Carbon Accounting Software: Benefits, Features, and the Reasons to Use
Today, companies of different sizes, from small businesses to large enterprises, are starting to mind their own impact on the environment and are looking for ways to track emissions more effectively and become carbon neutral.
Digital solutions such as carbon accounting software or other environmental compliance tools are getting more attention, as they help organizations improve decision-making, reduce their carbon footprint and promote considerable cost savings as part of their successful decarbonization strategy.
So what is a carbon accounting system? Why can it be advantageous for your company? How to choose the best tool that will ensure your business sustainability? Check out the following article to get responses to such critical questions.
What is carbon accounting software?
Carbon accounting tools help businesses manage and calculate their carbon emissions and reach sustainable development goals. The right carbon footprint software will accurately track emissions data and collect valuable insights for your organization.
Successful greenhouse gas emissions management requires a comprehensive approach and further strategical regulation. While many companies have been trying to measure emissions in recent years, their audit still has a long way to go before it becomes fully comprehensive and practical, going beyond manual collection of data in Excel.
Investing in a carbon accounting software platform provides greater chances of maintaining efficient data collection and management practices. Besides, robust accounting tools allow for disclosing carbon footprints to stakeholders, adding business analytics to decarbonization strategies, and addressing compliance-related challenges and supply chain issues.
Carbon footprint software market overview
Technavio reports that:
“The carbon accounting software market share is expected to increase by USD 9.61 billion from 2021 to 2026, and the market’s growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 28.66%.” The industries adopting such software solutions the most are oil and gas, manufacturing, telecommunications, technology, among the others.
Two critical factors are driving such significant growth.
- The key one is the demand for reducing the overall costs enterprises incur. That is because the visibility of energy consumption enables them to determine cost-saving opportunities and eliminate inefficiencies.
- Another factor is the increasing number of government regulations and policies to reduce carbon footprint. Governments worldwide require businesses to follow GHG emission regulatory standards. That includes observing, measuring, and monitoring carbon emissions too.
There is also a challenge that the carbon accounting software market continues to struggle with. Companies find it hard to capture accurate energy consumption data, although such information is vital for reports on environmental sustainability.
For example, calculating carbon emissions requires tracking utility invoices for different buildings and contacting numerous managers to check energy usage. After all, estimating energy consumption using equipment like trucks, fleets, or remote offices takes too much time and effort.
3 Scopes of Carbon Accounting
Traditionally, carbon accounting deals with three types of scopes. That includes all activities of your organization causing greenhouse gas emissions. So, let’s dive deeper into them below:
- Scope 1 emissions. These are direct GHG emissions caused by the production. Their primary sources cover boilers, furnaces, machines, and other fuel equipment. Providing scope 1 emission reports is obligatory in many countries across the globe.
- Scope 2 emissions. This type is associated with indirect emissions caused by company assets and resources involved in heating, cooling, and transportation processes. Businesses perform such processes thanks to electricity, gas, or steam. In many world regions, organizations also must report relevant scope emissions.
- Scope 3 emissions. They are the result of activities from assets not managed or controlled by the reporting company, but that the company indirectly affects. Such emissions are caused by the company’s value chain and include employee commute, transportation & distribution, and business travel among others.
Why is carbon accounting important?
Calculating carbon emissions is not something new. But recently, it has become an essential industry-standard requirement for numerous businesses.
Although providing scope 3 emissions reports is optional, it benefits companies. But they find it increasingly difficult to measure this type of emissions. Meanwhile, the relevant information can improve their decision-making when selecting resources, equipment, vendors, carriers, and many more. Businesses can also utilize this information to set their carbon footprint reduction targets and enhance corporate communications.
Thanks to the appropriate carbon accounting software, you will know the amount of gas emission your business generates. That makes it possible to determine what parts of your supply chain are responsible for them and define relevant carbon reduction opportunities.
Key advantages of using carbon accounting software
Calculating carbon emissions is a complicated process that takes about six months or even more. However, with the proper carbon accounting software, companies can measure emissions in a few weeks since the relevant process is automated. Also, they get an opportunity to track such footprint in real time and gain accurate data.
But apart from time and accuracy, what are the other critical benefits of utilizing carbon accounting tools? Below, we have briefly described some.
