ESG value chain solution (preview)

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Important

Some or all of this functionality is available as part of a preview release. The content and the functionality are subject to change.

The environmental, social, and governance (ESG) value chain solution enables you to gather data directly from your value chain partners and use that data to calculate your scope 3 emissions. A value chain partner is any third party with whom you do business or are otherwise invested and from whom you need to collect data. You can also gather product carbon footprint data directly from your suppliers with this feature.

The ESG value chain solution consists of two main components that you can use together to gather your value chain data:

  • A value chain data hub within Microsoft Sustainability Manager, where you can initiate invitations and surveys for your suppliers and view the data that you receive from them.
  • A Power Pages portal template that you can use to request data directly from your suppliers.

In addition, you can use the attribution node in Calculations to calculate and attribute your scope 3 data from your value chain partner's emissions.

This article shows you how to perform the following tasks to set up and use the ESG value chain solution:

Install the Power Pages value chain template

The Power Pages value chain template lets you import your ESG data directly from your value chain partners.

Important

Before installing the template, you need to turn on the Power Pages enhanced data model in your environment. For instructions about enabling the enhanced data model, go to Enhanced data model (preview).

  1. In the Settings area under App settings on the left navigation, select General.

  2. On the General page, select the Value chain template (preview) tab.

  3. After ensuring that the enhanced data model is turned on for your environment, select the Install button. The Power Platform admin center appears.

Screenshot of the Value chain template (preview) tab.

  1. In the Select an environment dropdown, select the environment where you want to install the template.

  2. After the template has successfully installed on your environment, you can activate it in Power Pages.

    Screenshot of activating the template.

  3. When your site is active, select Edit to change the visibility from private to public.

  4. Make sure that you have server-side synchronization with Exchange Online. Go to Power Platform admin center, select your environment, and go to Settings. Select Email settings, and then ensure you have correct values for Server Profile and Outgoing mail in Synchronization methods. To learn more about server-side synchronization, go to Server-side synchronization overview.

In Power Platform admin center, you can also approve the sender email for invitations. Under System, select Email configuration, and then select Mailboxes. Select Inactive email boxes. In the list of available senders, select the user that you want to enable for sending invitations to value chain partners. Select Approve email.

Set up value chain partners

After installing and activating the template, you can set up your value chain partners as accounts within Sustainability Manager. Each account must have at least one contact.

  1. In the Data area on the left navigation, select Value chain under Data management. A list of your value chain partners appears on the Supplier view page. You can ingest data from value chain partners the same way you ingest other Sustainability Manager data.

  2. Ensure each value chain partner has a contact with an active email address. The portal invitation and survey go to this contact.

  3. Send invitations to all value chain partners that you want to collect data from. The ESG value chain solution uses the Power Pages invitation feature to connect to your value chain partners. For more information about how to use the invitation feature, go to Invite contacts to your Power Pages site.

Activate surveys

Activate surveys for each of the value chain partners that you want to collect data from. Each value chain partner you invite receives a unique code that they can use to sign in to the survey portal. Value chain partners then complete and submit the survey, and the data is imported into your value chain data hub.

Value chain partners only need to complete the registration once if you continue to use the same portal in the future.

After you send invitations to your value chain partners, you can activate your surveys.

  1. On the Supplier view page, select a value chain partner, and then select the Surveys tab.

  2. At the top of the survey list, select the ellipses (...), and then select + New Supplier survey detail to create a new supplier survey.

  3. On the General tab of the New Supplier survey detail page, enter information for Name and Organizational unit, which are required. To define a time frame for collecting data from your value chain partner, enter the Reporting start date and Reporting end date. If you don't fill in these fields, your value chain partner defines when they complete the survey.

  4. Select Save, and then select the back arrow to return to the Surveys tab.

  5. Select the survey, and then select Activate on the top menu. The survey you selected with become available to your value chain partner for completion.

  6. After your value chain partner completes the survey, you can view the data by selecting the survey.

After you activate the survey that you want your value chain partner to complete, it appears on the Surveys tab of their portal. They can work through the survey and review their data before submitting it.

After the value chain partner submits their survey response, the data populates in the value chain data area of your Sustainability Manager tenant under that value chain partner. You can then use that data to calculate your scope 3 emissions.

Send bulk invitations and surveys

If you prefer to send invitations in bulk to your value chain partners, follow these steps:

  1. In Power Pages, select Flows.

  2. Walk through the Create new survey for all suppliers and Create and send invitations flows.

    Note

    Both flows are turned off by default. To turn them on, select the three dots to the right of the name, and then select Turn on.

