Our thinking

Mind the data gap

16 February, 2024

Navigating the murky waters of sustainability data? You’re not alone.

A recent survey from Salesforce and GlobeScan sheds light on a stark reality: only about a quarter of executives have access to the high-quality sustainability data they need. With the challenge of complying with upcoming regulation looming large, the survey highlights the critical disconnect between the perceived importance of sustainability and the practical capabilities companies have available to collect, report, and act on sustainability data.

The survey gathered insights from 230 senior professionals across a broad range of industries and functions, assessing their views on sustainability as a driver of value creation and the barriers to progress. Encouragingly, 90% of respondents viewed sustainability as important to commercial success. But concerningly only 37% thought it was well integrated into their business. And one of the key barriers to integration is data.

Why is data so important for sustainability? The list is long. It can help with informed strategic and investment decisions, enable performance monitoring, legislative compliance, risk management, and much more. The survey respondents agree; 95% stated that high quality data is important to realise the value of sustainability initiatives. However, only 27% reported having high quality sustainability data, including only 8% with “very high quality” data.

This is a particular concern given the need to comply with upcoming regulation – 59% of executives expect to have difficulty complying with the new EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), and 31% expecting challenges with the reporting requirements from the IFRS’ International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB). The standardisation of reporting frameworks is a first step – consolidating the sustainability data points that businesses need to collect and report, but the provision of tangible solutions which enable business to capture that data need to play catch up.

If you’re in a data muddle, you know where to find us.

By Budd Nicholson