6 sustainability tech stack components for greener enterprises
Learn what a sustainability tech stack is, how it can support business goals and which components are most essential.
Business and IT leaders who want to save energy, optimize costs and lower risk can explore the ways in which a sustainability tech stack can support these goals.
It helps to first understand the concept of the tech stack. The software industry is often categorized into segments using a function plus technology label, which indicates software products specializing in a specific industry or function. Such a classification helps identify relevant vendors and their products, competitive landscape and industry trends. Examples include martech -- or marketing tech -- and HRtech, or HR technology. Similarly, a tech stack refers to a common set of software and tools that support a specific industry or business function, for example, a martech stack. An enterprise IT team often takes a stack view. A stack consists of a set of software products, which could be from different vendors and integrated together to support business goals.
Adapting to climate change, embracing sustainability practices and reducing carbon emissions are high on the list of strategic priorities for many organizations. The scope here is quite overarching since it encompasses practically all areas of a company's operations and processes.
In this article, we are defining a new tech stack for sustainability -- the sustainability performance management (SPM) tech stack. The SPM tech stack consists of a set of software products that enable CIOs and IT leaders to measure, manage and monitor enterprise performance on sustainability goals and objectives.
Note that this article focuses not on making IT itself more sustainable, but rather on the software tools that help manage carbon emissions and footprint across the entire organization.
Why do you need a sustainability tech stack?
IT leaders have a key role to play in enabling the rest of the organization to meet the defined sustainability goals. A sustainability performance tech stack is needed for several reasons:
- Regulatory compliance: To adhere to evolving ESG regulations, both domestic and applicable foreign regulations.
- Emissions tracking: Measure, report and reduce Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions.
- Stakeholder expectations: Meet investor and other stakeholder expectations for detailed disclosures.
- Corporate reputation management: Be known as a progressive enterprise that prioritizes sustainability.
- Strategy alignment: Integrate sustainability goals with enterprise performance metrics.
- Supply chain sustainability: Reduce supply chain emissions for own operations as well as those of external suppliers.
- Risk management: Identify climate and compliance risks and develop mitigation plans.
- Cost optimization: Reduce waste and energy consumption, and operational costs.
- Enterprise-wide visibility: Consolidate sustainability data across business units and departments for unified reporting.
- Performance monitoring: Provide accurate and actionable insights about sustainability metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs).
Key components of the sustainability stack
The sustainability performance management tech stack equips CIOs and IT leaders to drive sustainability initiatives throughout the organization.
The key components of the stack include the following:
- Supply chain management and analytics.
- Product and materials traceability.
- Enterprise carbon management, also known as carbon accounting.
- ESG data management and reporting.
- Workplace and facilities management.
- Environment, safety and health management.
This is not an exhaustive list and there are other industry and vertical-specific categories. Some of these are relatively new or emerging categories -- for example, carbon management and ESG data management -- while others have been in use for much longer -- for example, supply chain management software. Each component of the stack provides specific functionality; it might overlap with other components but overall makes the whole greater.
Here's a look at each in turn.
The list of vendors mentioned is partial and for illustration only. Inclusion is not to be construed as a recommendation or as an endorsement.
Supply chain management and analytics
This category includes software that optimizes logistics, improves resource efficiency and reduces emissions. It does the following:
- Uses AI and analytics to assess suppliers' sustainability performance and enables responsible sourcing.
- Supports lifecycle assessment and tracking of environmental impact and risks across the supply chain.
Example vendors: Achilles, Assent, Avetta, Benchmark Gensuite, EcoVadis, IBM, IntegrityNext, LRQA, QIMA, Sedex, Sphera.
Product and materials traceability
This category includes software that tracks product life cycle data, origin of materials, and monitors emissions across value chains to ensure transparency, regulatory compliance and ethical sourcing. It does the following:
- Enables material circularity tracking, hazardous substance identification, and end-of-life product management.
- Supports IoT integrations.
Example vendors: Avery Dennison, Bext360, Circularise, Credibl, OPTEL GROUP, Oritain, SAP, Spherity, TextileGenesis, TrusTrace, Worldfavor.
Enterprise carbon management
This category includes software that measures and manages scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions while enabling and improving the following:
- Carbon accounting, reporting, and net-zero target tracking aligned with global reporting standards and frameworks.
- Scenario analysis for carbon reduction strategies and integration with operational systems for emissions tracking.
- Data integrity, auditability and alignment with evolving sustainability disclosure mandates.
Example vendors: Emitwise, Normative, Persefoni, Plan A, Sinai Technologies, Sphera, SWEEP, Watershed, Workiva.
ESG data management and reporting
This includes software that aggregates, standardizes and analyzes ESG data from multiple sources for regulatory compliance, investor disclosures, and benchmarking.
It integrates with financial and operational systems to automate reporting.
Example vendors: AMCS, Benchmark Gensuite, C3 AI, IBM, Locus, Nasdaq, Pulsora, Schneider Electric, SWEEP, Wolters Kluwer, Workiva
Workplace management
This category includes software that manages real estate, energy usage, and facility operations for sustainability performance improvement. It does the following:
- Supports energy efficiency, waste reduction, and regulatory compliance. This is increasingly referred to as integrated workplace management.
- Includes monitoring of indoor air quality, water consumption and sustainability certifications for corporate facilities.
Example vendors: Eptura, FM:Systems, IBM, Johnson Controls, MRI Software, Nuvolo, Planon, Service Works Global, Spacewell-Nemetschek, Tango, zLink.
Environment, health and safety management
This category includes software that ensures workplace safety, regulatory compliance and environmental risk management. It does the following:
- Enables incident tracking, hazardous materials management, employee health monitoring, and compliance reporting.
- Supports real-time data collection, predictive analytics, and automation to enhance operational safety and sustainability performance.
- Integrates with IoT devices and enterprise systems for proactive risk mitigation.
Example vendors: AMCS, Benchmark Gensuite, Cority, EcoOnline, Evotix 360, HSI, Ideagen, Intelex, Origami Risk, Sphera, UL Solutions, VelocityEHS, Wolters Kluwer
Stack integration
Tools in different categories are often integrated for higher-quality insights and greater automation. Examples include the following:
- An ESG data management tool can utilize emissions data from carbon management software for reporting. They also tap into traceability software for supplier data.
- A supply chain analytics tools can integrate with traceability software for supplier monitoring and verification.
- A workplace management platforms can integrate with carbon management systems for facility-level emissions tracking.
Kashyap Kompella is an industry analyst, author, educator and AI adviser to leading companies and startups across the U.S., Europe and the Asia-Pacific regions. Currently, he is CEO of RPA2AI Research, a global technology industry analyst firm.
