A focus on environmental sustainability is lost among new data from IDC that shows the social sustainability side of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) topics represent a majority of use cases for sustainability-focused software.

In an examination of survey results detailing sustainability/ESG software buyer priorities, decision-making criteria, and demand drivers, IDC found most of these software use cases focused on "human and social capital uses" like diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I); employee health and safety; human rights; product access and affordability; and data privacy, rather than environmental use cases like carbon emissions reductions or energy efficiency.

Analysts credit this shift to broader cultural movements regarding employee wellbeing and hybrid work sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Environmental issues like decarbonization have traditionally topped the list as sustainability priorities for many organizations. However, over the past few years, the impact that the pandemic has had on the workforce has raised the level of emphasis by organizations on social sustainability issues such as employee health, safety, and wellbeing," Bjoern Stengel, IDC's Global Sustainability Research and Practice Lead, explained.

Those human and social capital areas are also some of the top business value benefits companies expect from sustainability software, according to the report.

IDC describes sustainability software as designed to help organizations measure and report ESG performance and provide ESG-related data to improve overall performance. This means that green software providers should "think about ESG use cases holistically," particularly with regard to employee wellbeing, decarbonization, and supply chain sustainability.

But analysts noted organizations need to use sustainability software that does more than check off the boxes to file an ESG report. Effective sustainability software should allow organizations to actively manage and improve their performance, the firm noted, citing top software investment motivations like bettering operating costs and fulfilling executive mandates.

"Software vendors play a critical role in helping organizations operationalize ESG and move from target setting and strategizing to creating measurable impact in regard to their most material ESG issues," Stengel added.

To that point, the report also noted the broad nature of sustainability/ESG software means it will play a crucial role in all potential use cases related to internal operations, spanning decarbonization to user data privacy, and there's a massive need for software solutions that comprehensively address all areas of ESG — not just the social side, according to IDC.