People, risk and sustainability. Chief Sustainability Officer
AI for the Sustainability Office
Sustainability is now reported like the financials. The data isn’t ready for it.
Months go into chasing energy bills, travel data and supplier emails. Scope 3 rests on estimates, auditors can’t trace the numbers and every rating agency asks the same questions differently. We map the Sustainability Office the way your team actually works, then put agents where they turn data chasing into decisions.
The short answer
It takes the data chasing out of sustainability. Agents capture and check ESG data from source systems, collect primary Scope 3 data from suppliers, keep the lineage from source to disclosure, draft rating questionnaire answers and model the cost of each decarbonisation option.
Your team keeps the strategy, the targets and the supplier relationships. The agents do the collecting and the checking, so reports are ready sooner and stand up to assurance.
The mandate
Set and deliver the company’s sustainability targets. And report them with the same rigour as the financials.
What the board measures you on
Emissions against target
Scope 1, 2 and 3
Reporting compliance
CSRD, ISSB and local rules
Assurance readiness
Findings and how fast they close
ESG ratings
CDP, EcoVadis and others
Supplier engagement
Primary data and improvement
Cost of decarbonisation
Per tonne abated
The canvas of the Sustainability Office
Most ESG software is a reporting template. The real work, and the real cost, sits in getting trusted data into it and turning targets into plans with a business case.
Canvas 1
What you run
The sustainability engine.
Carbon accounting and targets
Emissions inventory, targets and pathways.
Sustainability reporting
CSRD, ISSB and voluntary disclosures.
Supplier engagement
Scope 3 data and supplier improvement programmes.
Decarbonisation programmes
Energy, fleet, product and supply chain initiatives.
Ratings and investor questions
CDP, EcoVadis, MSCI and investor requests.
Canvas 2
What you answer for
The things the board, auditors and regulators hold you to.
ESG data quality and assurance
Lineage and controls that satisfy auditors.
Climate and nature risk
Physical and transition risk across assets and suppliers.
Green claims and product data
Claims, labels and digital product passports.
Targets with a business case
What each tonne costs and what it’s worth.
Where value leaks
Most of them sit in the months before the report goes out. That’s where your team’s time goes, and where the risk of a wrong number starts.
01
Data collected in spreadsheets
Months spent chasing data from sites, teams and systems.
ESG data agents. Capture, check and calculate KPIs straight from ERP, energy, fleet, travel and HR systems.
Hours per reporting cycle
Days to disclosure ready
02
Scope 3 on estimates
Spend based estimates instead of supplier data.
Supplier data agents. Request, read and check primary data from suppliers and chase what’s missing.
Primary data share
Suppliers reporting
03
Assurance gaps
Auditors can’t trace numbers back to source.
Lineage agents. Link every number to its source document or system, with each calculation logged.
Assurance findings
Time to close findings
04
Rating questionnaires
The same questions answered differently for every agency.
Questionnaire agents. Draft answers from the approved data set and flag where evidence is thin.
Time per questionnaire
Rating scores
05
Targets not tied to cost
Decarbonisation plans with no business case behind them.
Abatement agents. Model the cost and impact of each initiative and rank them for the CFO.
Cost per tonne abated
Plans funded
06
Claims that can’t be backed
Marketing uses green claims the evidence doesn’t support.
Claims agents. Check every product and marketing claim against the evidence before it goes out.
Claims with evidence
Claims withdrawn
Process lifecycles
We start from the tools you already run. The orange steps are where an agent takes on the work, so your team spends its time on targets, suppliers and strategy.
Data to disclosure
Every reporting cycle
Collect
From source systems
Agent
Validate
Gaps and outliers flagged
Agent
Calculate
With full lineage
Agent
Review
Assure
Disclose
Drafted for approval
Agent
Typical systems. Workiva, Sphera, Persefoni, SAP Sustainability, ERP
Supplier engagement
Every key supplier
Map
Request
In the supplier’s language
Agent
Collect
Reports and certificates read
Agent
Score
Quality and progress
Agent
Improve
Typical systems. Supplier portals, EcoVadis, CDP, procurement systems
Target management
Yearly, tracked monthly
Baseline
Target
Plan
Initiatives costed and ranked
Agent
Track
Against the pathway
Agent
Report
Typical systems. Carbon accounting tools, finance systems
Claims and product data
Every claim and label
Claim drafted
Evidence check
Against the data
Agent
Approve
Publish
Monitor
Data changes flagged
Agent
Typical systems. PIM, DAM, product data systems
Agent intervention point
The Sustainability control tower
Not an annual report built in a scramble. A live view of where emissions stand, how good the data is and what’s still open for assurance.
Illustrative
Sustainability control tower
Sample data to show the view. Not client results.
