Providing Insights to Advance Sustainability

Finally, we strive to contribute to the overall environmental agenda, helping to gain insight into issues and working with other businesses and organizations on solutions that will help make the world a better place. Examples of reports we have provided include:

• Energy-Smart Buildings: How IT Can Cut Energy Use and Costs—Co-authored with Microsoft and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, this report found that innovative use of IT analytics can help companies reduce their carbon emissions and save up to 25 percent of the US$100 billion that US companies alone spend on energy, without major disruption.
• A New Era of Sustainability: UN Global Compact—Accenture CEO Study 2010—In this study, 80 percent of the 766 CEOs surveyed said the global economic downturn actually increased—rather than dampened—the corporate commitment to sustainability. In fact, 93 percent of respondents said sustainability issues will be critical to the future success of their businesses, and 96 percent believe sustainability should be fully integrated into their company's strategy and operations.
• Cloud Computing and Sustainability: The Environmental Benefits of Moving to the Cloud—This report, produced in collaboration with WSP Environment & Energy, found that, for large deployments, Microsoft's cloud solutions can help reduce energy use and carbon emissions by more than 30 percent, compared to corresponding Microsoft business applications installed on-premise.
• Information Marketplaces: The New Economics of Cities—Report produced in collaboration with The Climate Group, Arup and Horizon Digital Economy Research at The University of Nottingham, this report provides recommendations to enable city government and business leaders to harness the full value of smart technology.
• CDP Canada 200 Report 2011: Realizing Opportunities from Effective Corporate Management of Climate Change—Authored with the Carbon Disclosure Project, this report focuses on the ways in which Canadian organizations across all sectors of the economy are identifying and seizing the opportunities related to climate change. The report includes details of responses to the survey, the 2011 Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index and an analysis of findings by sector.
• Carbon Capital: The Role of Banking in Financing the Low-Carbon Economy—This report, developed with Barclays, analyzes the role of corporate and investment banks in accelerating the shift to a low-carbon economy through investment in low-carbon technology. The report found that rolling out the technology would bring European Union (EU) emissions down to an estimated 83 percent of 1990 levels by 2020. Combined with carbon savings expected from other sectors, such as manufacturing or chemicals, this would make the EU far more likely to meet its target of a 20 percent reduction in emissions.
• Sustainability Performance Management: How CFOs Can Unlock Value—Produced with the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, this report reveals how the finance function can help embed environmental stewardship throughout an organization and drive value across a number of areas, including revenue generation, cost control, risk management and building stakeholder trust.
• Energy Efficiency Research Report—This report, developed with the World Economic Forum, focuses on energy efficiency as a widely recognized, scalable, low-cost route to reduce energy consumption; examines where we are today, what works well and does not; and explores the role of each stakeholder group in pursuing energy efficiency to gauge why implementation to date has been so limited.