Introducing Workiva Carbon

Rhea-AI Summary

Workiva (NYSE: WK) has launched Workiva Carbon, enhancing its ESG and Sustainability Platform with carbon accounting and decarbonization tools.

This new offering supports global climate regulations like the CSRD, SEC’s climate disclosure rules, and California’s Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act. Workiva Carbon helps organizations track and manage greenhouse gas emissions, set science-based targets, and report consistent data to stakeholders.

It integrates with ERP systems and utility providers, using validated emissions factors across 240+ countries to calculate emissions. Workiva Carbon also streamlines supplier engagement and cross-departmental collaboration, reducing manual errors. The tool is bolstered by technology from the recent Sustain.Life acquisition.

Positive

• Launch of Workiva Carbon enhances Workiva’s ESG and Sustainability Platform.
• Supports global climate regulations including CSRD, SEC’s climate disclosure rules, and California’s SB 253 and SB 261.
• Helps organizations track and manage greenhouse gas emissions across scope 1, 2, and 3.
• Allows setting of science-based targets and decarbonization pathways.
• Improves cross-departmental collaboration, reducing manual errors and data inconsistencies.
• Includes technology and expertise from the Sustain.Life acquisition, enhancing its capabilities.

Negative

• Potential high costs associated with integrating Workiva Carbon.
• Possible challenges in real-time data collection and accuracy across diverse ERP systems and utility providers.
• Risk of data security breaches with granular permissions and extensive data sharing.

Market Research Analyst

The addition of Workiva Carbon to the company's platform offers significant implications for businesses looking to stay compliant with evolving regulatory requirements. By enabling real-time data collection and carbon emissions tracking across various scopes, Workiva positions itself as an essential tool for companies aiming to meet international climate regulations like the CSRD and the SEC's climate disclosure rules. This is particularly impactful given the increasing pressure on corporations to demonstrate transparency and accountability in their sustainability practices.

From a competitive standpoint, the integration of Sustain.Life’s technology strengthens Workiva's market position in ESG and sustainability reporting. This move could capture additional market share as businesses increasingly prioritize environmental regulations and sustainability goals. The ability to manage, collaborate and report emissions data effectively will likely appeal to a broad audience, including companies with complex global operations.

However, investors should note the potential costs and operational challenges that companies might face when integrating such comprehensive solutions. The immediate financial impact on Workiva might include elevated R&D expenses and potential implementation costs for clients, though these could be offset by long-term gains through increased adoption and subscription revenue.

Moreover, the involvement of multiple business functions (sustainability, accounting, finance, audit, risk, legal) in using the platform highlights a more integrated and streamlined approach to business operations, potentially leading to enhanced efficiency and reduced risk of errors.

Financial Analyst

Workiva's expansion with Workiva Carbon is a strategic move that aligns well with current market trends emphasizing ESG and sustainability. This product extension promotes the company's core offerings and could drive significant revenue growth by attracting new clients and retaining existing ones. The ability to automate carbon accounting and emissions reporting can reduce compliance costs for companies, making Workiva's platform more attractive in the face of stringent regulatory requirements.

In financial terms, this addition is likely to bolster Workiva's recurring revenue model, as clients subscribing to these new features will drive higher subscription fees. Investors should also consider the long-term financial benefits, including potential increased valuation due to enhanced product offerings and market differentiation.

One should also keep an eye on the financial metrics in subsequent quarters to gauge the adoption rate of this new feature and any arising impacts on the cost structure. If the company successfully manages to scale this offering, it could result in a positive adjustment in Workiva's revenue forecasts and margin expansion, considering the high gross margins typical of SaaS solutions.

