Become Net Zero with Salesforce & Groundswell

The winds are changing, and so are consumers’ appetites toward businesses that strive to be environmentally conscious. More than ever, companies are looking for ways to understand and adapt their business practices to meet consumer demands and be at the forefront of the net zero movement. As the roles of governing sustainability continue to grow in importance, so is the need for the tools to make them successful. 

Without the right tools, Sustainability Managers may spend vast amounts of time sifting through receipts, creating spreadsheets, and designing reports to calculate a company’s carbon footprint. Instead of being proactive with becoming net zero, companies are instead just trying to catch up with their reporting from the previous year. Customers and shareholders are increasingly asking for more insights into the company’s sustainability initiatives and may start to move to competitors who are advertising their commitments to a better world and backing them up with data. 

What is Net Zero Cloud?

A company does not have to go as far as Patagonia to show how sustainable it is, which recently had its founder give away the company to a sustainability non-profit organization. Instead, companies can do their part and utilize Salesforce’s Net Zero Cloud to help organize, interpret, and report their annual contribution to atmospheric emissions. Starting as an internal tool on the Salesforce platform, Net Zero Cloud has grown year after year, with an evolving data model and feature set based on real-life feedback from companies. It provides a scalable solution to companies wanting to find ways to reduce their emissions and help improve the world we all live in.  

In its simplest form, Net Zero Cloud is a system for Sustainability Managers to upload raw data from various emission sources and create in-depth reports using a configurable calculator based on pre-loaded or custom emission factors. Net Zero Cloud automatically converts all emissions from various sources into reportable metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e). tCO2e is a standardized unit for counting greenhouse gas emissions.  

For industries like Manufacturing and Consumer Goods, it’s common that most of a company’s emissions come from upstream suppliers or downstream distribution, resulting in high Scope 3 emissions. Not only are Scope 3 emissions challenging to calculate, but how do companies analyze where the biggest sources of emissions are in their supply chain? Net Zero Cloud helps calculate emissions so Sustainability Managers can pinpoint areas of significant emissions. 

Net Zero even supports Salesforce’s collaboration tools, such as creating a portal for partners to help show how they rate in terms of emissions and where they could improve. These collaboration efforts can help create stronger partnerships with suppliers and vendors, while at the same time helping companies become more environmentally friendly. 

Key Features

1. Emissions goal setting helps to effectively create science-based targets – set emission targets for a 1.5c climate change goal that can provide effective reporting versus actuals year of year. 

2. Calculate carbon emissions automatically based on included conversion factors – net-zero “factors” come pre-loaded from reliable sources, but can also be configurable and act as emission conversion tables. When paired with data provided for each asset or emission type in your company, the system automatically calculates your data into tCO2e, the standardized way of measuring emissions across sources.

3. Increase your productivity by using tools and templates to assist in the mass upload of receipts or build directly on Salesforce’s platform to improve review and reporting – Net Zero Cloud provides multiple ways to upload records into the system. Whether it’s entering an energy use record manually, uploading and scanning a PDF of a building’s electricity bill, mass-uploading a spreadsheet of data, creating integrations to existing systems, or using a combination of them all, Net Zero Cloud helps your Sustainability Managers streamline data entry.

4. Easily manage and calculate waste and water data – track waste and water within the same system with similar dashboards and tracking, giving your Sustainability Managers one-place to track all data. 

5. Forecast and simulate emissions using the What-If Analysis tool – see where things could improve or change with the What-If tool that gives your teams the power to simulate different impacts your business has and how it may help achieve your goals.

6. Provide transparency with Executive Stakeholder Reporting – whether it’s for just internal reporting or if you need to report to customers and stakeholders, Net Zero Cloud comes with configurable out-of-the-box dashboards for any use-cases. 

How Does Groundswell Tackle Net Zero Cloud?

Groundswell helps companies to hit the ground running with Net Zero Cloud by assisting in setting up and configuring dashboards, leveraging out-of-the-box features, and supporting the development of a unique process for individual companies in capturing energy consumption and procurement data. Your team can easily track their waste and emissions through accurate data all on Net-Zero Cloud instead of having multiple excel files and systems. With a short setup time, you can see emission results as soon as your next annual reporting cycle.

Groundswell works closely with clients to improve their processes to identify which suppliers have the highest carbon footprint. Net Zero Cloud makes it easy to create a platform to communicate with them to work together towards reducing those emissions. Pairing Net-Zero Cloud with Experience Cloud enables your suppliers to view and upload their data that impact carbon emissions data.

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Groundswell’s net zero mission is to help clients reduce the time it takes to organize their data to better focus on improving their own carbon footprint. Contact us today to find out how we can work together: info@gscloudsolutions.com.