Category: Blog

Microsoft’s total carbon emissions have increased by nearly 30% since 2020, primarily due to the construction of data centers, according to the company’s annual sustainability report released on Wednesday. The report indicates that Microsoft’s Scope 1 and 2 emissions — those directly from the company’s operations and the energy it consumes — decreased by 6.3% in 2023 compared to 2020. However, the company’s indirect emissions — from all other activities — rose by 30.9% over the same period. The rise

ESG initiatives have faced recent scrutiny, sparking debates over their true impact versus serving investor interests. This isn’t new for the industry, as measuring impact remains complex and hard to standardize, particularly in social aspects. Critics argue for skipping social impact measurement due to its difficulty in comparability and the burden it places on businesses. Current methods often focus on company intent rather than engaging with the beneficiaries directly. Speaking with beneficiaries is deemed costly and leads to data silos

Your business, like every business, is deeply intertwined with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) concerns. It makes sense, therefore, that a strong ESG proposition can create value—and in this article, we provide a framework for understanding the five key ways it can do so. But first, let’s briefly consider the individual elements of ESG: The E in ESG, environmental criteria, includes the energy your company takes in and the waste it discharges, the resources it needs, and the consequences for

Burt Mayer, director of product, sustainability applications, and Jessica Matthys, product manager, sustainability applications, at C3 AI, discuss how AI can assist companies in achieving sustainability goals and enhancing their competitiveness. Companies face immense pressure to enhance transparency and performance regarding their environment, social, and governance (ESG) goals, amid heightened scrutiny and new regulations like the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). This attention presents opportunities for companies to differentiate themselves in the market while also benefiting the planet and

This week marks the 55th anniversary of Earth Day, a celebration that underscores the ongoing challenge of climate change, largely driven by the industrial economy’s dependence on fossil fuels. To decarbonize, governments have implemented various mandatory policies, while businesses are increasingly adopting voluntary approaches. The most well-known business initiative in this context is ESG (Environmental-Social-Governance), a metric designed to assess a company’s overall performance beyond just profitability. The concept behind decarbonization is that significant changes are needed in how businesses

The ESG (environmental, social, and governance) movement in investing has garnered attention, but taxpayers remain skeptical. They worry that if pension plan managers prioritize ideological investment goals over risk-return balance, taxpayers could face substantial additional liabilities. However, a one-sided approach—either reflexively embracing or shunning ESG—could hinder market-based innovation and long-term value. At the state level, taxpayers grapple with $1.3 trillion in unfunded liabilities from government employee pension systems. Administrators need tools to protect against massive bailouts. Restrictive laws, instructing them

ESG is much more than a mere PR exercise, but communicators have a key role to play. ESG has become the gold standard of business leadership, especially for public corporations. In a December 2020 global study, 88% of global public firms, 79% of venture and private equity-backed enterprises, and 67% of privately owned organizations have ESG activities. Unlike the “corporate social responsibility” concept, ESG allows corporations to record their environmental, social, and governance impacts. Hong Kong requires publicly traded corporations