Salesforce Net Zero Cloud Implementation Guide
Salesforce Net Zero Cloud (NZC) is a sustainability management platform designed to help organizations manage their environmental footprint. The application tracks greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from energy usage, water consumption and waste.
It allows executives to analyze carbon emissions by office, geography, asset and other factors. It delivers GHG trends and forecasts to proactively and predictably drive emissions toward goals.
In short, this technology brings process automation to make data capture, carbon calculations and information reporting routine, transparent and timely.
But like any other enterprise software, a mature and repeatable implementation approach is needed.
This Salesforce Net Zero Cloud implementation roadmap has been developed and iterated over many deployments. It reduces risk and provides assurance that your technology will meet its objectives. Even better, it will drive your sustainability journey to its intended destination.
Net Zero Cloud Implementation Roadmap
There's more than one way to implement NZC. But the below diagram and sequence illustrate the five essential steps to reduce risk and ensure an on-time, on-budget and on-quality deployment.
01. Data Ingestion
A Salesforce Net Zero Cloud implementation begins by getting the right master records into the application.
Initial imports should include stationary and vehicle assets. Stationary assets will include company offices and data centers. Vehicle assets will include company owned vehicles such as cars, vans, trucks or jets.
You can use either the Data Import Wizard or Data Loader. Regardless of tool, be sure to stage your data in CSV files. Also, validate the data for accuracy and completeness before uploading to the system.
Once the assets are uploaded you can finish configuring your business entities, assets and Scope 3 records.
After that you can create a data intake process for recurring activities such as energy use records (i.e., utility bills), water consumption and scope 3 items (i.e., employee expense reports). You can continue to upload this data from spreadsheet templates but using more advanced tools such as smart meters and OCR will save a lot of time.
02. Enter Energy and Consumption Records
The stationary assets, vehicle assets and scope 3 categories configured in the prior step consume energy. In this step you capture that energy consumption.
That means uploading or entering energy use records such as the monthly office electric bill or fuel used in the company cars.
If your project includes Scope 3 emissions, it also means uploading expenditures such as business travel expenses or the transport of goods.
Here's a tip to keep in mind. A company incurs a lot of energy-related activity data. Energy use records, such as utility bills, fuel receipts or travel must be entered for a specific date range and associated with emissions sources.
However, sometimes they incur entry problems. For example, the date range doesn't match a reporting period, or the activity isn't linked to an asset. Or maybe two energy records cover an overlapping reporting period.
There's an advanced function for these issues called Fill Data Gaps. It uses AI to detect and flag data inconsistencies and provides a process to remedy them.
Lastly, you need to upload emissions factors. Sometimes these are referred to as reference data sets.
Factors convert energy use, such as the monthly electric bill, into greenhouse gas equivalents.
NZC offers reference datasets from government sources and other agencies, such as the US EPA or Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). These data sets translate the company's energy consumption and activity data into greenhouse gas emissions.
03. Calculate Carbon Footprints and Set Emissions Targets
After entering energy use records and emissions factors, you can calculate the carbon footprint for each of those records.
A carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases generated from each energy use record for each asset. It's measured in metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO₂e).
Carbon footprint records use a Footprint Stage for approval and audit purposes. A Kanban view visually tracks where each record is in the footprinting process.
Carbon footprints roll up into assets and scope 1, 2 or 3 categories. They also consolidate into the company’s annual emissions inventory. This calculation shows the company's complete greenhouse gas emissions. It can be filtered by scope, location, office, asset and other factors. This calculated result is a prerequisite for the next step of creating science-based emissions targets.
Emissions targets are considered science-based if they align with guidance from the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). This organization prescribes a goal and process for companies to set carbon reduction objectives that keep global warming under 1.5°C. The target sets a path to reduce global GHG emissions by 50% by 2030 and reach net-zero emissions by no later than 2050.
You can create your own emissions targets if you like. But if you choose to adopt the universally recognized SBTi program, the application supports the below five step process.
Recognize that science-based targets do not prescribe a specific carbon reduction amount. Instead, they prescribe what is necessary to keep global warming under 1.5°C.
