Microsoft added new data and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to its Cloud for Sustainability offering in a move to help customers measure, reduce and report their environmental impacts.

The cloud hyperscaler introduced sustainability-focused data services in Microsoft Fabric and a version of its Copilot AI tool, as well as an AI model for improved insights for the Microsoft Sustainability Manager platform.

Microsoft Fabric is the hyperscaler’s software-as-a-service (SAAS) analytics platform that brings together enterprise data from various sources. This platform is particularly useful to innovative enterprises given AI’s need for a strong foundation of data.

The new sustainability-focused features of Microsoft Fabric will help customers transform large volumes of environmental and social data into analytics and reporting – and eventually, action. Specifically, organizations can “accelerate their time to insights and sustainability progress by leveraging out-of-the-box ESG [environmental, social and governance] and biodiversity data models, connectors and reporting,” Satish Thomas, Microsoft corporate VP of industry clouds, told SDxCentral.

Microsoft also narrowed its focus on integrating AI with its Sustainability Manager platform. Copilot, for example, will work alongside leadership teams and chief sustainability officers (CSOs) to draft ESG reports, create tables and synthesize data based on reporting requirements.

“Regulatory reporting needs to include metrics calculated and insights from an organization’s environmental sustainability impact,” Thomas said. “Copilot helps translate and map these insights to the requirements and generate the preparatory reports for regulations such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) from the E.U.”

To ensure accuracy, Copilot’s insights should “be built on and reviewed before going forward with the next step in the submission process,” he said. “Our products are designed to always have a human in the loop, and with any AI system we encourage people to verify the accuracy of content.”

Microsoft also introduced Intelligent Insights in Microsoft Sustainability Manager as an interactive AI model that allows for in-depth analysis of emissions data, the identification of opportunities to reduce emissions and informed decision-making.

Specifically, this AI model helps identify both short- and long-term reduction opportunities based on historical trends, seasonality and data anomalies. “It uncovers overlooked patterns and data issues that might otherwise take hours to identify,” Thomas said. “These capabilities are especially critical for organizations managing ESG data manually.”

For example, the AI model can detect sudden spikes or drops in emissions, find missing data and point out anomalies where a certain aspect of the business operation contributes disproportionately to emissions. Insights like these support data quality assessments and the identification of high-return emissions reductions, Thomas said.

In addition, the AI insights model can identify trends like the direction of emissions data over time. Anomalous trends, for example, might pinpoint facilities or units that substantially outpace others in the same direction.

The model also identifies correlations that reveal data relationships across contexts. “Tracking the progress of facilities transitioning to 100% renewable energy can inform expansion decisions,” Thomas said.

While Microsoft Sustainability Manager initially focused on carbon emissions – what Thomas calls “the most urgent planetary need” – water and waste management are now part of the platform as well. This holistic approach provides a more comprehensive view of an organization’s sustainability impact.

Organizations like Södra, a Swedish forest owners' association, and Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, the host of last weekend’s Super Bowl, have already experienced the benefits of Microsoft’s AI integration with its sustainability tools.

Södra is using the data and AI capabilities in Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability to help its employees better understand and take action based on its ESG data, accelerating their sustainability efforts, Thomas said.

Allegiant Stadium’s use of Microsoft Sustainability Manager supports its energy efficient facility, which is powered by 100% renewable energy from local solar farms. Microsoft sustainability services help Allegiant Stadium organize its data, inform decisions about resource use and improve the overall sustainability of its operations.