In today's values-driven world, organizations must focus on their environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance to attract talent, customers and investment. Public opinion surveys consistently show that three out of four Canadians will boycott products or services that are not in alignment with their values and will consider a company's environmental and social commitments before deciding where to work. These percentages are even greater for millennials and younger Canadians.While statistics like these make ESG reporting “table stakes” for business and investors, citizens also expect their governments to improve ESG performance. In Canada, our federal government has prioritized sustainability and values-driven initiatives. Accordingly, ESG data reporting is crucial to measure the progress of operations, policies, and commitments. ESG is often seen through the lens of economic trade-offs, so being able to show ESG's benefits with accessible and meaningful data will build citizen trust and increase innovation and adoption of ESG practices and policies.The Government of Canada has prioritized these ESG commitments:

• Science-based emissions-reduction plans to achieve net zero by 2050;
• Achieving zero plastic waste by 2030;
• Upgrading its green procurement policy to integrate environmental considerations into procurement activities;
• A focus on Indigenous reconciliation, programs to promote gender parity on corporate boards and funding programs for promotion of anti-racism and social development; and,
• Numerous federal and provincial internal initiatives and directives for inclusion and diversity such as Ontario's social reporting requirement for pension plan administrators and Alberta's guidance on hiring diverse workforces.

High quality, measurable, understandable and easily accessible data must be captured and utilized if we are to meet our objectives. As we come out of the pandemic, facing more volatility on environmental and social issues, stressed by global conflict and geopolitical challenges, there is an opportunity for our governments to collect and analyze ESG data to improve planning and accountability, to help transform how they function, achieve sustainability goals, and ultimately create greater value for Canadians.Unlocking the Value of DataIn 2018, a Privy Council report noted, “the volume of data that governments, businesses and Canadians produce is growing exponentially, animated by digital technologies. Organizations are changing their business models, building new expertise, and devising new ways of managing and unlocking the value of their data. Governments need to evolve rapidly to keep up.”Measuring ESG performance can be a challenge, but is crucial to evaluate success and ensure accountability. ESG data is collected under three umbrellas: environmental information such as annual carbon emissions and energy consumption, water usage, waste and pollution output; social statistics related to workforce diversity, gender equity, and human rights; and governance areas including anti-corruption, labor practices, and gender composition of an organization's oversight, namely the board of directors.In Canada, some government agencies produce this information already. The Canadian Energy Regulator's (CER) Canada's Energy Future reports include a safety performance dashboard and provincial energy profiles. Statistics Canada offers numerous provincial and sector level data tables on environmental metrics, and diversity and inclusion. However, these metrics are rarely packaged to be easy to use or find.Look to the CloudOne solution to tracking ESG data and using it to its full potential is cloud technology. Cloud adoption is ongoing in Canada, with all levels of government increasingly utilizing its potential to deliver services to Canadians. With this transition comes the opportunity to leverage the power of cloud to collect and utilize more ESG data, reduce the carbon footprint associated with our technological footprint and to do more with the data we already have.Modern data management frameworks that incorporate the cloud capabilities can help topple silos and empower organizations to share data in real time, develop dynamic insights and support agile operations and decision-making. Cloud presents an excellent means by which governments can raise their ESG data strategies and to capitalize on a sophisticated regime of data collection, tracking, and utilization it in a way that was not once possible.It is imperative that government embrace the technologies of tomorrow to support their equally forward-looking objectives. ESG and related priorities require all actors to be given ample opportunity to innovate. Governments, recognizing their huge footprints and the growing demands of citizens, can improve their integration of ESG goals by moving forward in lock step with enabling technologies.Mark Lambert, Senior Managing Director - Canada Federal Public Service Lead, Accenture