5 Tips for a Thorough Sustainability Data Strategy

We had a chat with Sofie Bergdahl, our Customer Success Manager, about the importance of a thorough sustainability data strategy. With her extensive experience in the field, Sofie shared her top five tips to help organizations develop a comprehensive approach to managing sustainability data.

1. Understand Your Needs

The first step in creating an effective sustainability data strategy is to map out all the data your organization requires. This includes data for various reporting standards such as ESRS, CDP, and SBTi, as well as specific requirements from customers, investors, or other stakeholders. Additionally, consider internal KPIs and other essential data that can accelerate your business's transition to sustainability. A clear understanding of your data needs sets the foundation for a successful strategy.

2. Look for the Most Granular Sustainability Data

Different reporting needs often require the same type of data but with varying definitions or categorizations. For instance, energy data might need to be reported as renewable versus non-renewable for one standard, while another might require it broken down by specific energy sources. Identify the most granular level of data disaggregation necessary and let that guide your data collection efforts. This approach ensures you can meet diverse reporting requirements efficiently.

3. Investigate the Availability of Your Sustainability Data

After identifying what data you need, the next step is to determine whether this data is available within your organization. Check if you can access the data from internal resources or if you need to obtain it from external stakeholders. Identify any gaps where data might be inaccessible and consider how to address these gaps, whether through alternative data sources or new data collection methods.

4. Analyze the Quality of Your Sustainability Data

Having access to data is one thing, but ensuring its quality is another. Often, you may find that while data is available, it may not be complete or accurate. In such cases, you might need to make assumptions to enable aggregations and calculations. For example, knowing the kilometres driven by company cars is useful, but without information on fuel type and average consumption, you’ll need to estimate these figures to calculate energy consumption and related emissions. Ensuring high-quality data is crucial for reliable sustainability reporting and decision-making.

5. Set Priorities and Focus on the Most Important

It's impractical to address all data needs simultaneously, so prioritization is key. Determine what is most critical for your organization by looking into mandatory reporting requirements and assessing where you can have the most significant impact. Focus on the data that is most relevant to your business's characteristics and where you can drive meaningful change. Starting with these priorities ensures that your efforts are both strategic and impactful.

Thanks Sofie for sharing your insights! It's exciting to see how the sustainability data landscape is evolving at the moment, and we love to see companies working strategically on this matter.

Want to learn more about the importance of a thorough data strategy? Don't miss out on our next webinar "CSRD Data management: Best practices when defining your data strategy" on September 18, 2024 (available on demand afterwards).