Transforming Your UN Sustainable Development Goals from Public Relations to Measurable Actions

June 2019

The 3 Steps to Future-Proofing Business & Brand

October 2019

www.figbytes.com

As humankind tries to navigate a decade of unprecedented change, the UN SDGs are

the closest thing we have to a forward-looking framework that can unite humankind

around a collective “purpose” and ambitious mission and goals. They are gradually

catching up with more traditional “rear-view mirror” reporting frameworks most

commonly used in the corporate sector, such as GRI and CDP.

A key reason the SDGs are gaining traction is the graphics that are used to simplify the

vast complexity of the totality of life on earth and how human activities fit into this

complexity.

The word “sustainable” often carries

with it a preconceived association with

“environmental”, as in “Environmental

According to the Harvard Business Review, the public relations angle has weighed

more heavily for companies than their intentions to create and execute solutions of

enduring effect. With no accountability for corporations, governments or non-profits, it

could be interpreted that the SDGs are a façade behind which organizations can

hide. Pasting open source SDG icons into communications has become common

practice in non-financial reports, websites, and other media where an organization’s

purpose is communicated, be it fleeting in social media, or with more permanency in

sustainability reports.

However, organizations trying to

implement the SDGs face many

challenges. While the Sustainable

Developments Goals are also known

as the Global Goals, the latter term is

much less frequently used.

Defining Impact

2

Sustainability”, so people who are more motivated by social initiatives may initially be

negatively disposed towards the SDGs as they perceive them to be about the

environment, and not people.

The Trending of Purpose

3

https://sustainablebrands.com/read/organizational-change/your-organization-s-purpose-must-evolve

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1626569665/ref=rdr_ext_sb_pi_hist_1

https://www.greenbiz.com/article/end-corporate-social-responsibility

https://www.greenbiz.com/article/era-stand-alone-sustainability-over

Numerous publications and

presentations are highlighting the

evolution of traditional definitions of

non-financial reporting terms such as

CSR, sustainability, citizenship and ESG,

towards integrated corporate

purpose.

Purpose needs to be connected to the greater journey of humankind, as best represented

by the SDGs. Companies that fail to align with this trends and innovate accordingly will be

left behind.

The Challenges

Corporations considering adopting the SDGs will usually

already have a “non-financial reporting” initiative

and/or business function that they refer to as:

These terms and acronyms do not resonate well with most stakeholders beyond investors

and frequently appear to be in conflict with each other, often even within one

organization. Whether an organization calls its “non-financial reporting” initiatives

sustainability, CSR, ESG or citizenship, (and many companies use more than one term,

adding further confusion), the initiative usually has its own “pillars” such as “the triple

bottom line”, “People, Planet, Profit”, (although isn’t profit a financial initiative?), “The 4

C’s”, etc.

There are 17 SDGs – far too large a number for people to remember. Behind these 17 goals lie 169 indicators, so the complexity of implementation can quickly overwhelm the simplicity of the icons

Sustainability

Corporate Citizenship

CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility)

Responsible Business

ESG

EHS

EHS&S

4

There is an “alphabet soup” of acronyms that accompany the overarching term

Integration

A key problem is that these pillars are rarely integrated

with the broader pillars of the “core” business strategy

leading to sustainability/CSR/ESG being seen as a

subsidiary strategy, rather than a key pillar of the

business strategy.

As leaders of these initiatives look to integrate the SDGs

into their business strategy, they are immediately faced

with a further dilemma:

In addition to not fully driving strategic change,

sustainability/CSR/ESG initiatives are not driving the type

of brand recognition that companies would like to gain

from the “good” they are doing. Non-financial reports

are only read by a fraction of stakeholders and have

very little impact on a company’s brand, which is how

customers experience strategy. All to often, the SDGs

become yet another set of slides, more spreadsheet

cells and added complexity, where the initial intent has

been to simplify complexity.

“How do I match up our sustainability/CSR/ESG

pillars with these 17 new goals?”

All too often, rather than using the SDGs to drive new

levels of achievement, corporations simple attach SDG

icons to areas of their non-financial report that reports

results on pre-existing initiatives.

