Schaeffler uses Microsoft Sustainability Manager for systematic planning of decarbonization measures
To reduce emissions, companies like Schaeffler need to identify optimal reduction measures. The Motion Technology Company relies on decarbonization scenarios and requires a central platform that can process big data.
Due to Microsoft Sustainability Manager, Schaeffler is now centralizing its focus on the topic of 'sustainable products'. Tools such as the Portfolio Decarbonizer are used to simulate measures to develop roadmaps for CO2 reduction in products.
The agile platform enables rapid adjustments in a dynamic environment, networks different combinations of measures and offers a forward-looking status of sustainability targets through consistent reporting via Power BI dashboards.
“We’re building on Microsoft Sustainability Manager, as this lets us connect, consolidate, and integrate data from different sources quickly and easily. ”
Schaeffler has ambitious sustainability goals: by 2030, the company aims to reduce the emissions generated in its supply chain by upstream products and raw materials (Scope 3 upstream) by 25 percent compared to 2019. In its own production (Scope 1 and 2), Schaeffler plans to avoid 90 percent of production emissions that have an effect on the climate (baseline year 2019) in that same time frame. A digital solution developed in-house and based on Microsoft Sustainability Manager helps to identify the right measures for long-term emission reduction scenarios and to draw up decarbonization scenarios.
The challenge: Linking data sources and identifying decarbonization potential
In its production operations, Schaeffler relies on energy from renewable sources and energy savings on-site to reduce its Scope 1 and 2 emissions. For Scope 3 upstream—the emissions generated indirectly in its supply chain—the fact that there are many parties involved and many sources of data adds complexity. However, to take meaningful and effective steps toward decarbonization, Schaeffler needs to know what the main drivers of emissions are in its products and in the components of its products. “Effective decarbonization requires a sound data basis and suitable measures. Both of these are collected and reported on by various areas in our individual company divisions—for example in purchasing, product development and manufacturing, research and development, and controlling,” says Johannes Möller, Senior Specialist Materials Simulation at Schaeffler. “To be able to address complex issues and dependencies in the area of sustainability, this data must be compiled and linked on a suitable data platform in interdisciplinary collaboration.”
An innovative data lake based on Microsoft Fabric provides Schaeffler with a consistent, standardized, and consolidated view of sustainability in its products. “We’ve connected various data sources to create a common basis for analysis—but relying on that alone would be like driving into a more sustainable future while only looking back in the rear-view mirror,” explains Alexander Thiede, Sustainability Data Architect at GLOBEZERO.AI. “For more foresight, we need to know things like which products we’ll still be producing in large volumes in the future, so we can apply the decarbonization lever right there.”
Creating decarbonization scenarios plays a major role here. “We needed a solution that could handle big data. With analyses of this type, the number of data records increases rapidly, and a few hundred quickly become 100 million,” Möller says to explain the choice of technology. It should be possible to try out different combinations of CO2 reduction measures, select the optimum ones, and derive corresponding plans and scenarios for decarbonization. To achieve this, Schaeffler has developed a central platform based on Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability and Microsoft Sustainability Manager.
