Fletcher Building has been using Sphera Corporate Sustainability Software to manage its sustainability planning, activities and performance for almost ten years. Our thinkstep-anz team helped Fletcher Building set up the software and train their team. We also provided technical support and helped migrate existing data to the platform. We continue to support Fletcher Building when they need us to.
In this case study, we look at how the Sphera software is helping Fletcher Building make better decisions and engage its team in its sustainability work. We also share tips from Michael Burgess, Fletcher Building’s Group Carbon and Environmental Performance Manager, for getting the best from the software.
About Sphera Corporate Sustainability Software
This is one of the world’s leading enterprise-wide solutions for managing and reporting on sustainability performance. The software provides data that can be used to report against all common sustainability standards and ratings, including the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI). It is compatible with most corporate software including Microsoft Power BI and Excel.
How Fletcher Building uses Sphera’s software to succeed sustainably
The software helps Fletcher Building manage sustainability data across its business. Fletcher Building’s business is complex. The company, which operates in Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, and the South Pacific, is a significant manufacturer, retailer, home builder and partner on major construction and infrastructure projects.
Fletcher Building is committed to its purpose of ‘improving the world around us through smart thinking, simply delivered’. As part of this purpose, the business is continuing to decarbonise, recycle, minimise waste and innovate to produce better, more sustainable products and homes.
An effective alternative to spreadsheets
Managing sustainability data in spreadsheets is impractical and inefficient.
‘You don’t need to be as big as us to reach this stage,’ says Michael. ‘Once you get past being a small-to-medium-sized business, managing your carbon data in spreadsheets just doesn’t work. This is especially the case when you need to report other environmental metrics too, like waste or water. We’ve found real value in using SpheraCloud to set and track our forward carbon reductions.’
Adding business value
The software helps the company improve its sustainability performance and identify and manage risks and opportunities. It also helps Fletcher Building meet its reporting needs and build its brand by publicly communicating its progress to operate more sustainably.
Improving data and decisions
1. Saving time and money. The software makes collecting and using data easier. The data is in one place, in a single format with controlled access. Automated bulk uploads save time too.
2. Shifting the focus from wrangling data to using data. Spending less time collecting data frees the Fletcher Building team to use the data to improve sustainability and business performance.
3. Supporting better, faster decisions based on better data. With software, the company can reduce human error by automating bulk uploads. It can collect more ‘granular’ data to better understand its business. And the data is ‘real-time’, meaning that it is as up-to-date as it can be.
4. Engaging the business. Michael talks about ‘democratising information’. Fletcher Building uses the Sphera software to develop simple dashboards that give business units customised information. This information can be exported through an Application Programming Interface (API) to use in other Business Intelligence (BI) tools. Relevant information encourages action.
Michael’s tips for getting the most from the software
Collecting your data
1. Centralise your data gathering. This reduces the administration load on the wider business (always appreciated!) It also improves the integrity of your data.
Making fewer people responsible for collecting data allows them to specialise in this essential task. Your data will be more consistent across your business, and you’ll reduce the risk of human error. Auditing your data will be easier too. Where you don’t have centralised access to data, on-site users can append supporting information to their entries.
2. Automate your processes. You’ll save time and reduce human error.
3. Upload data in bulk. For example, many parts of your business will share fuel and power suppliers who can send you data regularly. Upload this common data in bulk.
4. Go granular. Wherever possible, get data at the site or branch level. This is where you’ll gain the most useful insights. For example, Fletcher Building produces data for every branch of its PlaceMakers business. Bulk uploading makes this task easier.
Using your data
1. Customise your insights. People are more likely to understand and act on information that is relevant to them. Set up simple, live dashboards that provide this information.
2. Engage your business. Appoint users across your business. Consider league tables (Branch A’s GHG emissions to turnover is out-of-the-park fantastic!), benchmark performance to best practice, and help everyone learn from one another.
3. Link sustainability reporting to financial planning. Use your insights to support the projects that will make your business more sustainable. Invest where the impact is greatest and the opportunity cost of acting is lowest.
4. Chart a path ahead. Fletcher Building has a verified Science Based Target (SBT). The company has committed to reducing its Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 30% from its baseline year (2018) by 2030.
Around 130 company-wide projects support this target. The Sphera software helps Fletcher Building understand, track and – importantly – forecast the impact of each project at its SBT target year. It also lets the team factor in the impact of new projects and model the effects of moving to lower-carbon electricity grids.