Founded in 1969, Esri builds ArcGIS, the world's leading mapping and spatial analytics platform. We help organisations solve problems by visualising data geographically to reveal deeper insights. ArcGIS offers advanced capabilities for analysis and collaboration through maps, apps, dashboards, and more. It includes the Living Atlas, a vast collection of global datasets that is regularly updated and powers billions of requests daily. Over our 50+ year history, Esri has grown to serve over 350,000 organisations globally across various industries and governments, with more than 10 million users.

In terms of sustainability, our software enables a wide range of initiatives, such as conservation, biodiversity protection, climate resilience, sustainable operations, and supply chain transparency. Organisations have different sustainability priorities, but they generally aim to balance environmental, economic, and social development.

Before diving into specific technologies, it's important to understand why companies are embracing sustainability in the first place. Organisations that take sustainability seriously realise that it makes business operations smarter, more responsible, resilient, and better for the planet - ultimately reducing costs rather than adding them.

Today, sustainability considerations are unavoidable for any organisation, from retailers to insurers to agriculture. Achieving a sustainable future requires clear visibility into where and how to take action, making a geographic approach essential. Businesses must understand location-based risks around sourcing, assets, people, and more.

Leading companies are integrating sustainability into their operations to reduce impacts and costs, identify innovation opportunities, and gain a competitive edge. They utilise mapping technology to place assets and strategy into a geographic context. For example, CBRE, the world's largest real estate manager, invested in solar firm Altus Power to install panels across their retail, office, and warehouse portfolio. Using GIS and AI, they're analysing thousands of buildings to identify prime rooftop solar sites based on size, sunlight access, and energy usage. This partnership gives Altus unmatched rooftop access while CBRE gains sustainable power for tenants, making their spaces more competitive and dramatically lowering greenhouse gas emissions. Location intelligence is the driving force behind this innovative sustainability initiative.

Rising consumer demand has allowed businesses to operate for over a century without fully considering environmental impacts. However, up to 90% of an organisation's impact lies in its value chain, and under 20% have full visibility into sustainable sourcing.

With supply chains causing 60% of emissions, EUDR forces companies to acknowledge their footprint. Fines for deforestation detected in supply chains can reach 4% of annual turnover. The challenge is that companies don't know precise locations, so they can't confirm compliance.

Esri helped found the Supply Chain Data Partnership in November 2022 to tackle this issue. Its mission is to help companies gain supply chain transparency through a trusted authoritative asset location register and the provision of geographic identifiers.

This will enable broad transparency for monitoring, due diligence, and attributing sustainability measures over time, which can inform consumers and investors. By mapping suppliers with precision location data, companies can certify products as deforestation-free. It's a major collaborative step toward accountable, sustainable business practices.