Environmental advantages
Carbon footprint software is undoubtedly beneficial for the environment. It provides businesses with a holistic view of the emissions they produce. In that way, companies can see clearly what operations cause the most significant damage and can address those issues in time by reducing emissions that matter.
For instance, the glue used in IKEA’s wood-based products contributes to 6% of the company’s total climate impact. Thus, IKEA has decided to utilize bio-based or renewable glues since they aim to reduce their carbon footprint twice by 2030.
Economic advantages
Besides environmental benefits, reducing GHG emissions and implementing sustainability communication tools lead to improved productivity and cost-effectiveness. Different teams within the organization can use the information to actively cooperate toward reducing carbon footprint. A good example is when companies switch to renewables.
Moreover, economic benefits are not only about saving money. That also helps businesses de-risk future carbon prices. Since the amount of emissions is constantly increasing, their price will increase too. Therefore, understanding the issue and reducing carbon emissions now means lower costs in the future and a better environment.
In the United Kingdom, large enterprises must publicly report their energy consumption and GHG emissions in the Directors’ Report. Although such a practice remains voluntary for small and medium-sized companies, more and more organizations are choosing to calculate and report their carbon emissions.
Social and branding advantages
Today, sustainability is a crucial issue for customers, impacting their decision when selecting a company to work with or purchase products and services. The question is not whether businesses should reduce their carbon footprint but when they will do so. In this case, calculating and reducing GHG emissions is necessary to drive client engagement.
Besides, organizations showing their commitment to sustainability are more attractive to potential employees. The last ones intend to find a workplace suitable for their values. According to the Reuters survey, “65% of respondents said they were more likely to work for a company with strong environmental policies.”
What are the must-have features of carbon accounting tools?
Managing all aspects of your sustainability efforts using disparate software solutions is challenging. But how to have a sustainable business strategy in place effectively, including carbon emissions measurement, management, and reporting? The answer is simple — companies should have one tool to maintain their sustainability program. So, let’s define the crucial features such a tool must offer.
Scope 1,2,3 emissions automated calculations
Companies aiming to improve their climate impact must measure their GHG emissions through the already mentioned scopes and convert relevant outputs to CO2 equivalent. But such conversion is complex and pretty challenging if you do not use a carbon accounting system.
With the correct tool, you can take critical inputs automatically. That involves electricity consumption, energy waste, vehicle use, business purchases, etc. Finally, using carbon accounting software allows for customized tracking of the emissions for various buildings, staff members, equipment, and products at all your company’s locations.
Guidance on reducing emissions
Although calculating and benchmarking carbon emissions are vital steps toward future enhancements, companies must create a detailed plan and initiatives to manage and reduce them effectively.
Thus, a robust accounting platform should help organizations understand how their behavior affects emissions and assist in cutting them down. For example, such tools enable users to assess their baseline performance, implement ESG strategies, get guidance, and create policies depending on their priorities.
Data storage and a central point for tracking progress
Companies should store their emissions information in one place. That allows the entire staff to find it easily instead of wasting time looking at different systems or spreadsheets. So, when there is time to report your emissions, keeping your carbon footprint data, updating documents, making notes, and using customizable tags in one tool can save you a lot of time and money.
Also, an effective carbon accounting system may offer flexible dashboards and valuable insights depending on locations, teams, and types of scopes. Such information helps increase the ROI of your business's sustainable investments.
Accurate assessment of the supply chain
Unfortunately, many organizations lack the appropriate resources to determine how far down their carbon footprint goes within the value chain. Thus, they cannot calculate them accurately.
But with an all-in-one carbon accounting platform, businesses can analyze their entire supply chain better, create supplier requirements, and improve relationships with them. Such a tool allows surveying and scoring suppliers and provides valuable resources to enhance their sustainability efforts.
Intuitive interface
Many data-centric platforms are often tough to navigate, look unfriendly, and require long onboarding. There are many carbon accounting systems that are also built in this way, which makes it hard for employees to use and benefit from them.
By choosing or building from scratch the proper carbon accounting system that has the exact functionality your organization needs, you can foster collaboration instead of isolation, and make the process of collecting and analyzing data smooth and effective.
