Project scope
With our companion technology, sustainability consulting for corporate clients is becoming intuitive and scalable. Set goals, develop strategies and actions, take stock and create a report. Simply sustainable.
Technologies and Services
NextJS
Spring Boot
AWS
Product strategy
UI/UX design
Full-stack development
Maintenance and operations
Situation
The companion technology for intuitive SME sustainability consulting
Being able to speak competently about sustainability is becoming increasingly important for companies. Due to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive in the EU, some companies will be required to report in the future. Although small and medium-sized enterprises are not (yet) directly subject to reporting obligations, interest in developing their own sustainability strategy is growing.
Volksbank Kurpfalz recognized the needs of its corporate clients early on and began developing a dedicated sustainability and transformation advisory service as early as 2022. The target vision was to provide small and medium-sized enterprises with comprehensive guidance across ecological, socio-ethical and corporate sustainability disciplines. The advisory service was to be supported by digital companion technologies in order to efficiently link conversation management, data collection and report creation.
Solution
Making sustainability measurable
Within the framework of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a specialized concept was developed that guides SMEs from goals through strategies to transformation measures. Through prototypes and tests with initial customers, it quickly became clear that technology-supported sustainability consulting generates strong interest. Following the lean startup principle, Volksbank Kurpfalz and applied developed the first iteration of the solution, enabling selection of the 17 SDGs, capturing key metrics and carbon footprints, and generating a report. After just a few weeks of development, a licensable product was introduced, which has since been continuously enhanced and expanded with new features as well as additional metric sets.
Benefits at a glance
1. Selection of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)
Sustainability consulting is systematized along the SDGs, a framework of the United Nations. An interactive sustainability check helps classify the 17 SDGs by industry. The subsequent selection of any number of goals forms the basis for the sustainability strategy and reporting.
2. Report generation
The metrics, measures and explanations recorded for each SDG are assembled modularly into a report and can be exported as a PDF. Individual components can be customized.
3. Energy and Greenhouse Gas Balance
In an energy and greenhouse gas balance, energy consumption and carbon-equivalent emissions can be determined according to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.
4. Measures and dashboard
The dashboard shows all selected SDGs, the respective data collection progress and is suitable for regularly documenting the status of ongoing measures.
5. Metrics collection and ESG scoring
Using a questionnaire, sustainability activities can be classified quickly and easily. Together with the recorded metrics, an ESG scoring can be created, which can be adapted via RPA to existing bank-specific scorings such as the VR-ESG-RS.
6. White-label and multi-tenant web application
The solution is operated in a multi-tenant cluster and can therefore be adapted to the identity of the using bank within a short time. The application meets all security requirements and can be used with full legal certainty.
“It is a great pleasure to do consulting with the tool.”
Director of Sustainability Consulting @Volksbank Kurpfalz
Outcome
New opportunities for banks in the emerging field of sustainability
With the digital solution, advisors are supported throughout the consulting process and in report creation, enabling them to deliver tangible and efficient sustainability consulting. As a result, clients receive a sustainability report that complies with indirect reporting obligations and can position themselves more effectively in the market with their detailed sustainability strategy. Our joint solution with Volksbank Kurpfalz empowers advisors and clients to address sustainability efficiently, thereby opening up a new business field and effectively driving transformation forward.
Volksbank Kurpfalz markets the SDG consulting tool as a licensable software solution.
If you are interested in further project details, our contact persons will be happy to assist you.
Award for excellent sustainability solution
Our commitment to excellent Solutions in the field of sustainability was recognized with the renowned "Best of Consulting" award from Wirtschaftswoche. This award underscores the high quality of our work and our leading role in digitalization consulting. However, we see the true award in the satisfaction and long-term collaboration with Volksbank Kurpfalz. Together, we are building an innovative business model and continuously delivering new features and improvements to advisors and corporate clients in order to make the value and impact of sustainability consulting unparalleled.
