Global professional services firm PwC and leading enterprise application software company SAP announced the joint launch of a new co-innovation strategy aimed at providing solutions for key ESG business challenges, ranging from sustainability reporting and carbon measuring to supply chain decarbonization and net zero strategies.

The new collaboration comes as both organizations work to ramp their capabilities and solutions aimed at helping clients manage increasing sustainability and climate-related challenges. Last year, PwC launched its new global strategy, “The New Equation,” with plans to invest $12 billion over the next five years, with ESG as one of the key focus areas for investment, and a target for ESG revenues to grow ten-fold over the next four years.

Earlier this year, SAP introduced SAP Cloud for Sustainable Enterprises, which bring together the company’s portfolio of solutions aimed at enabling businesses to holistically manage sustainability performance, and the company recently updated its SAP Sustainability Control Tower platform, enabling users to record and report on ESG data and set and monitor sustainability targets.

According to the companies, the new collaboration will target solutions for enterprise-wide ESG strategy, ranging from trading optimization and tax credit recognition to third-party risk management and competitive analysis, leveraging PwC’s ESG and accounting expertise and SAP’s sustainability-focused platforms.

Christian Klein, CEO and member of the Executive Board of SAP SE, said:

“Our collaboration will combine the deep industry expertise and customer insights of PwC with our leading sustainability technology portfolio. The resulting ESG transparency will help companies reinvent their business models and deliver the sustainable outcomes the world urgently needs.”

Key areas to be addresses by the co-innovation strategy include reporting and disclosure, helping companies to report investor-grade carbon measuring data to meet investor, lender and regulator demands; operationalizing sustainability, supporting the incorporation of ESG measures directly into business functions, and; supply chain risk management, monitoring and compliance.

PwC and SAP said that they are also dedicated to helping organizations respond to emerging sustainability reporting and auditability requirements including those being developed by the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) and the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Bob Moritz, Global Chairman, PwC said:

“PwC has been working intensely to help companies deliver on the requirements needed to achieve their ESG goals. Combining our expertise and reputation for trust and integrity with SAP’s technology platform will help bring broader capabilities and solutions to respond to organizations’ challenges in meeting their ESG and sustainability commitments.”