Independent research firm Verdantix recently identified IBM as a leader in their report, “Green Quadrant: ESG Reporting and Data Management Software” (July 17, 2023), which evaluated and provided a detailed assessment of solution providers and their product offerings. The rigorous analysis conducted by Verdantix included a comprehensive 115-point questionnaire, two-hour live demonstrations by suppliers and interviews with existing ESG software customers. The audience surveyed are those who are responsible for selecting, implementing and deriving value from Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) reporting and data management applications.

The report notes that the market landscape for ESG reporting software and data management software has evolved rapidly over the past three years, driven primarily by increased regulations and interest from a variety of internal and external stakeholders. This has resulted in a proliferation of new entrants to the market seeking to meet a wide range of needs, including collecting and managing large amounts of data, ensuring the data is audit-ready, enabling reporting on that data, and using tools and technology to drive business decisions.

IBM has a strong heritage in helping clients around the world use technology like AI and advanced analytics—including the IBM Envizi ESG Suite and IBM Planning Analytics—to address their sustainability goals. IBM’s sustainability solutions provide clients with an end-to-end solution to manage ESG data, drive performance improvements and address reporting and disclosure requirements.

In reviewing IBM’s capabilities in ESG Reporting and Data Management, the Verdantix report notes that IBM has strengths in:

• Data quality control and enhancement, including “easy-to-understand reports to better analyze data quality. These include incomplete data reports to identify missing or overlapping data at a granular level – such as by supplier or location – tools to automate the collection of missing data, and data health checks that include various metrics like time series meter data.”
• ESG and sustainability performance, including how “Envizi has particular strengths helping firms with long-term sustainability planning, including tracking net zero pathways, allowing users to set assumptions around growth scenarios, and helping customers explore these scenarios so they can make better decisions in how to allocate funding. In addition, IBM offers modelling capabilities through its Planning Analytics Solution, which uses AI and machine learning from the IBM Watson tool to perform what-if analyses and muti-variate forecasting.”

Companies around the globe are using IBM Envizi to simplify the capture, consolidation, management, analysis and reporting of ESG data, including Growthpoint, an Australian real estate investment trust, and Melbourne Water, the Australian government-owned authority that protects and manages major water resources for the city.

This recognition of IBM’s strengths in ESG reporting and data management software complements our leadership rating in the Verdantix “Green Quadrant: Enterprise Carbon Management Software 2022” study. These two results are welcome validation of our position as a leader in the market and encourages us to continue on the path to expand our capabilities in this space and key functionalities of our offerings.

For more information about IBM Sustainability, please visit the IBM sustainability solutions.