Sustainability & ESG apps for Education and Government
Industry: Education & Government
Construction, Engineering, and Real Estate grapple with ESG challenges such as high GHG emissions and waste, social challenges like safety, labor practices, and DEI, all the way to complex supply chains with many stakeholders! These challenges are digital challenges, smart solutions are shaping the industry's sustainable future.
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Education curbs climate change
In a recent blog by the Director of the Global Business Coalition for Education, it’s highlighted Closing the education financing gap in low- and lower-middle-income countries could reduce emissions by 51.48 gigatons by 2050.
Policy Changes Across the Globe
We are seeing policy shifts across the globe around Sustainability and ESG. Everything from the EU Taxonomy, CSRD, to the SEC Climate disclosures in the US, to state-specific regulations like California’s Climate Corporate Accountability Act.
40% Net-Zero Commitments
According to a recent survey about 40% of higher education institutions and 65% of large institutions have committed to net-zero carbon emissions.
Sustainability and ESG challenges within Education and Government
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High Carbon Footprint / Large GHG Emitters
Government entities and Higher Education tend to have a considerable carbon footprint due to their infrastructure, energy consumption, and transportation needs. Reducing emissions and transitioning toward cleaner practices is a significant challenge.
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Social Justice
Government and Higher Education plays a crucial role in addressing social justice issues. This includes tackling systemic inequalities, promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion, and implementing transparent policies and programs to address societal disparities.
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Governance
The governance of government bodies and higher education facilities can be intricate, potentially leading to conflicts of interest, a lack of transparency, or insufficient oversight. Establishing robust governance frameworks is essential to maintain public trust.
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Incorporating Sustainability Principles
Governments and Higher Education institutions are tasked with incorporating sustainability principles into policymaking, public services, and infrastructure development, as well as operations, curriculums and more. This challenge involves promoting environmentally friendly practices, resource conservation, and sustainable urban planning.
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Green investments and Transparency
Educational institutions often manage significant endowments that are invested in various assets. Aligning these investments with ESG values and principles requires a high level of transparency and rigorous oversight to ensure they support sustainability goals.
Sustainability & ESG Challenges are a Digital Issue
Shifting the Paradigm
Sustaira uses Siemens' Mendix low-code platform, striking a balance between inflexible off-the-shelf solutions and time-consuming custom coding. With a building-block approach and reusable templates, Sustaira offers a customizable accelerator, bridging the gap between pre-made solutions and fully tailored projects, delivering flexibility without compromising efficiency.
The business challenges outlined above put a tremendous amount of pressure on the digital capabilities within organizations. This is everything from high GHG emissions to social justice, all the way to the ever-changing requirements around ESG data transparency needs. Typically, these core challenges translate back to a lack of flexible solutions that are instead replaced by a myriad of off-the-shelf solutions that only somewhat address the needs of the organization. It’s a lack of IT solutions that can truly deliver the value needed, without creating new challenges or expanding an already tangled workflow. So how are we going to solve and tackle these things?
Helena Robinson Director of Sustainability and Quality Control at Xavier.
“Right now, the Sustaira Goals and KPI Tracker is making sustainability visible across Xavier. What people see on campus such as fliers about Sustainability, or even the occasional recycling bin, people just see that as a norm or just noise in the background. When we have data and reporting behind, it builds transparency and trust. This application gives us all of that, and it integrates with our existing systems, specifically the Energy Star Portfolio Manager and proves that what we're doing is working.”
Sustainability and ESG Solutions for Education & Government
Carbon and Emissions Accounting Scope 1, 2 and 3: Measuring impact throughout your supply chain
The Carbon Accounting Application is used by organizations to get an overview of their Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. Allowing organizations to make informed decisions around their sustainability efforts, not only internally, but throughout their supply chain. To do this, the carbon accounting module uses answers from our survey to build a reflexive dashboard that highlights action items to calculate the impact environmentally and financially. Dive into Scope 3 and open this up to your suppliers or external stakeholders as well!
Data Aggregation
Create your single source of Sustainability and ESG data with Sustaira’s Launchpad. Each tile represents an application, custom project, or other software. Bring everything together in a single, agile, smart layer, that sits on top of the systems you’re already using.
This launchpad is meant to work WITH what you already have. Have an application or system that you love for one piece of your sustainability journey? We can add a tile to the Launchpad for that piece and bring everything together.
Custom Sustainability and ESG Apps
There are unique projects that require extensive specialization expertise and attention. For those, our expert development team can take your ideas and bring them to life. Our team uses an Agile Methodology and works alongside your team the entire time. Have something special brewing? Let us help.
Goal Setting & KPI Tracking
The Sustaira Projects & KPI module is designed with pre-built projects and tracking KPIs related to sustainable initiatives. Tied to the U.N. goals for sustainability or the framework of your choosing, you can assess the impact and ease of change with our QuickStart Survey, selecting those goals that you are most interested in. Then, choose from a buffet of pre-configured projects and KPIs to quickly add to your sustainability roadmap.
Sustainability Supplier Management
The Sustaira Sustainability Supplier Management solution is designed for quantitative and qualitative data intake and interaction with your suppliers. If you’re still using spreadsheets and emails to remind suppliers to submit ESG and Sustainability information, this solution is for you. Everything in this template is customizable and can be tailored towards your unique needs. Whether you use a questionnaire/survey or a data intake overview, it’s all possible. You can set actions, reminders and different data input parameters per supplier. This includes reporting and actionable insights.
Additional Resources
Stay up to date on the latest Sustainability and ESG news with Sustaira!
Watch Sustaira’s Webinar, Sustainability & ESG Solutions for Education featuring Xavier University!
Learn about how a Low-code Building Block Approach for Sustainability and ESG Software is the necessary paradigm shift!