"The cost increases of transitioning to net zero are lower than they were due to inflation," said Nakladal.
Speaking at Celonis' World Tour 2022 Houston, Nakladal said that efficiency and sustainability will converge. "It will be efficiency plus sustainability that will get you performance," she said.
Celonis World Tour 2022: Everything you need to know | What is sustainability in business? The process, returns, KPIs and everything you need to know
Nakladal said that sustainability efforts will deliver returns as long as it's more than just about window dressing. In addition, top-down sustainability goals often lack the focus on the process details that also lead to efficiency gains elsewhere.
For instance, suppliers, procurement, production, logistics and inventory and order management are all key areas that impact sustainability, said Nakladal. She added that emissions data can be calculated by data that already exists in many systems.
For instance, a Celonis Data Connector to an ERP system can provide data elements such as departure address, arrival address, shipping type and weight. Those data elements can be further quantified in the Celonis EMS and enriched with more data.
Also see:
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- Proposed SEC rules could accelerate sustainability data collection
- How inflation, supply chain and sustainability could drive efficiency gains
- ABB on sustainability: Just get started
Sustainability return on investment was a core theme at the Houston World Tour 2022 stop. During the keynote, IBM's Scott Layton, Vice President of Global Finance Transformation, noted that "sustainability has to have a return on investment." Layton added that looking at the carbon footprint in the supply chain can also achieve sustainability and efficiency goals.
Nakladal added that momentum for sustainability projects is increasing due to regulation as well as supply chain efficiency. Ultimately, Nakladal said the green line for enterprises will be as important as the top and bottom line growth.
"We need to have return on investment on sustainability," said Nakladal. "It's tough, but comparable to other transformations. It's a matter of putting sustainability into the day-to-day operations."