governance structures, tackle risk, meet ESG obligations, and deliver value for both their organization and their customers. This offers them a holistic view into demand, verifiable value-chain data, and sustainability performance management. Last year, Microsoft and EY joined forces again at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) to demonstrate the results of the EY-Microsoft collaboration to other organizations tackling their own sustainability transformations.

EY and Microsoft are committed to harnessing the power of technology to deliver more broadly on social impact across the globe. Together, they empower underprivileged individuals and communities and help nurture the next generation of high-impact sustainability entrepreneurs. In 2023, EY formally expanded their social impact collaboration with the launch of Green Skills Passport, a free online course hosted on the Microsoft Community Platform with a current completion count of over 442,000.

As more companies realize the benefits of the sustainability tools EY and Microsoft have developed and implemented together, sustainability projects will become more manageable, reporting more accurate and robust, and net zero goals closer into view.

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