Anthesis helps local authorities monitor climate action plans
Sustainability group Anthesis has launched the Anthesis Impact Tracker, aiming to help local authorities to accelerate climate action through enhanced monitoring, reporting, and decision-making. The service has been rolled out as of May 2023, with further updates being released throughout the year.
As the UK looks to hit its 2050 net zero targets, more than 300 local authorities have since declared a climate emergency. While 75% have a climate action plan or strategy in place to help avert that crisis, however, putting it into practice is easier said than done. As shown by the corporate world, the best intentions count for nothing if an organisation cannot properly evaluate its progress – so tracking, and coordinating climate actions, while reporting to stakeholders, are critical challenges local authorities face.
Remarking on how the firm is looking to address this, Sara Telahoun, Co-lead of Anthesis’ Climate and Regions Team, explained, “Working with local authorities on their climate action planning, we have observed that no strategy is ever static. Successfully managing progress and communicating internally and externally with stakeholders enables robust action. We are delighted to launch Anthesis Impact Tracker to meet this growing need.”
Anthesis is a sustainability advisory firm, bringing together more than 650 experts operating in 40 countries around the world. It has offices in Andorra, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Middle East, the Philippines, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the UK, and the US. A proud B Corp, the firm works with cities, companies, and other organisations to drive sustainable performance around the world.
Leveraging its extensive public sector experience and network, Anthesis convened a working group of 15 local authorities across the UK to design a digital solution to support the implementation of climate action plans. The Impact Tracker’s development was subsequently spearheaded by the experts behind the SCATTER greenhouse gas reporting tool, used by 80% of all local authorities, and Area Based Insetting, an innovative alternative to traditional offsetting for UK local authorities.
Elaborating on how the tool is already helping councils, Georgia James, Environmental Data Officer, Camden Borough Council, added, “Anthesis Impact Tracker is extremely user-friendly. Having all our data sourced in one place helps to provide insights into the progress of our Climate Action Plan. The dashboard is a great step forward for reporting and data transparency.”
Digital hub
The newly launched Anthesis Impact Tracker will help users track progress on implementing their climate action plans and collaborate, monitor, and report transparently with stakeholders across their local areas. The tool enables a local plan or strategy to be automatically visualised across key impact areas or themes, such as renewable generation, the built environment, transportation, or biodiversity. Flexibility is key, and the tool is designed to adapt to a range of strategic approaches to action planning and use cases.
Accessible via Anthesis Digital, Anthesis’ hub for climate-related technology and digital learning capabilities, further enhancements are already in the pipeline for the Impact Tracker. They will be rolled out throughout the year, including enhanced reporting capabilities and new modelling functionality to better track the impact of actions against net zero commitments.
Established in 2013 and growing upwards of 20% in revenue annually, Anthesis bills itself as the largest pure-play sustainability firm globally – supporting more than 2,600 clients to set and achieve their climate change goals. The launch of its Impact Tracker is the latest in a line of the Anthesis Digital portfolio’s Software-as-a-Service tools to be rolled out, since it received new backing from private equity firm Palatine.