Against pathway
+3%
Above target
Scope 3 primary
34%
▲ from 9%
Report ready in
21 days
▼ from 74
Assurance points
6
2 high priority
Questionnaires
9
Drafted this quarter
Cost per tonne
€48
Planned abatement
This week’s sustainability brief
Gap
Energy data missing for four sites this quarter
Meter data requested. Owners named
Pathway
Fleet emissions 9% above plan after a route change
Linked to the Supply Chain Office for options
Suppliers
31 of the top 50 suppliers have sent primary data
Reminders sent in local language to the rest
Audit
Auditor sample traced to source in under an hour
Down from three days last cycle
Emissions by source, ktCO2e
Purchases
96
Transport
21
Scope 1
12
Scope 2
8
Purchased goods are 70% of the total. Supplier data and procurement choices are where the pathway is won.
Illustrative example. Figures are invented to show how the view works. In discovery we build it on your own data and KPIs.
Your industry changes the agenda
The canvas stays the same. Where the emissions sit and what stakeholders ask does not. Here’s the question we hear most from sustainability leaders in each industry, and where agents help first.
CPG
How do we cut Scope 3 when most of it sits with farmers and packaging suppliers?
Supplier primary data and packaging data
FMCG
How do we back every pack claim across many markets?
Claims evidence checks and product data
Retail
How do we get data from thousands of own brand suppliers?
Supplier data collection at scale
D2C
How do we report credibly with a small team and many suppliers?
Data capture from source and claims checks
Automotive
How do we prepare battery and product passports with supplier data?
Product data and supplier collection
Healthcare
How do we measure and cut emissions across sites and supply chains?
Site energy data and procurement emissions
Energy
How do we report transition progress investors trust?
Assurance ready data and target tracking
Manufacturing
Which plant investments cut the most carbon per euro?
Abatement cost modelling by plant
Logistics
How do we give every customer accurate shipment emissions?
Emissions per shipment from transport data
BFSI
How do we measure financed emissions across the portfolio?
Counterparty data extraction and estimates
B2B technology
How do we answer every customer’s sustainability questionnaire?
Questionnaire drafting from approved data
How the Sustainability Office connects
Most of the data, and most of the emissions, sit in other offices. Procurement holds the supplier relationships, supply chain runs the trucks and finance owns assurance. The agents that serve the Sustainability Office share the same platform and data as those offices, so the numbers match everywhere.
How we’d start
Pilot 1
One reporting cycle from source
↳
Your biggest data sources connected, from energy to travel
↳
Data captured, checked and calculated by agents with full lineage
↳
Time and assurance findings compared with the last cycle
Your decision
Whether every data source moves to agent capture.
Pilot 2
Primary data from your top suppliers
↳
Supplier data agents on your top 50 suppliers by emissions
↳
Reports and certificates read and checked, gaps chased
↳
Primary data share and data quality measured
Your decision
Whether to extend it across the supply base.
Both run under our Validation First Framework. They’re tested on your own data before you commit a larger budget, and if the numbers don’t hold, we tell you.
Your intervention map
Bring your last sustainability report, your data sources and the assurance points you want gone. We bring the Sustainability Office canvas. In one session we map it to your systems and suppliers, and mark where agents would pay back first.
01
Your Sustainability Office canvas
What you run and answer for, checked against how your team, sites and suppliers really work.
02
Your value chain
The canvas placed on your industry and company, showing where your emissions and data really sit.
03
Your intervention points
Each leak with an agent design, its controls and the KPI it moves. Delivered as a mind map, an architecture view or an interactive dashboard.
AI for the Sustainability Office, answered
What can AI do for the Sustainability Office?
Agentic AI takes the data chasing out of sustainability. Agents capture and check ESG data from source systems, collect primary Scope 3 data from suppliers, keep the lineage from source document to disclosure, draft answers to rating questionnaires and model the cost of each decarbonisation option. Your team spends its time on the targets, not the spreadsheets.
How can AI help with CSRD reporting?
CSRD asks for sustainability data with the rigour of financial data. Agents pull energy, fleet, travel, procurement and HR data from source systems, run checks, calculate the KPIs and keep a full audit trail. The team reviews and approves rather than collecting, and the report is ready weeks earlier.
How can we improve Scope 3 emissions data?
Move from spend based estimates to primary data, starting with the suppliers that matter most. Supplier data agents request data, read the reports and certificates suppliers send back, check them for gaps and errors and chase what’s missing. The share of primary data rises each cycle.
Can AI make ESG data ready for assurance?
Yes. Every number is linked back to its source document or system, with each calculation and change logged. Auditors can trace a disclosure to its origin without a chain of emails, and open assurance points close faster.
Can AI answer ESG rating questionnaires?
Agents draft answers for CDP, EcoVadis and other ratings from your approved data set and past answers, and flag questions where the evidence is thin. Your team reviews and submits. Time per questionnaire drops, and answers stay consistent across agencies.
Where should a Chief Sustainability Officer start with agentic AI?
With one reporting cycle from source. Connect the biggest data sources, let agents capture, check and calculate with full lineage, and compare time and assurance findings with the last cycle. Primary Scope 3 data from your top suppliers is a strong second pilot.
