“Sustainability is not only about reporting and more technology, but also about people, behaviour and accountability.”

Vlerick Insight Talks: Professor Kristof Stouthuysen interviews CTO Myriam Broeders (Microsoft)

Kristof Stouthuysen

By Kristof Stouthuysen

Professor of Management Accounting & Digital Finance

15 September 2022
Video still - Digital Finance Conference 2022

By 2030, the annual report will need to clearly identify the links between sustainability and financial information. Technology has the potential to play an important role in the future of sustainable and integrated reporting. That’s why the 2022 Digital Finance Conference explored the impact of technology on recording, reporting and implementing sustainable approaches. During this conference, Myriam Broeders – Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft – gave a talk on Microsoft’s sustainability journey, commitments and technology solutions. Afterwards, Kristof Stouthuysen, Professor of Digital Finance and head of the Centre for Financial Leadership and Digital Transformation, sat down with Myriam for an interview.  

Video still - Digital Finance Conference 2022

“Sustainability is not only about reporting and more technology, but also about people, behaviour and accountability.”

In this Vlerick Insight Talk, Professor Kristof Stouthuysen interviews Microsoft's Chief Technology Officer Myriam Broeders.

Sustainability is a focus of many firms nowadays. What is in your opinion the role of CFOs and finance leaders in this journey towards more sustainability?

Myriam Broeders: “We see that sustainability is more and more an important topic on the agenda of companies and is gaining importance in making sure that companies even stay in business. Making sure that the company is doing well from a finance perspective is of course very relevant for the CFO. There’s even growing evidence that having strong ESG credentials is actually also boosting a company's bottom line and even its access to capital. Investors look at how companies are doing on the sustainability metrics for making the right decisions on investments. And that is of course top of mind for CFOs and the finance function.”

CFOs are very good at reporting financials, but is that role now changing?

Myriam Broeders: “If you look at financial reporting in detail there's daily information and reporting available, and even real-time data. If you would look at that in sustainability reporting, which is of almost the same importance, there we see companies stitching together Excel files for reporting on a yearly basis. If you are really serious about taking action with regard to sustainability, it will require an investment in data-driven systems that can help companies in measuring their footprint and also taking the right actions.”

Are you thinking of any specific systems or technologies for this change?

Myriam Broeders: “Just a few examples. From a Microsoft perspective, we have Dynamics 365 for finance, where you can digitise invoices. As you don't need paper anymore you reduce your paper footprint. The same system also allows you to capture and keep track of your inventory, which helps to reduce waste in your company's organisation. And we will also be bringing a new solution to the market, called Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability, in which you can track companies' carbon emissions. And that is of the utmost importance to be able to take decisions to lower your footprint. But also systems like a carbon tax. If you keep your stakeholders accountable and bring a mechanism in place where the stakeholders are also having a visualisation of the financial aspect of a carbon tax, and you put it on the scorecard of the company, that will also drive behavioural change towards more sustainable actions.”

So change is not only about more technology, but there is a clear link with people and behaviour too.

Myriam Broeders: “Absolutely. It has to be part of each one's responsibility in a company. And only in that way do you see companies actually making a change. So it's not just about reporting, but about having all the stakeholders from an organisation take accountability for sustainability. And then, as a company, take the right actions to lower the footprint.”

Are there any final thoughts or tips you would like to give?

Myriam Broeders: “Clearly, it is a supply chain action, a value chain activity. It's not something you can do as a company on your own, because we see that up to 90% of companies' footprint comes from upstream or downstream activities. So we are on a common journey here.”

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Kristof Stouthuysen

Kristof Stouthuysen

Professor of Management Accounting & Digital Finance