Today, we're announcing the new climate data engine, which powers actionable, audit-ready measurement on Watershed. The climate data engine turns your business activity data into an environmental footprint for analysis, reporting and reductions. With the new climate data engine, customers can now get a complete view of their environmental impact in less time, with more flexibility and transparency than ever before.
Granular, accurate environmental footprints power impactful business decisions. But previous approaches to measuring a company’s environmental impact were often tedious and time-consuming. Creating a footprint was such a manual process that companies could only measure once or twice a year. Measurement now needs to be on-demand, aligned with business priorities, with deeper levels of transparency and auditability. Software platforms have helped streamline measurement, but many perform calculations in a black box, without the transparency companies need for audit-ready peace of mind.
The new climate data engine
Watershed’s new climate data engine enables sustainability leaders to create actionable, audit-ready footprints that reflect their business priorities, whenever they want.
- Create granular measurements even faster. The climate data engine uses algorithms to automatically clean and categorize data, match emissions factors with business activity data, and flag any anomalies. This allows you to create a footprint using Watershed’s embedded climate intelligence in just a few minutes, and is useful for measuring discrete activities like business travel data, employee commutes, or the construction of a new building—whenever you want.
- You’ll always have complete control over how data is handled and be able review, edit, and document what happens during data processing. Getting data into Watershed is also faster: business stakeholders who need to share data with you also will save time with built-in guidance and step-by-step instructions for uploading their data.
- Have the flexibility to measure how you want, according to your business priorities, while also maintaining transparency and traceability. Now you can create custom upload templates that match how you format your business data. If you’ve done your own climate research, you can bring your own emissions factors for specific activities, or change assumptions in the underlying methodology for calculating a footprint. All of this flexibility lets you take advantage of embedded climate intelligence from Watershed and align it with how you run your business.
- Keep deep levels of transparency and be ready for audit. Once you produce a footprint, you can review where source files came from, how the data was transformed, how emissions factors were chosen, and see the math and methodology behind every calculation. There’s even a feed for you to review every single change happening in a measurement. The climate data engine’s new drilldown analysis and expanded footprint draft management gives customers even more control over their data and more ways to explore it.
- Get help when you need it with step-by-step guidance from climate experts and support directly in Watershed. Watershed offers built-in guidance, detailed help in a learning hub, and the ability to ask experts questions directly in the product.
Here’s how the climate data engine works:
Measurement is the foundation for corporate sustainability programs, so companies can see where they stand, the progress they have made, and the best opportunities for making an impact. We’re excited for customers to use the new climate data engine in Watershed to take their sustainability programs to the next level.
