Navigating the Complex Legal Framework and Making Compliance Choices
Navigating a Complex Legal Framework
The Federal sustainability framework encompasses complex areas of sustainability planning and reporting, greenhouse gas emissions reduction and reporting, climate change risk management and more. Consider the daunting challenge to build an inhouse capability for sustainability: knowledge of complex laws, implementation of four Executive Orders (more to come), the Federal Sustainability Plan, FAR 23.103 Sustainable Acquisitions, and an immense number of implementing standards and protocols which are growing by the day. For example, the greenhouse gas emissions standard alone is 116 pages, and the guidance for calculating Scope 3 emissions reporting is another 182 pages – and these must be understood and implemented to assure compliance. The cost to your business is not trivial, and demand for the necessary skills out distances the current skill base by at least 100:1. Want a better understanding of the regulatory framework? View our compliance summary (takes a few seconds to download)
Spectrum of Compliance Choices
Okay, my company needs to move toward compliance. What are my choices?
Build inhouse capabilities. This makes sense for large companies with complex emissions inventories or those involved in energy production, manufacturing, or similar emissions-heavy sectors. It’s time consuming, likely needs expensive consultants to assist implementation, and places a heavy burden on company-focused data collection. It is overkill for service-based companies, VARs and most small businesses. Want to better understand what’s involved in setting up an inhouse capability? Click here.
Hire consultants. A consideration for companies just getting started; however, the number of qualified consultants falls far short of the industry need, and the solution likely puts a heavy burden on employees doing the majority of the work of data collection, analysis, emission calculation, and reporting. And, it’s an expensive solution.
Federal NetZero’s Sustainability as a Subscriber Service. As a platform-based service, with simplified data collection apps that sharply reduce the burden on employees, rapid implementation, and much lower operating (subscription) costs, Federal NetZero is a good option. Just as much of the IT world is moving from embedded IT solutions to solutions-as-a-service, sustainability as-a-service makes sense. A typical annual subscriber cost is less than 20% of the cost of hiring a single consultant. The business proposition just makes sense for services and VAR companies.