What's new in Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability April 2024
Important
Some or all of this functionality is available as part of a preview release. The content and the functionality are subject to change.
The April 2024 release of Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability includes the following updates. Check back throughout the month for new updates and links to documentation as it becomes available.
To see what's new in previous months, go to What's new in Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability overview.
Microsoft Sustainability Manager
This table shows the April 2024 updates for Microsoft Sustainability Manager.
Important
Updates start releasing at the first of the month with a staggered rollout to different countries/regions. Some updates aren't available until later in the month. Occasionally, we might have to delay an update to a future release.
This table is updated with documentation links as it becomes available.
For information about features that are available in Sustainability Manager Essentials and Premium, go to Microsoft Sustainability Manager plans.
| Feature | Description of update |
|---|---|
| ADEME factor set | Load the carbon emissions factors from Agence de la transition écologique (ADEME). ADEME offers a wide range of emission factors to support the measurement and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in France. These emission factors are used to estimate greenhouse gas emissions associated with various activities, such as energy consumption and transportation. |
| Calculations | Upgrades don't overwrite Standard unit groups and don't bring back deleted calculation models, calculation profiles, and factor libraries. |
| Cloud for Sustainability data model | The Cloud for Sustainability data model includes new and updated entities and attributes for product carbon footprint and other areas. |
| Data import: Error messages | Improvements in data import error messaging proactively inform you about possible errors before import. They also provide specific actions you can take to resolve errors before they occur, helping to streamline the data ingestion process. You can download or view a source data file to debug ingestion errors. You can fix or create new records when you reimport data after making corrections. |
| Data import: Record uniqueness | You can use OriginCorrelationID to determine record uniqueness for activity and reference data. If a record has a matching OriginCorrelationID, the record is updated. If it doesn't match, the record is inserted. |
| Dates and numbers | You can view dates and numbers based on your user locale settings, which follow Power Apps personalization settings. |
| Document analysis | Use Copilot in Microsoft Sustainability Manager to ask questions on and compare complex ESG documents. Available in Sustainability Manager Premium only. |
| ESG data model | The environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data model is extended with energy tables and with biogenic emissions and supports reporting standards-related tables. |
| Intelligent insights | By default, insights are sorted from highest to lowest significance. You receive an in-app notification when the Intelligent insights model starts running on your chosen date. Trial environments are limited to two runs in a 30-day period. |
| Meter entity | A new Meter entity lets you associate activities with meters. This feature includes updates to the user interface and reports. |
| One date across carbon categories | To streamline reporting and analysis in Sustainability Manager, a new field establishes a common date across carbon categories. This field derives from existing transaction, consumption start, and consumption end dates. It allows querying and alignment for Power BI reporting, preparation reports, scorecards, goals, and other components. This standardized date field enhances data consistency and allows more efficient analysis across all relevant categories within the system. |
| Product carbon footprint | Import product carbon footprint data, and use it in calculations. |
| Provider connector framework (preview) | This framework and flow allows partners and vendors to build connectors to import data from partner solutions. |
| Reporting | You can generate preparation reports for water and waste using natural language with Copilot in Sustainability Manager. Available in Sustainability Manager Premium only. |
| Waste estimation | Estimate the waste generated in your facilities when measured data is unavailable. You can base the estimation on facility usage-based intensity factors. You can use the estimated waste data for regulatory disclosures and for tracking sustainability goals such as achieving zero waste. Available in Sustainability Manager Premium only. |
| What-if analysis | What-if analysis uses a custom AI model to forecast the emissions impact over time of making business practice changes within your organization. You can build scenarios and view the associated output within the Analytics area of Sustainability Manager. This feature helps inform decision making for sustainability managers, procurement officers, facility managers, and others who want to use smart sustainability data to drive reductions in their sustainability impact. |
Fixes
This section lists fixes included in April releases of Sustainability Manager.
| Release | Problem description | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| 2.18.x.x | Since the February 2024 release, due to a data misclassification, activity data for scope 3 category 13: Downstream leased assets are underreporting carbon activities in activity-based preparation reports and goal check-ins for fugitive emissions, purchased cooling, and mobile combustion. Specifically, these category 13 activity data types weren't included in: - Connect-to-data goals where the data source is one of these types of activity data - Preparation reports where you were reporting on these categories of activity data |
This release properly classifies the data. Goal check-ins and prep reports include this data, so you might see increases in the report values. |
Training, videos, and documentation
This section lists new and updated documentation, training, and videos in April 2024.
Training
| Training | Description |
|---|---|
| Get started with Sustainability data solutions in Microsoft Fabric | Provides a foundational understanding of Sustainability data solutions in Microsoft Fabric (preview) and its core components. Learn how to use Sustainability data solutions in Fabric (preview) to meet key environmental, social, and governance (ESG) challenges. |
Videos
| Video | Description |
|---|---|
| Sustainability data solutions in Microsoft Fabric (preview) | Airlift video guides you through deploying and using the capabilities in Sustainability data solutions in Fabric (preview). Also embedded in article Overview of Sustainability data solutions in Microsoft Fabric (preview). |
Documentation
| Article | Description of updates |
|---|---|
| ESG data model | Updated overview article and added new entity reference articles. |
| Set a carbon fee | Added links and images. |
| Monitor environmental impact with the Executive dashboard | Updated with UI changes and added images. |
| Analyze trends with the Emissions insights dashboard | Updated with UI changes and added images. |
| Overview of custom connectors in Sustainability Manager | New article that provides an overview of creating custom connectors in Sustainability Manager. |
| Build a Power Automate connector | New article showing how to create a custom Power Automate connector. |
| Build a Power Query template connector | New article showing how to create a custom Power Query template connector. |
| Test and distribute a custom connector | New article that describes how to test and distribute a custom connector. |
| Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability data model | Updated information for product carbon footprint (PCF). |
| Add a calculation model | Updated information for product carbon footprint (PCF). |
| ESG value chain solution | Updated information for product carbon footprint (PCF). |
| Resolve data import error messages | Updated error message numbers and add more resolutions. |
| Process invoices with data capture | Added all the unique cloud flows that should be enabled in order. |
| Create reports with Copilot in Microsoft Sustainability Manager | Added steps to clarify how enter a trigger phrase, then the description. |
| ESG value chain solution | Updated procedure for installing the Power Pages value chain template. |
| Water and waste intensity factor-based calculations | Added information about waste estimation with waste intensity factors. |
| Microsoft Sustainability Manager plans | Added waste intensity factors as a feature in Sustainability Manager Premium. |
| Analyze documents with Copilot in Microsoft Sustainability Manager (preview) | New article showing how to use Copilot in Sustainability Manager (preview) to upload and analyze ESG documents. |
| Responsible AI FAQ for Document analysis with Copilot (preview) | New article that provides answers to frequently asked questions about the AI technology used in Document analysis with Copilot (preview). It includes key considerations and details about how the AI is used, how it was tested and evaluated, and any specific limitations. |
| Microsoft Sustainability Manager plans | Updates to article showing the features available in Sustainability Manager Essentials and Premium versions. |
| Forecast business practice changes on your emissions with what-if analysis (preview) | New article showing how to create a what-if analysis forecast. |
| Determine record uniqueness | Updated article for new record upsert functionality. |
| Resolve data import error messages | New article showing the new error messages for data import in Sustainability Manager. |
| What's new in Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability April 2024 | New article listing updates in the April 2024 releases. |
Related information
- What's new in Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability overview
- What's new and planned for Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability 2023 wave 2