Also, such a digital solution can provide all stakeholders with customizable sustainability reports to bring valuable insights into your organization’s sustainability progress and priorities.
Compliance with regulations
Soon, thousands of businesses will find it mandatory to reliably report their carbon emissions to their private investors and the general public. Thus, the proper carbon accounting software should comply with the GHG Protocol and demonstrate how your sustainability activities and progress correspond to specific frameworks and standards. Also, it can help your organization prepare for different third-party audits.
How much does it cost to build a carbon accounting system?
While there are numerous carbon accounting solutions available on the market, the custom one will match your company’s size, complexity, and needs more effectively. A tailor-made solution can satisfy your exact business requirements and fit perfectly with your operating environment for you to derive the most business value.
The cost of developing such environmental software will depend on the scope and boundaries you define for it. That may range from twenty thousand dollars to low six-figure sums. Developing this solution may be complicated, but experienced software engineers will ensure the proper delivery of desired outcomes. To get a detailed estimate of your software development project, feel free to get in touch with our team.
Unveiling the Top Carbon Accounting Software Solutions
Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol)
The Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol) is a leading accounting framework created by World Resources Institute and World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), offering businesses and organizations accurate guidance in measuring and managing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions accurately.
- Consistent Measurement: One of the primary challenges associated with carbon accounting is providing consistent measurements across organizations and sectors. GHG Protocol offers a standardized method of emissions measurements by including guidance for data collection, emission factor calculations and calculation methodologies to allow accurate comparisons, benchmarks and meaningful reporting and analysis.
- Scope Classification: The GHG Protocol helps organizations categorize their GHG emissions accordingly for complete accounting coverage while meeting challenges associated with accounting for indirect emissions beyond direct control of an organization
- Transparent Reporting: Transparent reporting is key for building trust and accountability between organizations and their stakeholders, so the GHG Protocol offers clear guidelines on reporting emissions data accurately to inform communication regarding environmental performance accurately.
- Setting Reduction Targets: To assist organizations in creating ambitious but achievable emission-reduction goals, The GHG Protocol offers guidance for creating science-based targets aligned with climate goals allowing organizations to establish ambitious yet manageable goals to bring down emissions levels over time.
Key features and functionalities of GHG Protocol
- Robust data collection and analysis tools for accurate carbon emissions measurement
- Comprehensive reporting capabilities to track emissions and progress over time
- Integration with other systems and data sources for seamless data exchange
- Guidance and support for setting reduction targets and implementing emission reduction strategies
Pros:
- Widely recognized standards ensure credibility and compatibility with industry requirements
- Extensive resources and expertise available from the WRI and WBCSD
- Robust data analysis capabilities for accurate carbon accounting
Cons:
- May require additional customization for specific industry or organizational needs
- Limited in-depth functionality beyond carbon accounting
Ecometrica
Ecometrica’s innovative carbon accounting software solution assists organizations in measuring and mitigating their environmental impact more precisely, offering comprehensive tools and features designed to mitigate sustainability challenges.
- Data Collection & Aggregation: Gathering accurate carbon emissions information can be an arduous, time-consuming endeavor. Ecometrica simplifies this task by automating data collection from multiple systems such as energy meters, transportation logs, waste management platforms, and more.
- Calculation & Reporting: Ecometrica uses advanced algorithms and calculation methodologies to accurately calculate greenhouse gas emissions. It supports various emission factors and methods defined by international standards like the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.
- Scope Identification & Coverage: Ecometrica offers services to organizations to track emissions across three scopes set by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol - direct emissions (Scope 1), indirect electricity emissions from purchases (Scope 2), as well as indirect emissions associated with activities like transportation or waste production (Scope 3). This ensures comprehensive coverage.
- Emission Reduction Strategies: Ecometrica provides companies with tools for creating effective emission reduction strategies. By visualizing and analyzing emissions data, it enables organizations to quickly identify emission hotspots, track progress towards targets, simulate impact of mitigation measures and prioritize actions accordingly.
- Compliance & Standards: Organizations dedicated to sustainability recognize that meeting regulatory requirements and adhering to internationally accepted standards is of utmost importance. Ecometrica has built in compliance features which align with Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), helping organizations ensure carbon accounting practices, follow industry best practices as well as facilitate accurate reporting for regulatory purposes.
