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COzPro, Tokyo Release and the new ServiceNow ESG Management module

01 November 2022

If you are a regular reader of the KA2 newsletter, the name COzPro may sound familiar. That is because, in our May edition, we announced that we had created an app enabling organisations to manage their entire CO2 asset lifecycle, understand their environmental position and drive decisions that influence their sustainability agenda. That App is called COzPro.

COzPro focuses on the Environmental component of ESG. Designed and built in partnership with a specialist sustainable IT and biotechnology company, KA2’s expertise as a ServiceNow Partner has enabled the development of a class-leading capability that plugs straight into the ServiceNow platform.

The COzPro App expands the CMDB and asset capability within the ServiceNow platform to include data related directly to any asset’s carbon footprint, from manufacture to disposal.

The CO2 data has been collected from various sources, including the manufacturers, and has been collated, tested, and refined over many years.  And we are proud to say that this proprietary CO2 data modelling is unique to the COzPro App.

The COzPro App empowers organisations to understand their current Scope 3 carbon footprint and future carbon liabilities and set carbon reduction targets. With continuous dynamic data, organisations can set their carbon targets and ambitions accurately and monitor and report progress to that goal.

The COzPro App will influence the environmental decision-making process by understanding the impact of those decisions, from procurement of IT assets and services to operational liabilities and how to improve the ‘end of life’ journey for all assets, from laptops to company cars.

We are just completing the beta testing of the  COzPro App with a leading financial institution and collaborating with them to finesse the functionality of the Foundation version.

The App will be made available through ServiceNow App Store by November to coincide with the launch of the ServiceNow ESG Management application, an exciting new development in the Tokyo release.

The ServiceNow Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Management application helps organisations manage all their ESG commitments and enables them to report on the progress they make on their ESG initiatives.

The release of the ESG module and its new functionality shows that ServiceNow reinforces the message that businesses need to put ESG at the top of their agenda by operating more sustainably and in an environmentally responsible way. Carbon tax and non-ESG penalties are coming too. So having to demonstrate your environmental and social credentials is unavoidable.

And the Tokyo release also brings significant upgrades to the ITAM module.

With IT Asset Management (ITAM), the golden rule is you have first to know what is in your estate. This may sound obvious, but many organisations we consult with are unaware of what assets they have in their estate, and the larger the organisation, the bigger the problem.

Their best guess at knowing what they have is when they buy assets and associated services. Their second-best view is when they are offloading assets. However, we often identified twice as many assets in a client site than they think they own. Ergo, they only had visibility for some 50% of assets.

You may wonder why this is an issue.

The issue is that many of these assets could be reused internally or may have a residual value to be resold externally. Some may contain sensitive data. Many are under a service contract or have associated software licences. We have seen equipment in racks on customer premises still using electricity and under service contracts despite being decommissioned several years ago. At best, they are taking up space. And in the future, they may be costing you money in Carbon tax.

In short, up to 50% of corporate assets can be a hidden cost or risk. They could come back and haunt us if we do not manage them.

COzPro will support the Tokyo release by enabling a Sustainability lens to be used when looking at asset lifecycles in terms of acquiring, using, and managing disposal, whether these assets are owned or leased.

Whilst standards and requirements for measuring the impact of IT assets from an environmental perspective are gaining greater focus, standards at a global and national level are still in their infancy.

As such, if we measure the Scope 3 impact of IT assets in accordance with the Green House Gas protocol at the most granular level of asset carbon footprint for manufacture, distribution, and recycling, as well as carbon impacts of keeping assets longer and extending reuse cycles, we can prepare for most eventualities!

The COzPro App also provides a practical way of feeding data into ServiceNow ESG Management. It will allow organisations to easily report on their asset carbon footprint and start utilising the new functionality that the Tokyo release and the ESG application bring, with meaningful, data-driven goals and objectives.

Remember: If we are not measuring it, we are not managing it, and the better we measure, the better we manage.

Over the coming weeks, we will provide more information, including how to become a COzPro user. In the meantime, for more details and updates on the COzPro App, you can follow our social media account, find updates in the KA2 Newsletter, or contact a member of the COzPro team.