Dive Brief:
- Google Cloud is tackling enterprise sustainability efforts, linking up with Hitachi Energy and Deloitte to create ESG-focused software tools primarily aimed at the energy and financial services sectors, according to two Thursday announcements.
- Hitachi Energy partnered with the hyperscaler to design multiple cloud software tools that integrate its Energy Portfolio Management solutions with Google Cloud’s data analytics and AI capabilities, initially targeting the North American energy market but with plans to expand.
- Google Cloud also introduced an ESG solution for financial service companies through a partnership with Deloitte, the consulting firm said. The new tool uses geospatial analytics to assess climate risks across lending and investment portfolios and is already in use by National Westminster Bank in the U.K.
Dive Insight:
After the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed new disclosure regulations last year, carbon footprint reductions rose to an IT priority. Measuring, controlling and ultimately curbing enterprise greenhouse gas emissions is at its core a data problem with potential technology solutions.
Most companies pursued sustainability initiatives, according to a Harris Poll survey published in April and commissioned by Google Cloud. But economic uncertainty cut into environmental, social and governance programs, a category encompassing emissions reduction efforts. Data and analytics deficiencies further frustrated ESG progress.
The Google Cloud announcements feed into a broader push by technology vendors to provide organizations with scalable ESG solutions. In June, Salesforce deployed automated reporting capabilities to its Net Zero Cloud product. Microsoft added a suite of new features to its sustainability cloud vertical in April and currently has a new ESG value chain solution in preview.
The first solution to emerge from the Hitachi Energy partnership consolidates and automates existing datasets via Google Cloud, easing access to market intelligence, the companies said. That data can also be mined to guide enterprise carbon usage and reduce Scope 2 emissions.
The tiered system for classifying greenhouse gas emissions presents a complex data challenge.
Scope 2 emissions account for carbon produced by third-party vendors, including utility and cloud providers, while scope 1 indicates direct emissions produced onsite by an organization. Value chain emissions that occur upstream or downstream from an organization’s central operations are classified as scope 3.
“Data and analytics are at the center of the energy transition and play a critical role in the evolving grid,” said Massimo Danieli, managing director, grid automation for Hitachi Energy. “Our customers worldwide have asked for solutions that help them achieve sustainability goals and business outcomes at speed and scale.”
The Deloitte partnership uses Google Earth Engine data to provide enterprises with climate change risk assessments.
Its initial use case is in banking and financial services, but the system can also be deployed in farming and agriculture to plan for weather disruptions, flood, drought, fire and biodiversity risks, the announcement said.