Key features and functionalities of Ecometrica
- Accurate carbon footprint calculation through data collection and analysis
- Risk assessment and monitoring of deforestation and water usage
- Sustainability reporting and compliance tools for transparent disclosure
- Integration with external data sources for comprehensive environmental management
Pros:
- Holistic approach to environmental accounting beyond carbon emissions
- Advanced risk assessment capabilities for deforestation and water usage
- Compliance tools for sustainability reporting
Cons:
- May be complex for organizations who do not know the answer to the question ‘what is carbon accounting?’
- Limited scalability for very large or complex operations
SAP Sustainability Performance Management
SAP Sustainability Performance Management is an all-in-one carbon management software solution designed to assist organizations in measuring, monitoring, and reporting on their sustainability performance. The solution addresses various issues surrounding sustainability management while giving organizations tools necessary for creating positive environmental and social impacts.
- Data Integration & Consolidation: SAP Sustainability Performance Management allows organizations to collect information from systems like energy management, supply chain and waste management for quick integration ensuring data accuracy and reliability for informed decision-making.
- Metrics & KPIs Tracking: SAP Sustainability Performance Management provides companies with tools for tracking sustainability metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs). Organizations can set and monitor targets related to energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, water usage, waste reduction and social responsibility - offering real-time insight into performance against targets so as to pinpoint areas for improvement while making data-based decisions.
- Compliance & Reporting: SAP helps organizations stay compliant with environmental regulations and industry standards. It automates the reporting process, generating comprehensive reports that capture sustainability data, performance, and progress. This simplifies reporting requirements and enhances transparency for stakeholders, regulators, and investors.
- Supply Chain Management: SAP assesses and monitors environmental and social performance of suppliers by tracking supplier sustainability metrics, engaging suppliers for improved engagement purposes, and supporting responsible sourcing initiatives. This drives sustainability throughout value chains to encourage sustainable business practices and foster responsible practices.
- Strategy Alignment & Goal Setting: Sustainability Performance Management allows businesses to align their sustainability strategies with overall business goals, setting and tracking long-term sustainability objectives, while adhering to industry best practices and frameworks. Through setting measurable goals and monitoring progress, organizations can drive continuous improvement while showing their dedication towards environmental protection.
Key features and functionalities of SAP Sustainability Performance Management
- Seamless integration with other SAP modules and systems for unified data management
- Advanced analytics and visualization tools for actionable insights
- Comprehensive reporting capabilities for internal and external stakeholders
- Regulatory compliance monitoring and support
Pros:
- Integration with other SAP modules for holistic sustainability management
- Advanced analytics and reporting functionalities
- Strong support for regulatory compliance
Cons:
- Complexity for those who do not know accounting software basics and learning curve associated with SAP's extensive suite of products
- Higher cost compared to some other solutions
Enablon
Enablon (Acquired by Wolters Kluwer) is enterprise carbon accounting software designed to assist organizations with effectively managing environmental, health, safety and sustainability (EHS&S) performance. Offering comprehensive suites of solutions designed to overcome EHS&S management hurdles and enable organizations to meet sustainability goals while driving positive impacts forward, Enablon helps organizations effectively monitor EHSQ performances for increased success and positive impacts.
- Compliance Management: Remaining compliant with ever-evolving environmental regulations can be an arduous challenge, which is why Enablon provides organizations with tools for monitoring and managing compliance requirements across multiple jurisdictions. It simplifies regulatory reporting processes, tracks permits efficiently, ensures adherence with environmental, health and safety (EHS) laws and ensures penalty avoidance or reputational damage for its clients.
- Risk Analysis & Mitigation: Enablon's proactive risk analysis and management tool suite enables proactive risk evaluation by offering tools such as hazard identification, analysis and incident reporting. These are essential steps towards creating preventative measures, tracking corrective actions taken internally as well as creating a culture of safety within an organization.
- Environmental Performance Tracking: Enablon is designed to assist organizations in monitoring and measuring their environmental performance, tracking key sustainability indicators such as energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption and waste generation.
- Supply Chain Transparency: Enablon facilitates supply chain transparency by helping organizations assess and manage the environmental and social performance of their suppliers, track supplier compliance with sustainability practices and drive responsible sourcing initiatives.