    • In the Create new survey for all suppliers flow, specify the currency that you want your value chain partners to report and give your survey a name.

      Screenshot of specifying the currency.

    • In the Create and send invitations flow, you can customize the email to send to your value chain partners.

      Screenshot of customizing the email.

After completing your customizations, you can run your flows.

To learn more about Power Automate flows, go to Overview of cloud flows.

Enable EcoVadis ratings

You can track the ESG ratings of your suppliers with data provided by EcoVadis.

You need the following items to enable EcoVadis ratings in Sustainability Manager:

  • An account with EcoVadis
  • Rated suppliers within the EcoVadis service
  • A corresponding supplier record in the Value chain area in Sustainability Manager

To enable EcoVadis ratings, follow these steps:

After the EcoVadis provider is fully provisioned, you can view assessed EcoVadis ratings within the supplier's record.

Activate EcoVadis data provider

  1. In the Data area under Data management on the left navigation, select Data providers.

  2. On the Providers page, select EcoVadis.

  3. On the EcoVadis page under Credentials, select + Add credentials.

    Screenshot of the Credentials area of the EcoVadis supplier page.

  4. In the Add credentials for this provider popup, enter your EcoVadis sign-in credentials, and then select the Add button. The credentials appear under Credentials.

  5. Select Value chain on the left navigation, and then select Update ratings on the top menu.

Create a data import connection

  1. In the Data area under Data management on the left navigation, select Data imports.

  2. On the Data imports page, select the PARTNER SOLUTIONS tile.

  3. On the Choose a data source page, select the EcoVadis Assessments tile.

  4. On the Create connection page, select your EcoVadis credentials from the Select credential dropdown.

  5. On the Schedule data import page, set the Import data automatically selector to On.

  6. On the Review and name page, enter a name for the connection in the Name field. You can also enter an optional description in the Description field.

  7. Select Connect.

For more information about data imports, go to Overview of data import in Microsoft Sustainability Manager.

Import and map ratings to suppliers

  1. In the Data area under Data management on the left navigation, select Value chain.

  2. On the Supplier view page, select Update ratings on the top menu.

  3. Choose from the following options:

    • To automatically map EcoVadis to Microsoft suppliers, select Auto map.
    • To view suppliers that are already mapped, select View mapped suppliers. Use this option to correct or validate any mappings.
    • To view unmapped suppliers, select a Microsoft supplier from the dropdown to match the EcoVadis supplier.

  4. Save the mapping.

View ratings

  1. In the Data area under Data management on the left navigation, select Value chain.

  2. On the Supplier view page, select a supplier from the list.

  3. On the supplier page, select the Ratings tab. A summary of EcoVadis ratings for the supplier appears.

  4. Select the EcoVadis Assessment link to view a full report from EcoVadis.

Calculate scope 3 emissions

You can use the collected emissions and financial data to calculate your scope 3 emissions and attribute them to your desired scope 3 category.

You can use the collected product carbon footprint data with your category 1 or 2 activity data to calculate your scope 3 emissions.

Calculate your scope 3 emissions from your value chain partner

After you collect emissions or product carbon footprint data from your value chain partners, you can use the data to calculate your scope 3 emissions.

  1. In the Data area of the left navigation, select Calculation models under Calculations.

  2. On the All active calculations page, select your calculation model. You can use the calculation model to calculate your scope 3 emissions using the proportion of your spend with a value chain partner divided by their total revenue. You can then select which scope 3 category to attribute those emissions to. To attribute your emissions, select Carbon emissions under Module and External emissions under Emission data.

  3. After you confirm the source selections, review the selections on the attribution node. The default Power FX expression applies the proportion of your spend with a value chain partner divided by their total revenue to that value chain partner’s emissions. You can then select which scope 3 category to attribute the calculated emissions to within your All emissions table.

To attribute emissions to different scope 3 categories, you can set up extra attribution calculation models. Then you can use a calculation profile to define which scope 3 category to attribute emissions to a value chain partner.

Calculate a product carbon footprint

You can use the ESG value chain solution to collect product carbon footprint data from your value chain partners. Then you can use the Cloud for Sustainability product carbon footprint data model (preview) with that data to calculate your scope 3 emissions for those products.

For more information about creating calculation models, go to Calculation models.

See also

Overview of data import in Microsoft Sustainability Manager
Import data with partner solutions in Microsoft Sustainability Manager