World Wide Technology achieves 20% time savings on emissions calculations using Microsoft Sustainability Manager

Corporations worldwide increasingly recognize the urgency of understanding and reducing their carbon footprints to help safeguard the environment. Global technology solutions provider World Wide Technology (WWT) has a long-standing commitment to reducing its carbon emissions as part of its comprehensive environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategy^[1]. In 2022, WWT joined a global initiative to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, and the company wanted to improve insights into its direct and indirect emissions.

After evaluating several commercial options for tracking carbon emissions, WWT decided to deploy Microsoft Sustainability Manager to replace its manual processes for collecting, conciliating, calculating, and analyzing emissions data. Within five months, WWT was able to track and calculate categories of direct and indirect carbon emissions in minutes instead of spending weeks performing calculations in Microsoft Excel.

Relying on manual processes to calculate carbon emissions

Founded in 1990, WWT, with $20 billion in annual revenue, combines the power of strategy, implementation, and partnership to accelerate digital transformational outcomes for large public and private organizations around the world. It has 10,000 employees in over 50 locations worldwide. WWT has a comprehensive ESG strategy, and in 2022, the company committed to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. To meet SBTi standards, WWT calculates its direct carbon emissions (scope 1), the indirect emissions created by powering its facilities (scope 2), and emissions from vendors and other entities in its supply chain (scope 3).

Tracking scope 3 emissions can be challenging, as WWT must collect, store, and analyze data from worldwide suppliers and vendors. Approximately 99% of WWT’s carbon emissions stem from scope 3 activities, so developing an accurate, holistic view is an important part of moving toward its net-zero goal. “Data is always a key piece because numbers tell the story like nothing else can, and we wanted our emissions inventory to be bulletproof,” says Varchala Abrol, Vice President, Global ESG and Environment, Health, and Safety at WWT. 

Previously, the company’s ESG teams tracked and calculated emissions with Microsoft Excel, but the process relied on manual labor and diverted resources from taking meaningful action to reduce carbon emissions by engaging with suppliers that contribute to scope 3 emissions. WWT began evaluating commercial software solutions to improve the accuracy and speed of emissions calculations, looking for a solution that could automate the process and that was functional, economical, aligned with WWT’s priorities, and a good technical fit for the organization. 

Consolidating emissions data into a single source of truth within five months

Among the options available, WWT felt that Microsoft Sustainability Manager would best suit its needs for functionality due to the solution’s powerful out-of-the-box features, including dashboards and analytics, and its user-friendly interface. WWT had a long-standing relationship with Microsoft and appreciated the alignment between the two companies’ commitments to a more sustainable future.

“One of the reasons Microsoft Sustainability Manager stood out was its accessibility and letting you customize the product to fit your needs,” says Aneesh Kale, Manager, Global ESG and Sustainability at WWT. “Scope 3 data is acquired through numerous suppliers, each of which has its own format. Microsoft Sustainability Manager helps you create and store data in separate formats, and that is a massive plus.”

At the beginning of 2023, WWT began putting scopes 1 and 2 emissions data into Microsoft Sustainability Manager, with a goal of making the solution its single source of truth for those emissions by the end of May. The company leaned on Microsoft for support, both in troubleshooting and in considering how best to use Microsoft Sustainability Manager for scope 3 calculations. Because scope 3 emissions are the most complex, WWT is still configuring data in this category but is already using the solution to track its upstream leased-asset emissions and is reviewing opportunities to track and report its transportation, purchased goods and services, and waste in the future.

The close collaboration between the two companies helped Microsoft refine features, including models for calculating leased assets and the supply chain emission-factor library, that WWT was eager to embrace. “We had a very close partnership with Microsoft,” says Chris Brozyna, Consultant, ESG Solutions Team at WWT. “It was exciting to see our feedback get incorporated into Microsoft Sustainability Manager as we were working together.” 

Realizing 20% time savings in calculating emissions

Within months of working with Microsoft Sustainability Manager, WWT had migrated thousands of data points, such as electricity invoices and gas shipments for the company’s worldwide facilities. By the end of May 2023, WWT was using the solution to calculate carbon emissions for scopes 1 and 2 data, along with some scope 3 categories. WWT estimates that Microsoft Sustainability Manager has reduced calculation time by as much as 20%. “To calculate the carbon emissions for regional offices would have taken a few weeks with our previous method,” says Brozyna. “With Microsoft Sustainability Manager, you almost do it with the push of a button.” 

WWT employees were able to learn and use Microsoft Sustainability Manager within two to three months because of the intuitive interface, and staff now has more time to engage with the data rather than just crunching the numbers. WWT decision-makers can also make more informed choices for their sustainability goals and net-zero commitments. “With sustainability taking increasing priority among our stakeholders, I believe reliable, comparable, and measurable data is the catalyst for change,” says Abrol. “As our work progresses, so does our understanding of our impact. We may not always have the answers, but we are committed to reporting our successes, learnings, and steps for improvement.”

Moving toward a more sustainable future

As WWT pursues its goal of meeting net-zero targets by 2050, the evolving capabilities of Microsoft Sustainability Manager are poised to help the company better understand and address its scope 3 emissions. WWT continues to compile data in Microsoft Sustainability Manager, currently tracking emissions at dozens of facilities, with plans to add more. 

“As time goes on, Microsoft Sustainability Manager is going to become more useful and powerful as a single source of truth,” says Brozyna.

^[1] “Protecting Our People and Planet through Sustainable and Responsible Business Practices,” Overview, World Wide Technology, 2024, https://www.wwt.com/corporate/esg-at-wwt/overview.