5

Commitment

For an organization to genuinely and deeply adopt the SDGs, they will have to come to

terms with substantial strategic change to product and services, energy supply, supply

chain and other key business functions that cannot be managed within “traditional”

siloed, and often underfunded sustainability/CSR departments.

Such change can only happen with absolute conviction and commitment at the

boardroom level and will involve major risk analysis exercises, goals setting initiatives,

strategic planning and change management.

Companies that have already managed deep,

cultural transformation around sustainability such

as Interface Inc. and Unilever, are in a much

better position to adopt the SDGs, but all

companies will face new, challenging strategic

discussions as they truly get serious about meeting

society’s expectations for 2030 goals.

For instance, as a company looks at SDGs 7 and 13 on climate and renewables, they

are faced with multiple challenges and questions:

How will our customers’, communities’ and colleagues’ expectations be changed by Greta

Thunburg’s activism or Extinction Rebellion (XR) or by a major flood, fire or similar climate change-

related impact?

How much renewable energy is “enough” at any point in our trajectory?

Do we adopt a stretch goal of 100% renewable energy by a certain date?

Do we use Science Based Targets (SBTs)?

Should we wait for renewable energy to get cheaper or will our competitors and/or other

companies buy up the best contracts for renewable power supply coming onto the grid?

Should we partner with other industry players to help to stimulate the renewable energy market

and to get the best deals based on bulk purchasing?

What proportion of our power requirements can come from on-site generation and what are the

economic, social and environmental pros and cons that we should factor into our calculations?

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Connecting Purpose to Data

These modern challenges cannot be met using the collection of disconnected

“traditional” software products within which organizations typically attempt to

manage this change. Such “whole-systems thinking” requires an integrated platform

that goes beyond EHS software. These products are aimed at traditional compliance

and reporting approaches that are not compatible with this new era of deep purpose

driven by raised societal expectations, science-based approaches to goal setting,

and the critical need for real-time, “beyond reporting”, brand-enhancing

transparency using data-driven storytelling.

EHS

How To Tell The Story

Today’s generation expects information on demand, anywhere. Strategy mapping and

infographics that incorporate multimedia engage stakeholders, show progress towards

stated goals measured in close to real-time.

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The FigBytes Solution

FigBytes is a cloud-based platform with the unique capability of being able to map out a

sustainability strategy, to integrate that strategy within the broader business strategy, to

map the SDGs to this integrated strategy and to connect the strategy to social,

environmental and economic data in close to real-time.

FigBytes Integrates:

Strategic planning and mapping

Data collection, cleansing and calculations

Data-driven storytelling – performance and purpose in pictures

Integration of “traditional” reporting frameworks like GRI and the

forward-looking aspirational framework of the SDGs

Internal performance management

External website and social media

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The Truly Integrated Strategy

Whether or not SDG integration is a current requirement, the first two

steps are essential foundations for creating a modern,

holistic strategy to future-proof the business and its brand.

The era of “dis-integrated” corporate strategies, segregated

non-financial initiatives and reporting and the use of disconnected 20th century

software to navigate the 21st century, is over.

The FigBytes platform enables three key steps that are essential for avoiding multiple

disconnected layers of communication and data collection tools.

Map out your sustainability

or CSR strategy1

2 Integrate your sustainability

or CSR strategy with your

core business strategy

3Chose the right SDGs

for your company

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… and use them to drive new ambitious

corporate stretch goals and brand value

rather than merely using them to illustrate or

highlight activities in a non-financial report

that are already underway.

… and connect it to a broader range of data.

… and connect it to your data.

Data Management

In addition to industry-leading visualization of strategy, performance and brand, FigBytes

has a unique ability to capture, cleanse, and perform calculations on the social,

environmental and economic data that relate to a modern, integrated business strategy.

www.figbytes.com10

Any strategy can be tracked in FigBytes, however, client implementations generally fall

into one of the following categories:

▪ A stand-alone climate action/GHG mitigation plan

▪ A “non-financial” strategy or initiative such as Sustainability, CSR, ESG, Citizenship

▪ An integrated corporate strategy that will generally include “non-financial” elements

such as Sustainability, CSR, etc.

