Salesforce wants to make ESG reporting easier than ever

Salesforce is looking to take the pain out of ESG reporting with new AI-powered capabilities for its platform.

Announced at Dreamforce 2023, the new features for Salesforce Net Zero Cloud utilize the company’s Einstein AI platform to help take the pain (and save time) out of ESG reporting for companies of all sizes.

The updates, available in October 2023 include improved automated reporting tools, as well as additional AI-powered functions that can suggest reliable, auto-generated responses for ESG reports.

CSRD reporting

Salesforce says the release was motivated by the growing prevalence of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). 

Primarily a framework for businesses in the EU, more and more large companies (mainly multi-nationals based in the US) will need to comply with the regulations from 2024, including disclosing both climate-related financial risks and societal impact, along with the scope, or the emissions generated by a company’s supply chain, and many are finding this to already be quite the challenge.

Among the new announcements are two new capabilities for Net Zero Cloud – CSRD Report Builder and Materiality Assessment. The former helps automate CSRD report generation, with the latter helping businesses work out what is material – both to their business and broader societal impact, the “double materiality” assessment that is a requirement of CSRD.

“Meaningful corporate transparency benefits us all, yet businesses can find themselves lost in the complex landscape of regulatory frameworks,” said Ari Alexander, VP and GM of Net Zero Cloud, Salesforce. “Equipped with Einstein, Net Zero Cloud will help simplify the process of reporting ESG data, offering a valuable solution that any company can leverage toward achieving net zero.”

Salesforce says Einstein for Net Zero Cloud is set to be available in Spring 2024.

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