With environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting now a regulatory must-have in the EU, sustainability managers face the challenging task of gathering and maintaining extensive, accurate data to stay compliant.
Effective ESG performance hinges on robust data collection and tracking. Yet, for many companies, the task is challenging due to a lack of reliable, user-friendly tools for gathering and managing ESG data. MobiLab’s Sustainability Template steps in to address this gap, offering a streamlined solution that integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Fabric.
Powered by MobiLab’s Ontology platform, Axium, the Sustainability Template transforms ESG reporting from a tedious process into a streamlined, easy-to-manage workflow designed to be used by sustainability managers and their teams without requiring significant IT involvement.
What is EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)?
The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), adopted in 2021 and taking effect in phases starting in 2024, requires large companies operating in the EU to provide detailed sustainability information alongside their financial reports. The directive significantly expands the scope and rigor of ESG disclosures compared to its predecessor, the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD).
Key features of the CSRD include:
- Expanded Scope: Applies to nearly 50,000 companies in the EU, including all large companies, listed SMEs, and non-EU companies with significant EU operations.
- Standardized Frameworks: Companies must report according to the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), which ensures consistency and comparability across industries.
- Third-Party Assurance: ESG data, similar to financial reports, must be audited to ensure accuracy and credibility.
- Digital Tagging Requirements: Companies must tag ESG data digitally for easier access and analysis by investors and regulators.
This directive reflects the EU’s commitment to enhancing transparency and accountability in sustainability practices, but for businesses, it also presents significant challenges.
The Current Challenge: Complexity and Compliance in ESG Reporting
With ESG reporting becoming non-negotiable, companies across industries are confronted with a new layer of complexity. Whether the organization is in manufacturing, tech, finance, or retail, gathering ESG data presents its own hurdles:
- Complex Data Collection and Data Modelling: ESG metrics vary greatly across departments, making it difficult to collect and standardize relevant data or retrace the sources and ready to be audited.
- Progress Tracking: Once data is collected, keeping track of goals and performance is essential for transparency, but teams often lack the tools to make this easy.
- IT Bottlenecks: Nearly half of (47%) companies still use spreadsheets to manage their sustainability data. Without an intuitive system in place, many companies need heavy IT involvement, creating a bottleneck for timely, accurate reporting.
Axium directly addresses these pain points by offering a compliance-ready, user-friendly solution.
How MobiLab’s Sustainability Template Streamlines ESG Reporting
Compliance from Day One: Audit-Ready ESG Reporting
MobiLab’s Sustainability Template is designed using the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) terminology, as required by the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).
It is tailored to help companies generate machine-readable data and auditable reports from day one. Reports can be exported directly from the sustainability template portal and ready to meet CSRD requirements.
Data Visualization Integrated with Microsoft PowerBI Dashboard
The Sustainability Template is equipped with a built-in Power BI dashboard that provides powerful data visualizations of key metrics like carbon emissions, employee health, and community engagement.
These visualizations make ESG performance easy to read and understand, allowing sustainability managers to monitor trends and progress over time. The dashboard is designed to present insights in a clear, actionable format so teams can make real-time adjustments and decisions based on current data, helping businesses stay aligned with their sustainability goals.
AI-Powered Search for Non-Technical Users
The Sustainability Template features an AI-powered web interface with natural language search capabilities. This allows users to easily find specific metrics or reports without needing to understand the underlying data structure. Whether you’re looking for performance trends or a specific data point, Axium’s AI interface simplifies the process, making it accessible to non-technical users and enhancing the overall user experience for sustainability teams.
Predictive Analysis and Scenario Planning
The Sustainability Template enables advanced predictive analyses, including Monte Carlo Simulations. By generating relational models and API schemas, it facilitates easy access to domain data, making it easier to simulate future events with probability distributions. For example, sustainability teams can calculate the necessary investments in forestation to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 with high certainty. This feature provides businesses with valuable foresight, allowing for better decision-making and resource allocation for long-term sustainability goals.
How Does Axium’s Sustainability Template Work
Seamless Integration with Microsoft Fabric and Databricks
Axium is built to integrate seamlessly with Microsoft Fabric and Databricks. This integration removes the complexity of Data Integration, ensuring that sustainability teams can focus on what matters most: analyzing data and making informed decisions. The integration with Microsoft Fabric also means that companies can easily scale their ESG reporting efforts as their data grows, all within a secure and reliable environment.
Ontology Produces Accurate, Reliable Data
Axium uses Ontology to help structure and standardize ESG data automatically. This makes sure that data from various departments or systems is consistent and correctly attributed, reducing errors and discrepancies. Standardizing the data collection process helps sustainability teams produce accurate, reliable ESG reports that are ready for compliance. This data consistency is essential for maintaining the integrity of ESG reporting over time.
Connect and Scale API-Ready Data Access Removing Data Silos
Axium is designed with developers in mind, offering API-ready capabilities that allow seamless access to domain data. This flexibility enables teams to interact with the data programmatically, supporting low- and high-code environments. By offering API access, Axium facilitates advanced analytics and simplifies the integration of ESG data with other business intelligence tools, providing a flexible and scalable solution for future growth.
Why Use Axium’s Sustainability Template
As the EU’s ESG compliance landscape continues to tighten, companies need reliable, user-friendly tools that won’t drain resources or add IT strain. With Axium’s sustainability template, sustainability managers can take control of their company’s ESG data, ensuring accurate, transparent reporting without complex technical requirements. By bringing together integration-ready features and intuitive visualization, the sustainability template would be a great help to get your business’s ESG reporting aligned from day one.