▪ A mission-based impact strategy such as that of a foundation

Depending on the nature of the strategy being tracked, FigBytes provides a range of

data entry including:

▪ Direct input to smart phone and tablets in “the field”

▪ Direct input into the system

▪ Direct input via individual data entry screens

▪ Input via integrated surveys

▪ Automatic ingestion from bulk spreadsheets

▪ Direct connection to meters for e.g. power, fuel and water use

▪ Integration with e.g. ERP systems such as SAP and Oracle

Larger scale implementations may involve one or more of the above data input methods.

Integration with ERP Systems

ERP systems such as SAP and Oracle are designed to interact with other systems and have

accessible APIs. FigBytes was also designed with flexible APIs to facilitate data ingestion

and the FigBytes integration team has extensive experience at creating these links.

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▪ Identification of the data required to

be ingested into FigBytes for

sustainability impact calculations

▪ Identifying the availability of that

data through the third-party

application’s API

FigBytes connects to such third-party systems using an application programming interface

(API), which becomes the messenger that processes requests and ensures seamless data

exchange between FigBytes and the third-party enterprise system. To connect to the

third-party system, FigBytes leverages the API provided by that system. Such integrations

typically focus on pulling data from an existing enterprise system that are required for

further processing to generate sustainability, social and governance impacts or direct

metrics for an integrated corporate strategy.

Besides using APIs, FigBytes can also implement direct database to database connections

if API availability of quality is not good.

Once data are in FigBytes, they can be used as single variables or KPIs, combined with

other variables into metrics, and, where appropriate, routed into e.g. FigBytes GHG

“engine”, which is the most powerful GHG processing product in the market and which

has been used on some of the most demanding GHG projects undertaken, sometimes

where competitive products have failed.

▪ Identifying the frequency of ingestion of

the specific data points – e.g., hourly,

daily, weekly, monthly, etc.

▪ Identifying the category within FigBytes

that this data will reside in once ingested

FigBytes follows the below steps to finalize the connections through APIs:

Traditional EHS software systems generally process social metrics in terms of Health and Safety,

but fail to capture more advanced concepts such as well-being, community engagement,

social equity, etc. These are key elements of many of the metrics for the UN SDGs. Social

metrics are often more subjective than economic and environmental metrics. FigBytes has a

unique, flexible metrics builder that allows for any variable or combined-variable metric or KPI

to be created.

www.figbytes.com12

FigBytes provides advanced functionality for capturing raw environmental data and

converting it into GHG impacts.

For this purpose, FigBytes has an underlying conversion engine that not only provides results but

also provides a details page for each entry that end users can manipulate/modify based on

their own localized needs. Some of this functionality includes:

Social Metrics

Environmental and GHG Metrics

▪ Auto application of emission factor based on location/country and conversion of raw data into

GHG emissions

▪ Ability to change system applied emission factor by selecting from a list of factors from FigBytes’

emission factors data base (EFDB)

▪ Ability to upload custom emission factors based on local regulations or organization-specific

factors

▪ Retroactive calculations (if required) across data set when emission factors change – this unique

functionality avoids major challenges faced by other systems as emission factor changes take

place regularly

▪ Ability to capture notes, source and attach documents to each data entry

FigBytes converts raw data flowing/captured into

the system into GHG emissions on the fly. The

system can convert all raw data, including energy,

into GHG emissions automatically based on these

frameworks and application of the correct emission

factor.

FigBytes is built on the ISO 14064 and 14065 standards, as well follows the WRI and GHG Protocol’s

Corporate Standard. The system also has a number of emission factors in its emission factors

database (EFDB) covering IPCC, US EPA, UK DEFRA, EU, Environment Canada, Australia and

several other regional and country specific data sets. For US customers, FigBytes leverages

emission factors from the state’s environmental agency and the US EPA.