Here's an automation tip to keep in mind. The application will convert energy records into carbon footprints. But to automatically link those carbon footprints to the right asset you have to configure the Auto-Assign Carbon Footprints setup. The system will then link the emission to the asset based on the energy use data and date range.
A similar configuration instructs the system to Auto-Create Carbon Footprints when they don't already exist. These two automations reduce errors and save time.
04. Forecasting & Analytics
Once you know your company's carbon footprint, you can use analytics to track progress toward emissions targets and other goals.
The application includes 11 dashboards. These data visualizations deliver insights into emission trends and energy consumption patterns.
They measure progress, identify opportunities and respond to deviations. They provide optimization insights and empower executives to turn environmental challenges into marketplace opportunities.
Even better, analytics support what-if scenario modeling and emissions forecasting.
You can use the What-If analysis dashboard to show the impact of your planned sustainability measures on your carbon footprint in real-time.
You can forecast emissions by office, asset or activity type and compare the projections against your targets. You can visualize how planned or potential sustainability measures impact decarbonization programs and GHG target attainment. You can experiment with different scenarios to find and pursue the most efficient approach to achieve your goals.
Real-time What-If Analysis and forecast scenarios surface the fastest path to carbon neutrality. And that path can be synchronized in the application to monitor progress toward accomplishment.
Finally, forecasts can show when carbon credits are necessary to offset residual emissions. Carbon offsetting compensates for GHGs released into the atmosphere by your entity through reducing emissions elsewhere.
These credits are transferable instruments that represent the avoidance, reduction, or removal of carbon dioxide or other GHG emissions.
A single carbon credit represents one metric tonne of carbon dioxide (tCO₂e) or an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide and other GHG.
NZC manages carbon credits using a three-step process.
- It first creates a carbon credit project record. This stores details about carbon projects that you may purchase in the Net Zero Marketplace or elsewhere.
- It then records a sustainability purchase record. This is essentially a PO confirming a purchase.
- Lastly, it records a sustainability credit record. This shows the associated carbon credit project, number of credits purchased, and whether the credits are retired or still held with the repository. Retiring a carbon credit ensures that only the credit holder can claim the benefit.
The scope-wise allocation of credits is automatically calculated and updated in the Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 sections of the carbon credit allocation record.
Below is a diagram that illustrates how NZC manages these carbon offsets.
05. Reports & Disclosures
The Salesforce Net Zero Cloud implementation generally finishes with carbon reports and disclosures.
The first year's report is the baseline statement. It's a big effort. Fortunately, the time and effort decline for subsequent years.
The app uses a module called Disclosure and Compliance Hub to assist with what are often the many disclosure statements.
For example, it can first manage the double materiality assessment that determines which disclosures are material and therefore required. It can then craft a customizable survey needed for ESG reporting.
It includes a few seeded reporting methodologies and disclosure templates such as the GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) and ESRS (European Sustainability Reporting Standards.)
Einstein for NZC is another tool that uses prompt engineering to suggest responses for ESG reporting. For example, Einstein can harvest a company's ESG related data from prior disclosures, uploaded documents (e.g., annual report, 10K, compliance documents), emissions data and other content. It will then use this data to automatically populate responses for each question in each disclosure.
Sustainability Reporting as a Service is an option for companies that wish to outsource the entire effort. Delegating the regulatory reporting to a managed service specialist can eliminate the need to hire carbon accountants, technology administrators and Net Zero Cloud implementation consultants. It's an alternative for companies looking to skip the process and just get the end results.
An Experienced Partner & Sustainability Leader
Consider Johnny Grow if you are looking for an experienced partner to help plan, design, implement, or support a NZC solution that achieves your goals and fits your budget.
We are a certified and experienced Salesforce Net Zero consulting partner. We bring seasoned executives, sustainability best practices, NZC insights and technology accelerators to reduce time to value and improve your outcomes.
We're also a catalyst and thought leader for environmental sustainability. We not only help clients become carbon neutral, we achieve that goal ourselves.