Global professional services firm KPMG and business data and reporting solutions provider Workiva announced today an expanded collaboration aimed at facilitating ESG reporting, leveraging Microsoft’s sustainability platform, Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability, to help organizations ensure data consistency and meet evolving ESG disclosure requirements.

The announcement follows the launch earlier this year by KPMG and Workiva of an expanded partnership to deliver ESG data and reporting solutions and services. The collaboration will now incorporate Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability, in order to enhance data management processes, accelerate near real-time regulatory reporting and analytics, and provide analytics and insights to inform ESG strategies.

According to a KPMG statement, the expanded collaboration aims to address the key data consistency challenges to ESG reporting, including “inconsistent data and siloed data sources, limited data validations and controls, lack of traceability, and highly manual and inefficient data processes.”

KPMG US ESG Leader Rob Fisher said:

“The SEC Climate disclosure requirements have heightened the need for companies to improve disclosures and reporting. By leveraging Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability and the Workiva platform, we are helping clients streamline the process of integrating environmental data across sources to establish more complete and reliable climate reporting and analytics.”

In 2021, KPMG launched a multi-year program aimed at accelerating global solutions for ESG issues, and to support clients in their own sustainability efforts, including plans to invest over $1.5 billion in its initiatives to further embed ESG in the organization and client solutions.

Workiva launched an ESG reporting solution in 2021 on its cloud-based reporting and compliance platform, Workiva Platform, with capabilities including automated data collection, direct connection to all ESG reports, utilization of established or proprietary frameworks to develop ESG strategies, and consistent and accurate ESG reporting.

Corey Wells, SVP of Partnerships & Alliances, Workiva, said:

“This collaboration will enable and optimize our customers’ ESG strategies and control processes. It is critical we continue to address the evolving requirements of ESG reporting through the power of partnership and the development of timely, innovative solutions.”

Microsoft unveiled its Cloud for Sustainability platform in 2021, focused on enabling enable companies to record, report, reduce and replace their emissions through Software as a Service (SaaS) tools, and integrated the tool last year with Sustainability Manager, a new solution unifying data intelligence, and offering organizations an increasingly automated view into the environmental impact of their entire operations and value chain.

In 2019, KPMG signed a 5-year agreement with Microsoft, as part of the professional services firm’s $5 billion digital strategy to modernize its workplace using cloud-based tools and expand its digital offerings for clients. As KPMG has built out its ESG-focused offerings, the firm has been leveraging Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability for its digital solutions, such as the recently launched Circularity Tracker.

Kelly Rogan, CVP of Global System Integrators & Advisory Partners for Microsoft, said:

“KPMG incorporating Cloud for Sustainability  into their approach for client ESG data and reporting solutions will enable customers to leverage high quality data to make real-time decisions. The KPMG approach is valuable for customers who need to comply with ESG reporting requirements, while helping them identify where they currently are and where they need to be in the future.”