As environmental concerns grow, companies are under increasing pressure to report and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. In particular, telecoms service providers face the challenge of measuring and reporting Scope 3 emissions, which account for the majority of their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Against this backdrop, Scope 3 GHG reporting along supply chains can be used as an opportunity to form profitable ecosystems that help cement enterprise customer relationships and comply with regulations, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
Robert Pritchard, Senior Analyst at GlobalData, says: “Within the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) framework, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) has been relatively easy to integrate as part of ESG reporting. Equally, measuring and monitoring of Scope 1 and 2 emissions is broadly in hand as it involves areas over which service providers have direct control.”
GlobalData analysis finds that Scope 3, which covers emissions associated with a company but over which they have no direct control, is a greater challenge, but which also offers opportunities if executed well.
Pritchard observes: “With Scope 3 estimated to account for 75% or more of GHG emissions for telecoms service providers, reporting seemed to be a mountain to climb. But early findings indicate great progress as telcos and their suppliers and partners develop technology solutions that accurately measure, assimilate, and report GHG emissions along the supply chain.”
GlobalData analysis across multiple ICT service providers shows a wide range of solutions with calendared target commitments linked to GHG reductions. These will be increasingly interlinked up and down the supply chain to facilitate sharing of data and for reporting purposes.
Pritchard concludes: “Solutions are already getting embedded. Automation and technology developments such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data and blockchain are likely to play an important role as Scope 3 reporting evolves. GHG reporting will in future move from a passive to an active model, with automated recommendations to optimize compliance and efficiency.
“Successful Scope 3 measurement, management, and reporting solutions will also help enterprise customers of all sizes, suppliers, partners, and resellers to ease the burden of meeting regulators’ GHG emissions requirements – as well as those of investors and other stakeholders. There is also a commercial upside, because increasing integration should also lead to higher levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty, enabling long-term revenue and profit accretion.”
