In recent years, organizations of all stripes have made progress in improving environmental sustainability by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, reducing toxic substances, using more environmentally friendly packaging, and replacing energy-inefficient infrastructure.

It is undeniable that environmental sustainability is a priority for many businesses today. IDC’s Sustainability Readiness Index Survey (August 2024) found that 32% of companies have created strategic roadmaps, while 26% have started integrating sustainability into their operations and 20% have declare that sustainability has become the “new normal”. IDC’s Sustainability Readiness Survey (July/August 2023) also found that organizations around the world have improved their environmental sustainability efforts in recent years. Additionally, sustainability remains a priority for leaders.

While all of this is good news, there are still many obstacles to overcome. Some are simply more difficult to solve, while others are the result of changing requirements and realities. Here are some of the remaining challenges in the area of ​​environmental sustainability:

• Collection, sharing and reporting of environmental data: For many organizations, identifying and collecting sustainability data across operations remains a challenge. In the European Union, for example, three-quarters of organizations are in the early stages of this journey (IDC Future Enterprise Resiliency and Sending survey, wave 3, April 2023). Mastering data is also a crucial step in implementing sustainability, with a focus on decarbonization, which is now a top priority for many businesses around the world (Global Sustainability Readiness Index 2023 d ‘IDC). An operationalized carbon neutral strategy requires end-to-end visibility into climate data. To get it right, IT will need to integrate information from often disconnected platforms to provide comprehensive carbon neutrality elements for procurement. Back to the good news: organizations are slowly solving this problem. According to IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Future of Industry Ecosystems 2023 (October 2022), by 2025, 60% of the world’s 2,000 organizations will have formed cross-ecosystem environmental sustainability teams responsible for sharing data, applications, operations and expertise to facilitate sustainable ecosystem practices.
• Facing uncertain economic environments, which can distract from sustainability issues: Energy prices, price inflation and geopolitical tensions continue to fluctuate, and this uncertainty can impact environmental sustainability. But so far, companies seem to be staying the course. IDC’s July 2024 CIO Sentiment Survey reveals that despite these uncertainties, 75% of organizations plan to either continue investing or accelerate their sustainability efforts.
• Pursue measurable results: Success in environmental sustainability requires making the organizational and cultural changes necessary to achieve success and realize the potential financial and non-financial benefits. Overcoming this obstacle requires strong leadership and good data that will enable budgets to be invested effectively in a way that generates measurable ROI.
• Range 3 Shock: Scope 3 emissions represent 60 to 95% of the total carbon impact for most organizations. (Scope 3 emissions are those for which a company is indirectly responsible up and down the value chain, such as those created by suppliers to create products that the company buys and from its products when consumers purchase them. use.) Moreover, these emissions are often outside the scope of a company. direct control, which makes measuring and monitoring them much more difficult than with Scope 1 (emissions that a company produces directly) and Scope 2 (emissions that a company produces indirectly, such as when the energy it produces uses is produced on its behalf). The key is good data quality.
• New and changing regulations: Governments continue to add regulations regarding environmental sustainability, and organizations must adapt so that they can comply. THE Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) cover the entire European Union, while countries such as Germany, France and the United Kingdom have their own additional regulations. Although the United States currently does not have a comprehensive guideline such as the CSRD, there are numerous regulations emanating from the Sustainability Accounting Standards Council (SASB) and the SEC, through its climate-related disclosures. This is changing though; Over the past two years, federal and state agencies have introduced new environmental initiatives and proposals. Among the federal laws, we can cite that of California BS 253the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act, which requires disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions, and BS 261The Climate Financial Risk Act, which requires companies doing business in California with annual revenue of more than $500 million to produce biennial climate-related financial risk reports as required by law. Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).

Businesses have no choice but to adapt to these new regulations. Adaptation requires improving supply chain visibility to track emissions and social practices, collaborating with suppliers to reduce environmental impact, and investing in sustainable practices throughout the supply chain. value.

Successfully addressing environmental sustainability issues at operational, financial, environmental and cultural levels requires vigilance and focus on all of these areas.

And it will pay off. IDC predicts that by 2027, companies most advanced in sustainable business transformation will embed sustainability throughout the organization (IDC FutureScape: Global Sustainability/ESG Predictions 2024, October 2023).

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Karen D. Schwartz is an Assistant Research Advisor to IDC’s IT Executive Programs (IEP), focused on IT Business, Digital Business, Disaster Recovery, and Data Management. She has extensive experience as both a business and technology researcher and journalist, covering a wide range of issues and topics. She often writes about cybersecurity, disaster recovery, storage, unified communications, and wireless technology. Karen holds a Bachelor of Arts from UCLA.