IBM acquired Envizi, an Australian company that automates the monitoring of emissions data, allowing companies to track their progress against environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives.

The company didn’t disclose the financial term, but the acquisition is an indicator of the expanding acceptance of corporate ESG incentives, which penalize or reward corporations based on whether sustainability goals are met, according to the company.

Envizi’s software automates the collection and consolidation of over 500 different data types, as well as supports the most common sustainability reporting methods. Companies can monitor, manage, and report on environmental goals, identify efficiency opportunities, and assess sustainability risk using its user-friendly and easily customizable dashboards.

Envizi’s solutions assist users to perform these tasks more efficiently as part of broader Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting initiatives, while also providing them with useful sustainability insights to help them make better business decisions.

Companies will be able to automate the feedback generated between their corporate environmental programs and the operational endpoints used in daily company operations by combining Envizi with IBM’s broader AI-powered software – a critical step in making sustainability efforts more scalable. Envizi, for example, will work with:

• IBM Maximo asset management solutions, which help companies extend the life of their critical assets, reduce environmental impact by providing intelligent asset management, monitoring, predictive maintenance and reliability in a single platform.
• IBM Sterling supply chain solutions, which help companies gain supply chain visibility, cut waste by right-sizing inventory, reduce the carbon footprint of shipment and logistics, and ensure responsible sourcing with blockchain-based technology for traceability.
• IBM Environmental Intelligence Suite (EIS), which helps companies increase resiliency by assessing and planning for the impact of environmental conditions on their operations, assets, and supply chains. EIS uses advanced AI and weather technology from IBM, the most accurate forecasting provider globally.
• IBM Turbonomic and Red Hat OpenShift capabilities, which help companies automate decision making when considering where to run enterprise workloads based on optimization of performance, cost and GHG emissions.

Envizi will also contribute to IBM Consulting’s expanding sustainability practice, which aims to help customers meet their sustainability goals more quickly.

“To drive real progress toward sustainability, companies need the ability to transform data into predictive insights that help them make more intelligent, actionable decisions every day,” said Kareem Yusuf, Ph.D., General Manager, IBM AI Applications. “Envizi’s software provides companies with a single source of truth for analyzing and understanding emissions data across the full landscape of their business operations and dramatically accelerates IBM’s growing arsenal of AI technologies for helping businesses create more sustainable operations and supply chains.”

Envizi supports top companies like Microsoft, Qantas, CBRE, Uber, abrdn, and Celestica as a SaaS solution that runs in multi-cloud environments. Its software may be applied to activities across a number of industries.

“As a leader and innovator in AI for business, IBM has decades of experience helping organizations around the world harness the power of their data and act on it,” said David Solsky, CEO and Co-Founder, Envizi. “IBM’s global reach, depth of resources and breadth of expertise will help us to scale at an unprecedented pace. As part of IBM, we feel more confident than ever that we can achieve our goal of providing clients and partners with the world class tools they need to reduce their operational impacts and optimize for the low carbon future.”

IBM is using its AI software to improve operational efficiencies, manage energy consumption, and reduce GHG emissions, in addition to its ongoing investments in providing clients with the most comprehensive AI software to help them accelerate their sustainability initiatives and support their environmental goals. These actions contribute to IBM’s goal of achieving net-zero GHG emissions by 2030.