OneStream's Capabilities for ESG Reporting & Planning

Modern organisations can no longer ignore the buzz around ESG. Short for Environmental, Social and Governance, ESG is a reaction to Milton Friedman’s 1970s credo that the social responsibility of business is to increase profits. But far too many examples today show how this narrow definition of social responsibility has negatively impacted employees, local communities and/or the environment – all of which are stakeholders.

Failing to consider these stakeholders threatens sustainable business models as employees may leave, communities may take legal action or climate change forces you to unforeseen investments. Combating these threats, ESG aims to consider all stakeholders of the company. And OneStream’s capabilities for ESG reporting & planning ensure that trusted information can be effectively available as and when required. But before we dive into all of that, let’s first review the benefits of ESG and the bidirectional relationship between organisation and climate.

The Benefits of ESG

Research shows that ESG pays off. How? It makes companies more resilient in times of change. The interrupted supply chains during the pandemic offer the perfect example. Companies that invested in trusted relations with suppliers and employees got production back on track faster and grew faster than companies without those strong relations.

Not convinced? Well, then consider the following.

Growing demand for sustainable investments, a market estimated to reach $34 trillion in 2026, runs rampant today. Within that environment, fund managers must consider demands like zero emissions/zero pollution, equal opportunities or avoidance of child labour, throughout the entire value chain of portfolio assets.

To assess these risks, investment analysts require data, typically non-financial data, and typically the quality of that data is questionable at best. With the apparent risk that green funds turn out not to be so green or there is child labour somewhere in the value chain of a portfolio company that compromises the status of the entire portfolio.

At the same time, governments across the globe want to accelerate the transition to renewable energy. The EU Green Deal, the US Inflation Reduction Act and similar transition programs in other parts of the world all aim to support private investments in green technology – with massive amounts of public money. Yet these governments face a big challenge: How can governments ensure they’re supporting truly green technology and not just some repackaged old tech?

So again, data quality is an issue.

Here, governments have an advantage: they have regulatory bodies. So, they issue regulations to get reliable data that support their transition agenda.And while the new US administration is unlikely to pass any regulation, The EU is rolling out the CSRD with the majority of companies reporting their first audited ESG reporting on 2025 in 2026. Other jurisdictions (e.g., UK, Brasil, Japan, ANZ, Singapore, SA) have passed or will soon pass similar legislation. As well as a number of state governments in the US

Using quantitative and qualitative data to report on environmental and social topics, combined with governance, will ensure policies are in place and anchored throughout the company, all the way up to the executive level. This process is a huge undertaking for companies. It’s a journey. Some companies have been on this journey for 15-20 years. Others are just getting started.

This topic is expansive, but a blog post is not an essay.To stay mindful of your time, let’s just zoom in on energy transition and the resulting focus on climate change as part of the larger environmental topic.

The Bidirectional Interaction Between Organisation and Climate

Through their activities, organisations impact the environments in which they operate, and organisations’ emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) potentially impact climate change. Organisations can make choices to reduce that impact, however. So, when organisations claim a desire to become NetZero by 2035, they need to make choices that achieve that goal.

The consequences of not taking action on emissions can negatively impact the business model of a organisation. When making decisions for the future, organisations should therefore consider the related risks and opportunities of climate change.

See the similarities with Finance? With setting financial targets and reporting on progress. With identifying opportunities and mitigating risks that impact the future capabilities to make a profit. These steps are what financial outlooks are all about. Similar to financial outlooks, financial markets discount the resilience to climate change and other ESG performance metrics in the stock price of a company.

How can Organisations ensure they are prepared for this journey?

Why OneStream for ESG Reporting & Planning

For many companies, the field of ESG is new. It needs data from all parts of the organization and the quality of that data is typically poor. Organisations must account not only for their own operations but also for their entire value chains. That combination creates a massive puzzle of data that many companies struggle with.

Data quality will thus undoubtedly be a main topic for years to come. And the OneStream platform has proven to be of great value for managing data quality. At OneStream, our data integration engine, our workflows, our consolidation and our task audit capabilities are exactly what organisations need to get on top of data quality.

But how can organisations communicate their ESG performance in a meaningful way? By aligning it with their financial performance. The other part of our claim for ESG is therefore that companies must align ESG reporting & planning with their financial reporting and planning by…

• Allowing leadership to make decisions on financial and ESG criteria.
• Reporting on performance in a consistent, easy-to-understand way for the financial markets and other stakeholders.
• Generating reports and analyses that speak the language of the board and provide a solid basis for the company’s strategy.

How does OneStream do all of that? Those familiar with our platform know that we’re recognized as the leader when it comes to data quality, reporting, planning and more. That means the platform, just as it is, can also handle the challenges in ESG reporting & planning (see Figure 1).

The OneStream ESG Solution

The ESG Reporting and Planning solution Streamlines Environmental, Social and Governance reporting and enables planning & measurement against corporate sustainability goals. The solution combines the collection and calculation of CO2e and streamlines ESG Reporting.

How is this accomplished? With the solution, organizations can:

• Ingest and maintain key Frameworks, starting with the ESRS (European Sustainability Reporting Standards). As well as the ability to add other Frameworks and KPIs.
• Leverage our starting data model, based on the ESRS, that is already linked to the Framework KPIs.
• Enhance the data model through control lists, which can be based on existing OneStream Dimensionality or not.
• We provide you with a single source for more than 40 000 emission factors, supporting your CO2e calculations for Scope 1, 2 and 3. And the freedom to add your own factors, for modelling or planning purposes!
• Leverage factors and frameworks to build dynamic data collection interfaces for the end user.
• Collect data at a Unit of Measurement or Currency that makes sense to people providing data and easily translate and convert in any required output measure.
• Start your compliance journey with our pre-built ESRS report.

Figure 1: OneStream ESG Reporting & Planning Solution

In the ESG solution, you enter activity (e.g., fuel consumption, electricity usage), distance (by vehicle type) or e.g. spend. The solution then applies factors to convert this input into carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e), the common denominator for global warming potential. The solution also converts the common types of refrigerants into CO2e.

You can slice and dice your emissions data in the same way you would do with financials (e.g., by region, product, business area, etc.).Extensible Dimensionality provides the ESG data model with the same structures as defined for the financial model. From there, the ESG model can be extended with more granularity – for example, by location (factory, warehouse, mine, office) or asset class (e.g., vehicle type). And it can be done all with a single point of maintenance and full control.

Learn More

To learn more, read our ESG e-Book or check out the blog posts in our ESG series. And if your organisation is ready to align ESG reporting & planning with financial reporting and get ahead of the upcoming disclosure mandates, contact OneStream today to get started.