Valuable Insights: A Glimpse at Sustainability Reporting Tools
The Roadmap to Sustain SC lays out seven Accelerators which serve as our focus now and throughout 2025. One of these Accelerators is Metrics and Reporting. Approximately 80% of industries in South Carolina are actively assessing and tracking their sustainability efforts. Whether these are statewide, national or international goals, understanding how to track these metrics and report them accurately is becoming more and more important to doing business, especially on the supply side. This insights article lays out three tools and resources that Sustain SC members can use to help meet their sustainability goals.
We’re eager to support even more companies in 2025 in leveraging these valuable tools to exceed industry standards. Join us on Wednesday, January 15 for our first technical assistance webinar of 2025. We are dedicating this time to explore how to achieve carbon neutrality utilizing sustainability goal benchmarking and new assessment tools. Sustain SC members All4, GEL Engineering, and SC Fraunhofer Alliance will lead the presentations. The webinar is open to all. Register here.
Benchmarking Reports
As part of the Metrics and Reporting Accelerator, Sustain SC creates annual Sustainability Benchmarking Reports. Exclusively available to our Corporate and Premium members, this confidential report serves as a valuable tool for assessing an organization’s sustainability progress and inspiring actionable steps toward a more resilient and sustainable future.
The reports highlight the efforts of individuals within our member organizations who are driving positive change and advancing sustainability across our state. They reflect our collective belief in the power of meaningful action – a belief that fuels our competitive edge and shared success.
For this year’s report, we refined our approach to benchmark the environmental impact of our leading members. We evaluated ten key sustainability metrics, which were then benchmarked using averages, medians, ranges, and percentiles.
"Tracking and reporting sustainability metrics are the first steps in driving meaningful and positive environmental change,” said Kait Sagan, Sustainability Specialist at GEL Engineering who authored the reports. “By benchmarking sustainability performance across Sustain SC’s Premium and Corporate members, these reports offer members an opportunity to reflect on their impact, identify areas for improvement, and take actionable steps toward a more sustainable future."
Carbon Assessment for Events to Meet Neutrality Goals
This year, Sustain SC was thrilled to host our first-ever carbon-neutral event and Symposium. Sustain SC partnered with All4 to do a Scope 1, 2 and 3 assessment of all emissions using the EPA’s Center for Climate Leadership tools, which are based on the GHG Protocol.
By using sustainable event best practices, including composting, re-usable dishware, local catering and low-energy buildings, Sustain SC was able to lower our event footprint. The highest source of emissions came from Scope 3 – Business Travel. If every person were to carpool to future events, we could cut that in half.
In order to offset any outstanding emissions, Sustain SC worked with ClimeCo to invest in a system that captures and destroys nitrous oxide emissions, resulting in improved air quality in the Southeast.
“Whether an organization is just beginning to track its environmental impact or looking to refine an existing approach, the right tools and expertise truly make all the difference,” said Daryl Whitt, Technical Director of Climate Change & Sustainability at ALL4 and SLI Alum. “We’re proud to help lay the foundation for meaningful progress, enabling businesses to measure and communicate their sustainability efforts effectively, including helping Sustain SC achieve its first-ever net-zero Symposium.”
Additional Resources
As an arm of SC Competes, the Fraunhofer Alliance also plays a pivotal role in supporting South Carolina industries and offers an array of tracking and reporting tools, including:
Sustainability Maturity Assessment: used to assess a company’s maturity and sustainability developments, including targets such as CO2 emissions.
Circularity Capability Benchmarking: a quick way for companies to understand how close they are to having a truly circular supply chain.
Regulatory Compliance Forecasting: a tool still under development that will become available Spring 2025 to help companies assess their current and future compliance accountability.
“SC Competes and the South Carolina Fraunhofer Alliance are always looking to help companies improve their competitive position and reward them for efforts centered around ESG,” said Suzanne Dickerson, Director of the South Carolina Fraunhofer USA Alliance. “By supporting the efforts of responsible companies throughout the state, we’re creating a stronger, more resilient business community in South Carolina.
The SC Fraunhofer USA Alliance makes significant funding available for our state’s companies, offering dollar-for-dollar matched funding for entities looking to complete applied research and development.
