What are ESG indicators, and why are they worth monitoring?
ESG indicators cover three areas of a company’s operations: environmental, social and governance. Environmental criteria include greenhouse gas emissions, energy and water consumption, and waste generation and management. Social indicators measure, among other things, staff turnover, health and safety, social engagement, gender equality and access to training. The governance area focuses on corporate governance structure, transparency of decision-making processes, compliance with legal regulations and anti-corruption policies. Monitoring these indicators allows companies to meet their reporting obligations and build strategic resilience to changing market conditions.
A well-designed ESG monitoring system enables a quick response to environmental or social threats, which can significantly reduce financial and reputational losses. In the long term, effective management of ESG indicators translates into greater investor confidence, better credit terms, and opportunities to attract business partners. What is more, ESG data is increasingly used by financial analysts and investment funds to assess the long-term stability of companies. It is, therefore, worth treating ESG monitoring not as an obligation but as a tool to support your company’s sustainable development.
ESG data integration in Power BI – sources and challenges
Effective ESG monitoring requires data collection from various sources, from ERP systems, HR and payroll software, and environmental and occupational safety monitoring systems. This data is often inconsistent, with different formats, units, and levels of detail, posing a significant analytical challenge.
Power BI, thanks to Power Query features and connectors to popular systems (SAP, Dynamics 365, Azure SQL, REST API), enables flexible data retrieval and transformation. Additionally, thanks to ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) mechanisms, users can automatically clean and standardise data, eliminating errors at the input stage. For example, energy consumption data can come from Excel spreadsheets sent monthly from different plants, and HR data from a central HR database – Power BI allows you to unify and compare them. However, this requires the development of a unified data structure and dictionaries of reporting units and dimensions. Ensuring adequate data quality and completeness can also be challenging, especially in areas that have not been digitally monitored. In such cases, it is worth implementing procedures for manually filling in gaps or automating reporting at source. It is also good practice to document data sources and the logic behind their processing, which allows for auditing ESG reports – something that is particularly important in the context of European regulations.
ESG data models and metrics – how to construct them?
When designing a data model for ESG reporting in Power BI, you should adopt a fact- and dimension-based approach (star schema) that enables precise analysis and fast reporting. Fact tables can contain events such as CO₂ emissions, health and safety incidents, energy consumption levels, or the number of employees in specific periods. Dimensions such as location, organisational unit, time, and type of activity allow you to analyse data in context. It is crucial to design DAX measures that aggregate data and calculate key indicators, such as CO₂ emissions per production unit, staff turnover rate, or energy consumption per square metre of floor space.
Measures should be mathematically correct and compliant with industry standards (e.g. GRI, SASB), which facilitates data comparability and verifiability. It is worth using dynamic measurement mechanisms considering user choices, such as time intervals or location filtering. A well-thought-out data structure also facilitates simulations and ‘what-if’ analyses, e.g., the impact of a 10% reduction in gas consumption on total emissions. It is also a good idea to introduce a hierarchy, e.g. geographical or organisational, which enables reporting from a global to a detailed level. It is also worth ensuring that measures and calculations are documented, especially if reports are to be audited or made available to external stakeholders.
ESG visualisations and dashboards – best practices
ESG data visualisation requires not only aesthetics, but above all transparency and consistency with information objectives. ESG dashboards should contain key indicators presented in an immediately visible format, such as KPI cards, gauge-style indicators or heat maps. Trends can be presented using line or column charts with a choice of analysis period. Using geographical maps to present environmental data broken down by location is also worth considering. Waterfall charts showing changes in indicator values (e.g. increase in CO₂ emissions compared to the plan) are also handy.
When reporting to management, contextual comments and threshold indicators immediately inform you of the need for action. Thanks to the bookmark feature, you can prepare views for different stakeholder groups, e.g., management, HR, or CSR.
However, excessive visualisation should be avoided – it is better to focus on quality rather than quantity – each chart should have a clearly defined informational purpose. It is also worth ensuring that responsive dashboards can be published on mobile devices. A well-thought-out report architecture allows users to find the information they need more quickly, making them more likely to use ESG analytics in their daily work.
Automation and updating of ESG reports
One of the key elements of an effective ESG monitoring system is the automation of data updates and reports. Power BI, thanks to its integration with Power BI Service, allows you to schedule data refreshes at regular intervals – daily, weekly or monthly, depending on the reporting frequency and availability of source data. This eliminates the need for manual report preparation, reduces errors and saves significant time. In combination with the Power Automate service, users can create workflows that, for example, automatically send email alerts when emission limits are exceeded or health and safety indicators deteriorate.
It is also possible to automatically generate reports in PDF format and distribute them to selected groups of recipients, such as board members or ESG teams. This approach ensures uninterrupted access to up-to-date data, which is particularly important for companies operating in regulated industries or with high exposure to environmental and social risks. Automation also enables quick response to changes – for example, an increase in energy consumption at one of the plants can immediately generate a notification for the technical department. Automatic reporting is not just a convenience – it is an element of operational resilience that is becoming standard in the era of digitalisation of management processes. Integrating Power BI with other Microsoft tools (e.g. Excel, SharePoint, Azure Synapse) further enhances the organisation’s data management and distribution capabilities.
ESG as part of strategy – Power BI supports management decisions
ESG data is valuable not only in reports for regulators or investors but also as a useful source of information for company management and strategic planning departments. With Power BI, it is possible to create management dashboards that present key ESG indicators in a synthetic form. They also allow you to drill down to a detailed level – e.g. to a specific plant, month, or emission source. For example, a dashboard can show the total CO₂ emissions in a company and, upon clicking, present the data broken down by location, department, and source type. Such analytical capabilities enable accurate investment decisions, e.g. regarding the replacement of energy-intensive equipment, transport optimisation or the introduction of inclusive HR policies.
Moreover, Power BI enables ‘what-if’ scenario analysis, e.g. how a company’s carbon footprint will change after switching to renewable energy sources. In this way, ESG data becomes an integral part of strategic planning, rather than just a reporting obligation. For management, this means greater control over sustainability goals, the ability to track progress over time, and the ability to respond quickly to any deviations. Power BI thus becomes a reporting tool and a real support in building a competitive advantage based on responsible management. Organisations that can operate on ESG data in real time are better prepared for dynamic market, social, and climate changes.
Monitoring ESG indicators in Power BI – a step towards modernity
Monitoring ESG indicators in Power BI is a step towards modern, responsible organisation management. With the ability to integrate data from multiple sources, transform it, and advanced visualisation features, Power BI enables you to meet regulatory requirements and supports data-driven decision making. Companies that implement ESG reporting in the Power BI environment gain greater transparency of their activities, better risk control and the ability to systematically measure the impact of their decisions on the environment. Importantly, Power BI allows you to personalise reports, tailor them to the needs of different stakeholder groups and automate their distribution. In a world where transparency and accountability are increasingly valued, ESG analytics is no longer a luxury but a standard. Power BI enables data collection and transforms it into valuable information that truly supports sustainable development. It is therefore worth investing in analytical skills, developing ESG data models and integrating environmental, social and governance reporting into your overall business strategy. This approach is not just a response to regulations – it is proof of business maturity and readiness to build long-term value.
