Photo
What are the key future skills related to sustainability in a company? Regardless of its size. This is a common question in the business environment, especially in the context where Artificial Intelligence is developing with a speed and unpredictability that make it difficult to forecast anything for a period longer than six months.
A KPMG study conducted in 2024 on 550 companies worldwide about the gap between strategy and execution in sustainability reporting provides a possible answer. 37% of the companies that participated in the survey believe that managing and reporting carbon emissions is rapidly becoming a key competence.
The Problem
Why? Probably because these companies have understood that in order to implement sustainability measures, they must first measure where they have the greatest negative impact. And when they started taking measurements, they realized at least three major problems:
1. Data is difficult to manage because it comes from many different departments.
2. Information is unclear or uncertain, especially the data received from suppliers and customers, which actually represents the largest carbon footprint.
3. Information is often collected manually; there are no integrated systems.
Sustainability consultants confirm:
”Sustainability data does not have a single department as its source, and most of the time it is not stored in a single system. Data for the fleet comes from logistics. Data for procurement comes from purchasing. Data on travel comes from HR or directly from employees. Moreover, sustainability standards guide us to collect data that until now were not used in other analyses, for which there is practically no historical data. Data regarding purchased energy were recorded until now only from a financial perspective, not quantitatively in kWh. Each source has its own format, its own update frequency, its own responsible party. To gather all this into a coherent logic, validate it methodologically, and obtain a carbon emissions calculation that passes audit, that is the real challenge. Not the drafting of the report, but the construction of the process of calculation and data collection behind it.” (Oana Vîlceanu, Sustainability Manager at Stratos Management)
The same cited study confirms this. Many organizations still rely on manual processes, tables, and spreadsheets for managing sustainability-related data, and managing this data remains a major challenge. In the manufacturing industry, for example, 49% of companies still use spreadsheets for managing ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) data.
What ESG Means
ESG data refers to both the carbon footprint and the measurable information through which a company evaluates its impact on the environment (Environment), society (Social), and how it is governed (Governance).
The environmental impact is the impact on nature; which can mean both carbon dioxide emissions (carbon footprint), pollution, as well as energy and resource consumption, water use, or waste generated.
The societal impact refers to society as a whole, whether we are talking about its own employees, community, or customers. It concerns how the company treats people, in general. And here, relevant data typically means information related to health and safety in the workplace, diversity and inclusion, equal pay, working conditions in the supply chain, or community impact.
And how the company is governed means the structure of the board, ethics and anti-corruption policies, compliance, transparency, the remuneration of management. Data from which it becomes clear how responsibly and sustainably business is conducted.
Therefore, in practice, ESG data translates into performance indicators (e.g., tons of CO₂/year), percentages (e.g., % of women in leadership), scores/rankings, and other data collected from operations.
They are used for reporting, auditing, evaluation by investors, or/and strategic decisions.
It is true that recent proposals to simplify reporting through the Omnibus package delay obligations for smaller companies, but the pressure to measure, to have clear data and traceability does not disappear, as supply chains continue to demand this ESG data, banks and investors require such data, and partners also ask for it, to report it further. And ESG data typically starts from the carbon footprint.
However, beyond who requests this information, starting from when and under what law, collecting ESG data helps any company to create a better business strategy, to anticipate risks, and to see more clearly growth opportunities.
The Solution
The good news is that there are technical solutions that address the most common problems related to measuring and reporting, from data dispersed in multiple sources, manual collection, hard-to-correlate files, to low traceability.
<p just as the latest product for carbon footprint calculation and sustainability reporting, launched by Stratos Management, a Romanian environmental and sustainability consultancy, on the occasion of the ten-year anniversary of its activity.StratoScope is a SaaS (Software as a Service) platform built around two modules that can be used together or separately.
The first module is dedicated to calculating carbon footprint and supports the collection, justification, structuring, and calculation of emissions according to the GHG Protocol, utilizing emission factors from recognized databases such as DEFRA and EXIOBASE.
The second module is intended for sustainability reporting and helps companies collect and organize information in a framework aligned with the CSRD/ESRS requirements.
What CSRD/ESRS Means
CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) is the European law requiring companies to report ESG information.
ESRS (European Sustainability Reporting Standards) refers to the technical standards under which reporting is conducted. Standards that concretely show what exactly must be reported and how, based on which indicators, methodologies, and what structure.
The StratoScope platform also includes AI functionalities for structuring and generating content, what-if scenario analyses for building decarbonization strategy, and an architecture built in relation to benchmarks such as ISO 27001, ISO 14064-1, and IFGICT.
Everything integrated.
“Instead of having an ad-hoc process for each client, we have a common logic: structured collection based on data sources, application of recognized methodological emission factors, transparent calculations on Scopes, and a workflow that allows review and audit. When we start a new project with a client, we do not start from scratch. We start from a framework that has been built and refined, using the experience and expertise accumulated from dozens of previously completed projects. This significantly compresses implementation time and increases the quality of results.” (Simona Anghel, Sustainability Department Manager at Stratos Management)
What is Different About the New CO2 Measurement Tool and Reporting
According to the company, the differentiator of StratoScope lies in the experience of the team of experts who worked on the product. The platform was not conceived as a generic software; rather, it was developed based on practical experience gained in real projects. Thus, the solution combines the digital component with the technical expertise necessary for the correct configuration of the process, especially in the initial stages when companies need to establish methodology, reporting boundaries, and data collection logic.
"We created StratoScope based on a reality that we have repeatedly encountered in projects with clients: data scattered across multiple sources, difficult-to-track processes, and a lot of manual effort. The platform helps companies bring more order to their data, simplify the collection and consolidation of information, and achieve results that are easier to verify and use in decision-making, reporting, and auditing." (Luminița Roșca, General Director of Stratos Management)
Who the Product is Addressed To
StratosScope can be a useful tool for at least three categories of organizations:
1. Companies that already have an internal sustainability officer or a formed ESG team but still work with manual processes and lose a lot of time in consolidation and review.
2. Firms that receive requests from the supply chain for verifiable carbon data and do not have a structured response.
3. Organizations that choose to report voluntarily or know they will have CSRD reporting in the next 1-2 years and want to build their correct process from the start, not to correct a makeshift system later.
The platform can also be used by public institutions and organizations that need a solid methodological base for voluntary reporting or compliance.