Workiva expands its industry-leading platform for ESG, Financial Reporting, and GRC with the addition of Carbon Accounting, Carbon Management, and Decarbonization

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Workiva Inc. (NYSE: WK), a global leader in assured integrated reporting, today announced the launch of Workiva Carbon. The new offering advances its ESG and Sustainability Platform for organizations to support the requirements of global climate regulations, including the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), SEC’s climate disclosure rules, and California’s Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (SB 253) and Climate-Related Financial Risk Act (SB 261). Workiva Carbon simplifies the management of net zero targets that thousands of organizations have established voluntarily to meet international guidelines, respond to stakeholder demands for transparency, and better compete in the global economy.

With Workiva Carbon, companies can:

• Measure: Collect real-time data from their ERP platforms, accounting systems, and utility providers, and track greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across facilities and locations using thousands of externally validated emissions factors that cover 240+ countries and territories. This data enables companies to automatically calculate carbon emissions across scope 1, 2, and 3.
• Manage: Create supplier engagement surveys with easy-to-fill forms that capture and connect critical data to reports and dashboards, enabling them to set science-based targets and reduction pathways, assess ESG risk, and take steps to decarbonize the supply chain.
• Collaborate: Gather, share, and link the same set of trusted data to deliverables across business functions–including sustainability, accounting, finance, audit, risk, legal, and more–without the risks associated with manual edits, multiple versions, downloads of disparate spreadsheets, or last-minute changes.
• Report: Automatically align emissions data to voluntary and mandated frameworks created within the Workiva platform and deliver consistent disclosures for regulators, investors, and other audit-ready stakeholders, thanks to full data lineage and history, attached evidence, and granular permissions.

“The launch of Workiva Carbon enhances Workiva’s established and leading ESG platform, positioning us to help businesses advance their sustainability efforts,” said Julie Iskow, president and chief executive officer of Workiva. “Now our customers can streamline Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions tracking, set science-based targets, and meet stakeholder demands amidst the changing investor and regulatory landscape. Bringing these carbon capabilities into our platform highlights our unwavering commitment to providing our customers a comprehensive solution for Financial reporting, ESG, and GRC.”

Workiva Carbon combines technology and expertise from our recent Sustain.Life acquisition with the power of the Workiva platform. Sustain.Life has been helping companies with their carbon accounting and emissions reporting across industries worldwide since its inception. We are delighted to welcome the Sustain.Life team of experts with their industry-leading technology to Workiva. Together, we can make an even greater impact and accelerate our mission to power transparent reporting for a better world. Click here to learn more.

About Workiva

Workiva Inc. (NYSE: WK) is on a mission to power transparent reporting for a better world. We build and deliver the world’s leading cloud platform for assured, integrated reporting to meet stakeholder demands for action, transparency, and disclosure of financial and non-financial data. Workiva offers the only unified SaaS platform that brings customers’ financial reporting, Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), and Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) together in a controlled, secure, audit-ready platform. Our platform simplifies the most complex reporting and disclosure challenges by streamlining processes, connecting data and teams, and ensuring consistency. Learn more at workiva.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240618250028/en/

Investor Contact:

Mike Rost

investor@workiva.com



Media Contact:

Rotha Brauntz

press@workiva.com

Source: Workiva Inc.

FAQ

What is Workiva Carbon?

Workiva Carbon is a new addition to Workiva’s ESG and Sustainability Platform, offering tools for carbon accounting, management, and decarbonization.

How does Workiva Carbon support climate regulations?

Workiva Carbon helps organizations comply with global climate regulations such as the CSRD, SEC’s climate disclosure rules, and California’s SB 253 and SB 261.

What are the benefits of using Workiva Carbon?

Workiva Carbon allows businesses to track greenhouse gas emissions, set science-based targets, manage decarbonization efforts, and report consistent data to stakeholders.

How does Workiva Carbon integrate with existing systems?

Workiva Carbon collects real-time data from ERP platforms, accounting systems, and utility providers to track emissions using validated factors across 240+ countries.

What technology backs Workiva Carbon?

Workiva Carbon incorporates technology and expertise from the recent Sustain.Life acquisition, enhancing its carbon accounting and reporting capabilities.