- Performance Monitoring & Continuous Improvement: Enablon assists organizations with real-time EHSQ monitoring by offering analytics and visualization tools, such as tracking KPIs and trends analysis for making informed decisions with data. By measuring against goals or benchmarks, companies can drive continuous improvement while showing commitment to sustainability.
Key features and functionalities of Enablon
- Centralized data management for comprehensive sustainability tracking
- Real-time monitoring and reporting of carbon emissions
- Risk management tools for environmental, health, and safety aspects
- Compliance monitoring and support
Pros:
- Integrated solution for comprehensive sustainability management
- Real-time monitoring capabilities for prompt action
- Extensive functionality beyond carbon accounting
Cons:
- Customization may be required for specific industry or organizational needs
- User interface and user experience could be improved
Thinkstep
Thinkstep is the best carbon accounting software when it comes to sustainability and consulting, helping organizations measure, monitor and enhance their sustainability performance. They offer various solutions designed to assist with environmental management challenges.
- Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): These services enable organizations to understand both environmental hotspots and any improvement opportunities within their products or processes, helping identify key points where improvements could occur.
- Carbon & Environmental Footprinting: These tools and expertise enable organizations to quickly calculate and manage carbon and other environmental footprints, including greenhouse gas emissions, water usage, energy consumption and any associated impacts. Through quantifying and analyzing footprints, organizations can pinpoint areas for improvement while devising plans to minimize their environmental footprints.
- Sustainable Product Design & Development: This solution assists businesses with the integration of sustainability principles into product design and development processes, helping assess environmental performance of various design options, select sustainable materials and optimize life cycles of their products to create environmentally-friendly and resource efficient products.
- Compliance & Reporting: Thinkstep offers software solutions designed to assist organizations in meeting regulatory requirements and reporting on sustainability performance. Their tools offer tracking of environmental data, automate reporting processes, ensure industry standard compliance and demonstrate transparency with stakeholders. This helps streamline reporting efforts while showing transparency toward stakeholders.
- Supply Chain Sustainability: This solution provides organizations with assistance in evaluating and improving supplier sustainability performance - including reviewing their environmental and social practices as well as risk assessments. All this helps implement responsible sourcing strategies, and thus enhance overall environmental performance.
- Environmental Management Systems: Thinkstep offers software and consulting services to organizations looking to implement effective environmental management systems, from setting sustainability goals and setting metrics for tracking performance to devising plans to enhance environmental performance and optimize sustainable operations.
Key features and functionalities of Thinkstep
- Comprehensive carbon footprint calculation through data analysis and modeling
- Scenario analysis and optimization tools for emission reduction strategies
- Environmental impact assessment capabilities
- Sustainability improvement planning and monitoring
Pros:
- Robust modeling and analysis tools for accurate carbon footprint calculation
- Advanced scenario analysis and optimization capabilities
- Comprehensive environmental impact assessment
Cons:
- May require specialized expertise for optimal utilization
- Complex for organizations without prior experience in carbon accounting
Intelex Sustainability Performance Indicators
Intelex Sustainability Performance Indicators is a software solution created to assist organizations with measuring, tracking, and managing their sustainability performance more effectively. It enables users to establish key performance indicators (KPIs) related to sustainability goals and initiatives and monitor these closely.
- Performance Measurement: Intelex Sustainability Performance Indicators helps organizations define pertinent KPIs and track them over time.
- Data Consolidation: Sustainability data often dispersed across various systems and departments within an organization can make collecting it for reporting more challenging. Intelex Sustainability Performance Indicators helps address this challenge by centralizing sustainability data onto one centralized platform allowing organizations to collect, organize and analyze it from various sources to maintain accuracy and integrity of reporting results.
- Reporting & Transparency: This carbon accounting software offers reporting capabilities which allow organizations to generate comprehensive sustainability reports easily while streamlining reporting processes, guaranteeing data accuracy, and encouraging transparent communication of sustainability efforts.
- Goal Tracking & Target Setting: Setting meaningful sustainability goals and answering ‘what is carbon tracking progress? is central to continuous improvement. Intelex Sustainability Performance Indicators equip organizations to set ambitious yet attainable sustainability goals while offering tools that monitor progress towards these targets.