Sustainability and CSR Data Management

A FigBytes Self-Serve Drag-and-Drop Dashboard

www.figbytes.com13

The system tracks and manages data for the following environmental categories:

▪ Fuel – stationary and mobile combustion

▪ Energy – stationary combustion

▪ Electricity

▪ Renewable Energy

▪ Heat, Steam, Co-gen

▪ Waste

▪ Wastewater

FigBytes conducts updates of all GHG emission factors based on new releases. These factors

reside in the Emission Factors Database (EFDB), and are automatically applied to calculations

based on location/methodology required for the category of calculation that customers need.

Administrators have full access to these

emission factors. System administrators can

also add their own local emission factors

as well if required. Scope 2 market-based

emission factors are available in the EFDB.

These are updated as new information

becomes available and are also available

to system administrators.

▪ Agriculture

▪ Land Use Change

▪ Live Stock

▪ Mobile combustion – fleet, surface transport, rail, water borne, air

▪ Refrigerants and halocarbons

▪ VOCs

▪ Products & Services

A FigBytes GHG Emissions Dashboard

Sustainability and CSR Data Management

System administrators can add their own local emission factors as well if required.

www.figbytes.com14

FigBytes is tracking carbon data on a

monthly cadence for thousands of

data centres in over 130 countries

down to the server component.

Akamai Technologies

Headquartered in Cambridge, MA, publicly traded

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ: AKAM), is one of the

world’s largest cloud content delivery networks and cloud

service providers. With one of the world's largest

distributed computing platforms responsible for serving

between 15% and 30% of all web traffic, its global

infrastructure spans over 130 countries, with over 250,000

servers in over 1,000 data centre locations.

Complex Client Implementations

Their customers span all verticals including global e-commerce, finance, media, and government.

Akamai delivers nearly 3 trillion Internet transactions per day and offers a full suite of cloud

technology products to its customers, including 55% of the Fortune Global 500. Akamai employs

over 7,500 people and 2018 revenue was $2.7 billion.

Akamai’s complex data challenge defeated an incumbent sustainability software’s capabilities

and FigBytes was selected in an RFP process as the only product capable of meeting this

challenge.

View full case study.

www.figbytes.com15

Sustainability Plan

Government

Departments

Cities

Schools &Hospitals

Complex Client Implementations

In October 2019, FigBytes launched The State of Minnesota’s, long-term sustainability plan on a

public-facing “micro site”, which can be viewed here: https://sustainability.mn.gov

As one of 25 US states belonging to the United States Climate Alliance, the State is utilizing the

FigBytes platform to create a “living report” to which 24 state departments report against six key

focus areas: Fleet, Energy, Water, Solid Waste, Procurement and Greenhouse Gas.

State of Minnesota

Agency scorecards aggregate each

department’s performance against future

goals, and they are scored by a traffic light

colour code system, for an “at a glance”

summation of overall performance.

Viewing only a few screens, it is very simple

to see long-term vision and granular data

tracked to that vision.

FigBytes “Exportable Widgets” are the primary

communication tool on the “micro site’s” interface

and the live data is powered by FigBytes strategic

sustainability technology.

To follow the initial engagement of 24

government departments, future

phases will include rolling the project

out to cities, schools, hospitals and other

government infrastructure.

www.figbytes.com16

FULLY INTEGRATED RANGE OF MODULES(INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO)

Strategy Mapping & Data-driven Infographics for

“Beyond Reporting” Engagement

Automated Framework Results

(SDGs, GRI, CDP, etc.)

Dashboards and Analytics KPIs Including Indicator Customization

Benchmarking Communication & Engagement

Features Summary

DATA MANAGEMENT

GHGs Energy

Water Waste/Recycling

Waste Water Fuels

Transportation VOCs

Refrigerants Packaging

Incident Management Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Agriculture• Land Use Change• Livestock• Fertilizer

Surveys & Campaigns

Materiality Assessments Self-serve Business Analytics

Project Management

General Functionality Market Differentiation

www.figbytes.com17

Functionality FigBytes Competitors

Strategy Mapping and Visualization

Ability to connect sustainability data to the overall vision and journey of a company or government, and make sense of it from a strategic standpoint

Basic charts and graphs dashboards only

Engagement

Integrated infographics and microsites generator from underlying data that enable story-telling of an organization's sustainability journey

Basic charts and graphs dashboards only

UN SDGs

Visually select and map operations and data to UN SDG goals. Track these in customized dashboards and an SDG strategy view

No automation of SDGs

Materiality and Risk Assessment

Integrated materiality module that allows for collection of feedback from internal and external stakeholders to automatically generate materiality matrices for strategic input to planning

No materiality functionality

Tracking of environmental, social, governance data in a single platform.

