The role of data, measurement and evaluation in sustainability

By Hannah Stapleford on 06 Jun, 2023

Here at DCX, we care deeply about helping organisations use their data for the better.

By making use of data-driven decision making, you can optimise your marketing strategy, eliminate ineffective campaigns, and allocate resources more efficiently. But data is more than marketing campaigns, it runs through your entire business ecosystem, reducing unnecessary resource consumption and environmental impact.

Data-driven sustainability means collecting and using data to make informed decisions that guide measurable and responsible business practices. Whether it's lowering greenhouse-gas emissions, optimising supply chains, or reducing waste, insights from sustainability data can power positive change.

For sustainability initiatives, understanding the current state and predicting future trends is essential for creating strategies that effectively address environmental, social, and economic challenges.

Using a framework can help navigate the often-complex data landscape associated with sustainability, breaking actions into bite-size, achievable chunks. We've separated these into three key sections...

1. Engagement

Collecting and sharing data on sustainability initiatives promotes transparency and holds stakeholders accountable for their actions.

Data democratisation is key to empowering all levels of an organisation. This is essential in enabling a cultural shift to becoming sustainability-focused.

Engaging everyone on the sustainability journey is critical to success.

2. Enablement

Data, measurement, and evaluation play a critical role in providing relevant information that aids in making evidence-based decisions.

It’s critical that the right tools and knowledge are used to enable businesses to implement and embed sustainable practices, ensuring measurable outcomes to drive continuous improvement.

The tools and skills needed to carry out this work are not unique to sustainability, but it is important that they are fit for purpose - from setting up a data environment to capture all data sources, and creating automated routines to scrape different systems, to dashboards to allow for data measurement.

3. Evaluation

Data is a key part of sustainability, from establishing a baseline, creating targets and KPIs to achieve, through to the ongoing evaluation of progress.

The systematic collection, measurement, and evaluation of data allows organisations to learn from their sustainability practices. This process fosters a culture of continuous improvement and encourages innovation, as it reveals insights that can lead to the development of new, more effective solutions for sustainability challenges.

How DCX can help

By following this framework, organisations will have the power to drive positive change and kick-start their sustainability journey.

If you have any questions or need support, please get in touch. Our team of data experts, strategists, and analysts are here to help pull together data that's relevant for your business!

Do sustainability. Better.