We recently had the opportunity to chat with Steven Karan, the Vice President and Head of Insights & Data for Capgemini Canada, who discussed his journey as a leader with more than fifteen years of experience in a variety of senior roles, the role of emissions data in achieving both sustainability and business objectives, means by which organizations can make up for their inadequacies in achieving their self-imposed goal of net zero emissions, the benefits of incorporating emissions data into a company’s decision-making, followed by his suggestions for organizations regarding the use of emissions data to drive business decisions.
Steven Karan is Vice President and Head of Insights & Data for Capgemini Canada. He is an experienced leader with more than fifteen years of experience in a variety of senior roles within technology, data, and analytics functions. Steven has a blend of management consulting and IT expertise and enjoys helping clients to increase their organizational capacity and gather key strategic insights through the humanization of data. Prior to joining Capgemini, Steven held leadership positions with GHD Digital, Deloitte, and PwC Canada.
How will you describe your journey as a leader with more than fifteen years of experience in a variety of senior roles within technology, data, and analytics functions?
I have spent the entirety of my nearly 20-year career focused on unlocking value and insights from data. From the early 2000s when I started my career helping business lines derive KPIs from ERP data, into the late 2000s when I built out Data warehouses, moving onto BI & Reporting in the early 2010s, to migrating cloud data platforms & advanced analytics as the decades progressed, to more recently focused on standing up data science teams to derive predictive insights through the adoption of practical AI & ML solutions. Despite taking a few pivots in terms of tools, and technologies, the one aspect that has remained consistent is my passion for coaching, mentoring, and developing talent in the field of technology.
What are your thoughts on a new report by Capgemini that emphasizes the growing role that data can play in facilitating the transition to net zero for Canadian organizations across all sectors?
With sustainability goals becoming a business imperative over the past decade, it is apparent that many organizations lack the tools they need to bridge the gap between their net-zero aspirations and their business objectives. Our Capgemini report shows that only 36% of Canadian organizations are using emissions data for business decision-making. In addition, only 8% are highly-equipped to use emissions data to drive their business decisions
Mitigating carbon emissions should be a factor for business decisions across the value chain, and this starts with having visibility into the necessary data.
This report comes at a pivotal time when organizations are being urged to take serious climate action, and require the knowledge, insight, and tools needed to effectively address carbon emissions and meet their net-zero sustainability goals.
As Canadian organizations continue to implement net-zero strategies to combat climate change and meet global net-zero emissions targets, what is the role of emissions data in achieving both sustainability and business objectives?
Emissions data can play a significant role for companies working towards meeting sustainability targets as well as business objectives.
From a sustainability standpoint, emissions data allows organizations to accelerate their transition to net zero and make a significant impact on the fight against climate change by providing visibility to emission hotspots such as Scope 3 emissions, which tend to be the greatest contributors to an organization’s carbon emissions. In general, organizations that have leveraged the full scope of their emissions data have seen a reduction of 4.6% annually.
As a result of emissions measurement and analytics efforts, Canadian organizations have also acknowledged the business value that insights driven by emissions data provide. In fact, our Capgemini report found that 78% of Canadian organizations believe that emissions data measurement, analytics, and reporting help create additional business value for their organization.
From a business standpoint, embedding emissions data provides organizations with the tools needed to mitigate business risk and reduce operational inefficiencies.
Currently, less than 25% of internal teams are using emissions data to forecast and predict new business outcomes.
What are the means by which organizations can make up for their inadequacies in achieving their self-imposed goal of net zero emissions?
To meet self-imposed net zero emissions goals, organizations need to embed emissions data in their decision-making processes across an organization’s value chain, from procurement and product development to logistics and IT and everything in between. For example, Scope 3 emissions, which include emissions produced throughout the supply chain, tend to be overlooked despite it being the largest contributor to an organization’s emissions footprint.
To make meaningful strides in the net-zero emissions journey, emissions impact needs to be viewed as a critical factor in the decision-making process.
Since data is a significant lever in accelerating the journey to net zero, what, in your opinion, are the benefits of incorporating emissions data into a company’s decision-making?
Incorporating emissions data has the power to enhance organizational decision-making in three key ways:
- Increasing the visibility of baseline emissions levels and identifying emission hotspots. The insight gained from this visibility is a critical first step toward mitigating emissions and driving action.
- Improving the existing business processes by streamlining carbon-intensive activities. This can be achieved by selecting suppliers, optimizing logistics, and redesigning products with the goal of minimizing carbon-intensive activities.
- Predicting and prescribing business outcomes to identify further emission reduction opportunities by using forecasting and scenario analysis.
What specific suggestions do you have for organizations regarding the use of emissions data to drive business decisions?
To accelerate the transition to net zero, organizations must establish the necessary data management capabilities. The success of this transition requires organizations to do the following:
- Establish strong leadership support, backed by a clear governance structure and data strategy – globally, only 13% of organizations have done this to scale
- Establish a robust foundation for emissions data management
- Drive usage of emissions data across business functions – 8% of Canadian organizations are upskilling employees at scale on sustainability and climate change
- Establish mechanisms to ensure accountability for decarbonization across the organization – only 72% of Canadian organizations use carbon KPIs to evaluate the performance of their business teams at varying frequencies (rarely, sometimes, often), while 2% always use them
- Collaborate with the wider ecosystem to expand access to reliable emissions data to help suppliers better measure their emissions – globally, only 14% of organizations have scaled initiatives aimed at upskilling suppliers on carbon accounting, and less than a third (32%) are participating in data ecosystems initiatives to share emissions data.
