Microsoft as sustainability buyer zero: Managing Scope 3 emissions

Immediately’s organizations are at a crossroads. Confronted with rising strain to satisfy sustainability expectations from clients and stakeholders together with rising reporting necessities, enterprise leaders are more and more recognizing the necessity to remodel versus merely carrying on with “enterprise as standard.”

At Microsoft, we see this shift as a constructive improvement for our planet’s future.

For our personal half, we’ve taken a scientific method to embedding environmental, social, and governance (ESG) concerns into our enterprise for years, and we’re now working to allow different organizations to do the identical. Not solely will we use our personal information options to assist us measure progress towards our environmental sustainability targets, however we’re partaking with our worth chain suppliers to assist additional cut back our emissions.

The fact is that our firm can’t attain our bold carbon damaging targets with out the assistance of our worth chain companions and suppliers. We estimate that 75% or extra of our whole carbon footprint comes from Scope 3 emissions, outlined as emissions that aren’t produced by the corporate itself, that not directly accrue up and down the worth chain from different organizations as they do enterprise with us. A large quantity of our whole carbon footprint comes from Scope 3 emissions, which is why our Scope 3 dedication is our strongest alternative to assist speed up international decarbonization efforts by partaking suppliers and clients in our worth chain and partnering to cut back emissions related to the enterprise we do collectively.  

On this second a part of our Buyer Zero weblog sequence, we share a number of the challenges and successes we’ve confronted on this effort—from how we’ve used expertise to advance our Scope 3 progress to how we’ve engaged with our suppliers to drive their very own accountability and progress.

Microsoft Sustainability Supervisor

Flip environmental information insights into motion

Microsoft Oblique Procurement spearheads new ESG worth chain resolution

The Microsoft Procurement group manages hundreds of oblique (services-based) suppliers globally. After saying our carbon damaging ambition in 2020, we examined our Scope 3 emissions and added language to our Provider Code of Conduct requiring an annual carbon emissions disclosure. Since then, we’ve partnered with our suppliers to coach them on carbon accounting, improve the standard of knowledge, and drive emission discount progress for companies delivered to Microsoft.

Figuring out the place our largest Scope 3 discount alternatives exist—and how you can take motion—requires entry to granular emissions information. When contemplating how you can accumulate extra detailed information from suppliers, it rapidly grew to become clear that present merchandise have been unable to satisfy our wants. The most important challenge was that our earlier platform didn’t enable us to customise the questions we requested suppliers.

As an alternative of attempting to make a third-party resolution match our wants, Microsoft Procurement partnered with engineering groups inside Microsoft to develop “built-for-purpose” options. High of thoughts for Microsoft Procurement was a easy device that was extra collaborative, featured versatile reporting, and would higher help suppliers.

This collaborative staff labored collectively so as to add new capabilities inside Microsoft Sustainability Supervisor, together with:

• A streamlined emissions survey course of through which questions will be custom-made for suppliers, giving the procurement staff the pliability so as to add, take away, or modify questions as laws and methodologies evolve.
• Self-service options already constructed into Sustainability Supervisor that allow suppliers to simply edit their emissions information in real-time, view their buyer particular compliance standing (together with causes for non-compliance), and resolve non-compliance points to enhance the standard of emissions information. 
• Low-code improvement and residential web page customization, which implies that Microsoft Procurement can simply create a provider touchdown web page particular to its program, together with a central web page for provider assets, help, and an summary of provider sustainability necessities.
• A connection to Energy BI, the place sustainability selections and program progress are measured by turning our provider emissions information into visible insights and analytics, refreshed in actual time as provider emissions information is up to date, past the out-of-the-box reviews that Sustainability Supervisor helps.

These revolutionary applied sciences at the moment are out there to our clients within the new ESG worth chain resolution in Sustainability Supervisor, now in preview. Suppliers that participated in the Microsoft Procurement sustainability program have been early testers of the ESG worth chain resolution, the place their suggestions helped affect this early model.

PureRed, a Microsoft provider, offered early testing of the aptitude earlier than being launched throughout Microsoft’s provider inhabitants.

“We have been thrilled to take part within the Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability pilot program, permitting us to interact in efficient methods to trace and cut back environmental impression. This platform is lighter to handle, with concise questions and fewer modules than different trade references, making the disclosure course of extra intuitive. As a world distant firm, we challenged ourselves to totally perceive our GhG [greenhouse gases] emissions and Microsoft was a improbable accomplice to streamline and validate our outcomes.”

—Natalia Sánchez Herrera, managing sustainability at PureRed

Outcomes and classes realized

Microsoft’s journey in the direction of attaining our bold Scope 3 carbon emissions discount objectives has been a studying expertise and can solely proceed to evolve as laws are up to date and methodologies change.

On this course of, we’re as soon as once more reminded of the significance of managing information. Microsoft is aligning with the Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability information mannequin. Utilizing information collected and remodeled inside Sustainability Supervisor, Microsoft has prolonged our personal resolution to additional analyze provider sustainability info. Consequently, Microsoft Procurement can accumulate and analyze provider emission info to glean invaluable insights associated to outliers, tendencies, and correlations. As well as, reporting and objective alignment enhancements being made in Sustainability Supervisor will assist procurement groups accumulate all 15 carbon scopes for emissions, water, and waste information.

No matter success we’ve achieved is because of embedding sustainability into our tradition. The Procurement staff had early entry to revolutionary options and the power to affect product improvement. All that is enabled by a company tradition that fashions management and empowers folks to make the modifications they want. Our sustainability journey is an ongoing course of, and we’re excited to be creating revolutionary expertise options for our suppliers and clients that can proceed to evolve.

Be taught extra about sustainability options with Microsoft