FigBytes supports all these, as well as other data categories like product & services, etc. within the same platform

Most competitors are limited to tracking environmental and/or safety data from a compliance perspective

Significant GHG Differentiation(see GHG table below)

FigBytes has the most powerful GHG tracking and reporting system in the market, routinely replacing competitors’ implementations (see GHG table below)

Capture of Qualitative Information

• Integrated survey functionality captures qualitative information as well as quantitative data for compilation of a complete sustainability narrative

• Combined with the engagement modules of FigBytes, this is a major differentiator

No qualitative data tracking

Breadth of Metrics Creation

• Complete flexibility of metrics creation

• Can integrate with reporting frameworks but are not restricted to these

Force users into prescribed

frameworks

Project & Task Management

Integrated project and task management functionality linked to key sustainability KPIs, which introduces the element of accountability and responsibility in achieving sustainability goals.

• No integrated project management functionality

• Project tracking is done external to the system in Excel or third-part project management tools

www.figbytes.com18

GHG Market Differentiation

Granular asset-based set up & results

Science-based target (SBT) tracking

Ability to change scopes and categories so that entire data sets don't have to be deleted (major challenge for large scale implementations)

Pre-defined CRC, MCR, and CDP report templates

Ability to farm out raw data capture to multiple individuals across the organization

Track offsets/credits in the same system to generate "carbon" balance reports

Five levels of nested organizational hierarchy

Tagging functionality that allows results to be aggregated and reported in multiple ways beyond five org levels

Project and task management functionality for setting up and tracking carbon reduction projects

Automated threshold and variation checks, plus two levels of manual data verification - validators and verifiers, to ensure data quality and integrity

Automatic notifications and investigation of data that exceeds/does not meet quality thresholds

Audit trails for third party verifiers

Ability to combine multiple GHG data streams in formula builder to create custom KPIs - e.g., GHG per $ of revenue

Show GHG results in auto-generated infographics and "microsites", beyond the standard dashboards and charts

View GHG results and progress in context of sustainability or corporate strategy

Global Emissions factors (EF) data-base - contains both standard and market-based EFs

Revised historical GHG calculations due to retrospective emissions factor changes with simple "click to change" functionality

GHG Data Management Market Advantage

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Testimonials

“FigBytes has several advantages over the legacy system and its competitors that helped address

our challenges. FigBytes automates emission factor management and has the ability to

recalculate GHG when emission factors were updated by the EPA and IEA.

We also like the system’s flexibility in tracking many different facility variables including the various

forms of renewable energy; and being able to attribute a facility’s electricity usage to various

Akamai services so we can analyze our GHG emissions by service. Our ability to easily expand our

scope of management from energy and GHG emissions to other areas such as water, electronic

waste, employee training hours was also important. Overall, very good value for our money.

“There are three main trends in sustainability today:

• First, companies around the world are bringing sustainability into the boardroom, getting

behind forward-looking initiatives such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and

many others.

• Investors are also looking to sustainability to identify risk in their portfolios, with new standards

emerging throughout the world.

• At the same time, companies are reporting more than ever with a wide range of standards

and frameworks to create sustainability reports, with tens of thousands of companies

collecting this information every year.

But there are few ways to connect all of this, so sustainability and CSR data rarely become

strategic because of a lack of technology within the nexus that connects these three trends.

That’s what makes FigBytes’ approach unique. By connecting data to strategy and brand, FigBytes

is taking a refreshing and critical step in making sustainability a key part of every company’s

strategy.”

Michael MeehanFounder, TCR Innovations

Former CEO, Global Reporting Initiative

Nicola Peill-Moelter, Ph.D.Director of Sustainability Innovation, VMware

Former Director of Environmental Sustainability, Akamai Technologies