Together, EY and Microsoft will create carbon management and ESG data solutions

EY, a global provider of professional services, and Microsoft, a digital titan, have announced an expansion of their partnership to build ESG data management solutions to support customers' operational decarbonization and net-zero ambitions.

Both EY and Microsoft are working to develop their own client-focused sustainability and climate-focused capabilities and solutions. Through Software as a Service (SaaS) capabilities, Microsoft introduced Cloud for Sustainability last year to help businesses record, report, reduce, and replace their emissions more efficiently. Microsoft announced the general availability of Cloud for Sustainability and its integration with Sustainability Manager, a new solution that unifies data intelligence and provides organizations with an increasingly automated view of the emissions impact of their entire operations and value chain, earlier this year.

As part of a series of sustainability goals published last year, EY committed to investing in services and solutions that help its clients decarbonize their businesses profitably and provide answers to other sustainability challenges and opportunities. Over 2,500 interdisciplinary specialists from EY's Climate Change and Sustainability Services (CCaSS) practice assist organizations in understanding and managing the risks and opportunities emerging from climate change and other sustainability concerns.

Global climate change and sustainability services leader Matt Bell of EY stated:

"Climate change is no longer an impending risk; it is occurring right now. Numerous organizations have lofty goals to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 or earlier, but they confront considerable obstacles to do so. This strategic extension of the EY-Microsoft Alliance will speed the innovation required for clients to achieve ESG criteria."

EY and Microsoft say that the expanded alliance will focus on improving carbon tracking and reporting, making it easier to trace the carbon value chain, and creating enterprise carbon management solutions that help carbon capture businesses make better decisions, do better financial analysis, and report to the outside world about carbon and other important ESG areas.

Elisabeth Brinton, CVP of Sustainability for Microsoft, stated:

"The inherent flexibility of the Microsoft Cloud, combined with EY's extensive experience in sustainability and business application development, will enable customers to rapidly adapt and implement solutions that help them achieve their sustainability objectives."