The Age of Sustainability: How to Protect Against Cybersecurity Risks While Fulfilling the ESG

The Necessity of Carbon Management Software Solutions 

Today, energy management and environment suitability have become the center of attention for many major corporations. Their aim is to become eco-friendly and adopt energy management initiatives and looking at carbon management software to help them fulfill their ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance) goals.

“As most of you know since the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen in the IT world a steep increase of cyber attacks amongst the entire industry, stated Reshma Moorthy.

By incorporating cybersecurity within the ESG framework, it is more important than ever for it to become more digitized so it can limit the amount of these attacks which can cause damage to human health and the environment from catastrophic spills, waste discharges, and air emissions.”

Cyber risk is the most immediate and financially material sustainability risk that organizations face today. Those that fail to implement good governance on cybersecurity, using appropriate tools and metrics, will be less resilient and less sustainable. This in turn has an impact on the other organizations they rely on, and ultimately on the stability of companies, communities and governments.

Sustainability Software and Cybersecurity Risks

Sustainability solutions allow enterprises to take long-term mitigation of cyber risks. One of the main reasons for ESG advancement revolves around the spike in cybersecurity threats. With sustainability solutions, enterprises can assume more control over their reputational, financial, and technical elements. On top of reducing carbon footprint, sustainability software allows companies to ensure regulatory compliance and mitigate cybersecurity risks.

Fundamentals of Using Sustainability Software

With carbon management and sustainability solution, corporations can measure, benchmark, plan, and manage carbon emissions efficiently. These solutions make it easier for businesses to cut back on carbon emissions and hit the optimal sustainability threshold. In one study, IBM managed to come to the top among the top 15 carbon management software vendors. In a tech-driven world, using a carbon management solution renders direct and indirect benefits for organizations.

Using this software allows companies to improve their operational efficiency. The risks related to climate change are real, and one of the best ways to mitigate these effects is to use a carbon management software solution.

Using Sustainability Software Shows Long-term Commitment

With an effective carbon management software solution, companies can ensure regulatory compliance requirements. They can use it to categorize and track their carbon emissions and it’s a practical way to find out direct and indirect sources of carbon emissions.

According to a McKinsey report, companies’ proactive approach to achieve environmental sustainability is not a PR move. Instead, it shows a long-term commitment and engagement through strategic initiatives can work for the companies, their employees, and the environment.

On a global scale, companies have started to realize the long-term benefits of carbon management solutions and practices. In 2022, investing in sustainability solutions has become the need of the hour.

Shared Purpose of Using a Sustainability Software

The sustainability software solution allows organizations to manage operational data from manufacturing, fleet management, building maintenance, etc. The idea of using sustainability software solutions is to assess the sustainability and environmental impact.

Environmental sustainability is no longer a buzzword – it is a dedicated practice that improves the longevity of the company and its operational efficiency. Mostly, using a sustainability software solution shows that a company is committed to take social responsibility and leave the environment in a better state for future generations.

What You Can Expect from a Dedicated Sustainability Software

Sustainability software solutions now come with advanced features that allow companies to collect and analyze data and perform audits efficiently. For instance, comprehensive and all-in-one sustainability software solutions offer more than data retrieval.

Sustainability solutions offer compliance management, performance management, documenting, and reporting features. With sustainability reporting, you can automate the data collection and meet disclosure and deadline milestones. From data collection to reporting, sustainability software solutions allow corporations to build an ESG framework.

Last Words

If you’re still not sure that ESG and cybersecurity need to go hand-in-hand consider this:

There have been several alleged cyberattacks on European wind-energy companies — either directly or through their suppliers — since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. A notorious ransomware gang reportedly claimed responsibility for at least one hack and says it will share internal chats and source code with Russia.

These various and rising threats could hold back the adoption of renewable energy by governments and P&U companies.

Building and maintaining trust in decarbonization

Robust cyber security and reporting assure stakeholders that P&U companies have secure, resilient operations that prevent and recover from cyber and physical attacks and climate threats like wildfires, floods, winds, and extreme hot and cold temperatures.

Given the increasing cyber risk from nation-states and criminal groups, robust cyber security culture and protocol can improve defenses and responsiveness. The priority is the critical assets determining whether customers receive power, water or other vital utilities. Using carbon management software, you can start your de-carbonization process to set baselines, perform migrations, track inventories, manage a wide range of risks, and report analysis. In retrospect, corporations have a unique opportunity to address key challenges of carbon management and create suitable pathways to mitigate carbon emissions.

“After the Colonial Pipeline breach that occurred in 2021 and caused a huge disruption of fuel shortages, this type of governance is all the more critical,” Moorthy stated.

Strict data security rules and processes can make employees cyber aware to avoid possible breaches. With renewable assets becoming increasingly more critical to our infrastructure, cybersecurity regulations need to increase along with them. “We have to be able to continuously protect our technology platforms and implement different ways of governance in order to get control of the potential and ongoing cyber threats and attacks,” continued Moorthy.

 If a cyber aware organization works to do the right thing to maintain customer service and protect against cyber threats and attacks, regulatory fines aren’t necessary. However, all energy companies need a standardized framework for measuring cyber risk along with procedures for restoring service following a breach. At the present time, there is a lack of global consistency for cyber security standards and practices. There needs to be an urgent need to collaborate and share information to make these more resilient. Where to begin is the big question?

 Moorthy shared that there are many technology solutions that Frontier Technologies can offer to help bridge the cybersecurity gap with IoT devices for sustainability in the utility industry. Given the unique role of the renewable energies that exist today and the interconnected nature of energy, the government and corporations along with cybersecurity technology experts across the supply chain need to have ongoing discussions now.