Previous posts in this blog series on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and carbon accounting have spotlighted carbon accounting as a trend to watch, looked at ESG impacts on M&A, and tracked the emergence of new ESG standards.

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This important issue was previously explored last year in Are You Ready for "Carbon Accounting" Compliance? and also identified as one the Five Key Trends to Watch in 2022.  A subsequent blog post specifically addressed How Can Carbon Accounting Impact the Value of M&A Deals?

Carbon Accounting was previously identified as one of the Five Key Trends to Watch in 2022, and the compliance implications were explored in this blog post Are You Ready for "Carbon Accounting" Compliance?

This update provides a focused look on how Carbon Accounting and overall Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practices can significantly impact companies on both sides of Merger and Acquisition (M&A) deals. See the Microsoft and Activision example below.

As we near the end of yet another tumultuous year and acknowledge that even the best predictions do not always align with how reality unfolds, it is still a good opportunity to look ahead at some of the key trends that are most likely to have big impacts on 2022.

From Bramasol's perspective as a leading SAP partner creating business management, finance, and compliance solutions for over 25 years, here are five major areas that we are watching closely and helping our clients prepare to deal with in the coming year - and beyond.

Most corporate leaders are already familiar with "environmental, social and governance reporting" often referred to as ESG. 

However, for the past couple of decades, ESG has typically consisted of producing an annual glossy Corporate Responsibility Report that discussed various initiatives in descriptive terms across  areas such as energy usage, waste stream mitigation, labor practices, community programs, charitable giving, etc.  While these reports represented an important element for communicating a company's corporate-citizenship vision and were also positive public relations initiatives, for the most part they did not contain a lot of hard, auditable data.

As the world has become more serious about mitigating climate change and the issue of corporate responsibility moves to the forefront, ESG  reporting is now shifting toward a more rigorous approach that is increasingly based on accounting disciplines and auditable practices.  In the area of climate change, this is often referred to as "carbon accounting".