- Compliance Management: Organizations understand the significance of complying with environmental regulations and sustainability standards is vital to their survival, Intelex Sustainability Performance Indicators assists organizations in maintaining compliance by offering visibility into relevant requirements while tracking efforts towards meeting compliance efforts, meeting obligations to industry standards, and mitigating compliance risks.
Key features and functionalities of Intelex Sustainability Performance Indicators
- Automated data collection and calculation for efficient carbon accounting
- Real-time monitoring of emissions and sustainability performance indicators
- Reporting and visualization tools for transparent disclosure
- Goal tracking and progress monitoring
Pros:
- User-friendly interface for easy data collection and reporting
- Real-time monitoring for proactive decision-making
- Integration with other sustainability management functionalities
Cons:
- Limited scalability for large or complex organizations
- May require additional customization for specific industry needs
Accuvio
Accuvio is an industry-leading cloud-based sustainability and ESG reporting software solution. This technology empowers organizations to easily track, measure and report on their sustainability performance.
- Data Collection & Aggregation: Accuvio makes these processes simpler by automating data capture from various sources such as energy meters, utility bills, and transportation logs. Aggregation occurs seamlessly on one central platform enabling organizations to efficiently gather sustainability information across locations and departments with one integrated database system.
- Measurement & Reporting: This solution provides comprehensive measurement and reporting capabilities for sustainability performance indicators, covering energy consumption, water use, greenhouse gas emissions, waste generation and more. Furthermore, its comprehensive reports adhere to international standards and regulatory requirements making it simpler for organizations to report accurately about their efforts towards sustainability.
- Scope & Boundary Setting: Accuvio helps organizations define the scope and boundaries of their sustainability reporting. By categorizing emissions using global reporting frameworks like Greenhouse Gas Protocol, Accuvio ensures comprehensive coverage and accurate reporting for both direct and indirect emissions throughout an organization's activities.
- Compliance & Regulations: It helps organizations comply with various reporting frameworks like CDP, GRESB, GHG Protocol, SECR, TCFD, DJSI with ease. This carbon software assists organizations with complex reporting requirements in meeting compliance standards while remaining up to date on current legislation and requirements.
- Performance Analysis & Goal Tracking: Accuvio provides organizations with tools for evaluating sustainability performance and tracking progress towards goals. Through data visualization, benchmarking, analytics features that facilitate trend identification, target assessments against targets, decision analysis to drive continuous improvement initiatives as well as identify areas for additional action to take place, organizations are equipped to evaluate how successful their initiatives have been and identify where more can be taken for further progress towards improvement.
Key features and functionalities of Accuvio
- Cloud-based data collection and management for easy accessibility
- Comprehensive data analysis and reporting capabilities
- Multi-site and multi-operation performance tracking and benchmarking
- Compliance management functionalities
Pros:
- Cloud-based solution for easy access and scalability
- Powerful analytics and reporting capabilities
- Multi-site performance tracking for comprehensive sustainability management
Cons:
- Learning curve for first-time users
- Limited customization options
Contact our ESG consultants to learn more about carbon footprinting software development with Apiko.
Conclusion
Controlling carbon emissions and ensuring the appropriate harmful material management are ongoing practices that organizations should regard as vital components of their bottom line.
Since rules and regulations constantly evolve and companies deal with more severe reduction objectives to address climate change, utilizing carbon accounting software is crucial for growth-oriented businesses. The right tool will help you ensure carbon-zero emissions and achieve your corporate sustainability and sustainable development goals.
Companies are getting ready to address the forthcoming obligatory disclosure requirements, and facility managers have the opportunity to proactively ensure that their building systems effectively support ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) goals and gather the appropriate data. The proposed reporting topics encompass environmental and human capital management. By taking action at present to enhance sustainable facility management practices, favorable outcomes can be achieved in terms of ESG targets, reducing costs associated with facilities, and enhancing the well-being and productivity of occupants.
In their webinar, the ESFM (Environmental and Sustainable Facility Management) collaborates with the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) in a discussion moderated by the International Facility Management Association (IFMA). The focus is set on exploring how implementing eco-friendly and health-oriented building practices, along with collecting relevant data, can bring significant value to individuals, the environment, and a company's financial performance.