17 June 2010
UNIT4 Business Software Ltd, UK division of UNIT4, the world's leading provider of change-embracing enterprise resource planning (ERP) and business software, today launched Sustain4, an environmental performance management solution to help executives understand and improve their environmental and business performance.
Developed in partnership with global environmental impact specialists, Trucost, it makes use of their unique database and model to rapidly assess and benchmark an organisation's environmental impacts based on readily available financial and business data. This by-passes months or years of research normally required for such analysis. UNIT4 has the exclusive rights to provide this data in the UK local Government, Higher and Further Education sectors.
Sustain4 helps organisations assess, manage and improve their corporate environmental performance across more than 700 areas of impact from greenhouse gas production to water usage. They can swiftly benchmark themselves against other organisations in their sector as well as capture, analyse and track their ongoing performance across their entire supply chain.
In April 2010, the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme came into force in the UK. For the first time large non-energy intensive organisations, which account for about 10% of UK CO2 emissions, will be legally bound to closely monitor and report their emissions from energy use in preparation for carbon trading. The scheme will also give people and businesses the opportunity to compare organisations' efforts to combat climate change for the first time.
"Over the past 10 years, Trucost has collected, standardised and validated the world's most comprehensive data on corporate environmental impacts, including greenhouse gases, water, waste and pollutants, to help its customers efficiently manage and benchmark their environmental performance," said Dr. Richard Mattison, Chief Operating Officer, Trucost. "This combined with UNIT4's expertise and experience in delivering business software and services provides a compelling solution for organisations that recognise the importance of monitoring and reducing their environmental impacts."
The comprehensive database enables customers using Sustain4 to generate an initial ‘Skyline' report immediately instead of taking months or even years, and gives users an instantly clear and reliable quantitative understanding of their organisation's impact. The information is delivered as a cloud solution and provides customers with an on-demand environmental dashboard that delivers the high level information necessary for executive level management and reporting, as well as enabling the detailed reporting necessary for environmental compliance.
"We have developed a unique proposition," said Anwen Robinson, Managing Director of UNIT4 Business Software. "The system takes very basic data about a business - industry sector, turnover, geography, operations, employees etc - and provides an environmental impact assessment, because it knows the typical environmental impacts of a ‘business like yours'. This provides an ideal starting point, highlighting where to focus improvement efforts. They can then capture more detailed information, involving their supply chain partners, to produce deeper analysis and more accurate benchmarking. UNIT4 specialises in working with organisations undergoing considerable change, so we can provide unrivalled insight and expert assistance on how they can transform their business practices and processes to improve environmental performance."
UNIT4 has developed a comprehensive service offering to accompany Sustain4, supporting customers in developing and implementing environmental or CSR strategies. Sustain4 is suitable for organisations of any size or sector and following an initial UK launch, UNIT4 plans to launch and market the solution around the world.