From box-ticking to the bottom line

Rachel Delacour at sustainability data management platform Sweep explores the real ROI of sustainability data

 

Corporate sustainability is facing its toughest test in years. Regulatory rollbacks, political backlash and relentless cost‑cutting pressures have fuelled the idea that businesses might retreat to a compliance‑only stance. On the surface, that reaction looks rational: why spend scarce capital on programmes that appear to sit outside the core P&L concerns?

 

Look deeper, however, and the opposite case is stronger. Well-managed sustainability programmes deliver tangible, near‑, mid- and long-term returns that far outweigh their costs. Forward-looking companies are therefore doubling down, not stepping back. Their logic is simple: compliance is the floor, not the ceiling, and those who go beyond it unlock new economic opportunities presented by the low-carbon transition, such as sustainable finance, attractiveness to investors, and competitive differentiation.

 

 

Compliance is the floor, not the ceiling

To be clear, regulation does still matter. The EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) alone will pull more than 10,000 companies into mandatory disclosure. But legal minimums are lagging indicators of where the trajectory is headed. Merely focusing on legally required compliance minimums is a great way to hobble your organisation’s future progress and value-building.

 

By contrast, companies that go beyond the bare minimum and build transparency across their supply chains, integrate emissions metrics into decision-making across departments, and use ESG as a compass for innovation are the ones gaining market ground. They identify waste, benchmark suppliers and channel investment towards the most cost-effective levers. In short, they treat sustainability data as the form of business intelligence it truly is. 

 

The numbers back this up. 81% of businesses in four major economies say they won’t survive in the low-carbon economy without transformation, according to Sweep and Capgemini. Many organisations in Capgemini’s Driving Business Value Through Sustainability Report have already realised savings of 8-20% across a range of areas, including waste reduction and supply chain costs; yet most firms have realised barely a quarter of their total savings potential.

 

 

ESG data: the missing infrastructure

Why, if the business case is so compelling, do many companies still struggle to operationalise ESG? The answer is inadequate workflows and tooling. Verdantix’s 2024 global survey showed that while 72 per cent of firms prioritise ESG reporting, more than half still rely on spreadsheets or in-house tools to manage supply‑chain data. Fragmented regulations, inconsistent frameworks and siloed information leave teams spending precious time on data reconciliation instead of data manipulation for analysis and insight.

 

Investment in purpose-built sustainability data management tools changes the equation. Automated carbon accounting, centralised audit trails and real-time dashboard visualisations slash manual workload, improve accuracy and surface hidden inefficiencies. Crucially, they enable finance, procurement, and operations teams to speak a common data language, transforming sustainability from a side project into a shared decision-making lens.

 

 

Turning compliance into competitive edge

When sustainability data is embedded in everyday workflows, a cost centre quickly becomes a value creator. Consider procurement: with access to granular emissions data, buyers can negotiate better terms with lower-carbon suppliers or design incentives that reward continuous improvement. Marketing teams, armed with verifiable data, can substantiate environmental claims and avoid the pitfalls of greenwashing. Investor‑relations teams can tap a growing pool of sustainable finance, a market estimated at more than US$5 trillion globally and growing, on favourable terms.

 

The benefits also extend to resilience. Climate risk is business risk, whether in the form of drought-affected raw materials or extreme‑weather disruptions to logistics. Extreme weather events linked to climate change are already costing global businesses billions. By reducing exposure to climate-related threats, companies can maintain operational continuity and strengthen their competitive position in a rapidly evolving market. 

 

On the revenue side, green innovation is opening new market opportunities. A 2024 study found that sustainable brands are worth approximately $44 billion to U.S. consumers, highlighting a significant shift in consumer preferences toward environmentally and socially responsible companies. With customer loyalty and consumer spending power indexing higher for companies that support environmental or social causes, these shifts are also driving premium pricing opportunities and stronger customer retention.

 

 

Sustainability as business strategy

Net-zero targets are no longer a moral aspiration; they are an industrial and business blueprint. The International Energy Agency expects the low-carbon economy to attract over US$2 trillion a year in investment by 2030. Over 4,000 companies, together representing a third of the global economy, are committed to certified science-based targets for emissions reduction. Companies taking decisive action position themselves to drive efficiency and growth, reduce risk and secure access to resources, from capital to talent.

 

In practice, that alignment starts with data. At Sweep, we have seen enterprises uncover significant operational savings simply by mapping hotspots and automating emissions monitoring across their value chains. Swisscom reduced its carbon footprint by 10% in under two years, well ahead of SBTi targets, while an IT firm we know of has cut its carbon emissions by 15% and lowered its operational costs by 12%. 

 

This isn’t philanthropy, it’s better management. With the right data, clear visibility and framing, you can calculate ROI across different initiatives and show that your work supports net profit, efficient resource management, and long-term resilience. 

 

 

Investors have made up their minds

Despite the political noise, climate leadership remains a marker of financial health: 58% of global investors agree that ESG due diligence increases monetary value, and 88% of global investors continue to show a strong interest in sustainable investing. 

 

The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), which includes over 450 institutions representing $130 trillion, is pushing for portfolio alignment with net-zero goals. This is creating preferential access to capital for companies which are able to demonstrate credible decarbonisation plans aligned with sustainable development. 

 

In short, companies that can provide assured, transparent data are rewarded with more favourable financing conditions and better access to capital. 

 

 

The leadership imperative

Taken together, these trends point to a simple conclusion: ESG is far from dead; rather, it’s maturing. The opportunity has moved from performative sustainability measures to embedding financially material data into the nerve centre of the organisation.

 

Leaders who recognise this are already treating sustainability as a strategic lever, not a mere obligation. They invest in the infrastructure that turns compliance chores into insights, and insights into value-building action. They use emissions metrics the way they use data on the cost of goods sold or customer churn – as a routine input to performance management.

 

Those who delay will still have to comply. But they won’t reap the upsides. The question facing the C‑suite today is, therefore, not whether to act, but how far ahead they want to be when the rest of the market catches up.

 

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Rachel Delacour is CEO and Co-founder of Sweep

 

Main image courtesy of iStockPhoto.com and Happy Kikky