Cority Ventures Further Into ESG & Sustainability Solutions With Acquisition Of Reporting 21

Cority Ventures Further Into ESG & Sustainability Solutions With Acquisition Of Reporting 21

Cority, best known for its suite of EHS offerings, has acquired Reporting 21, a France-headquartered sustainability SaaS platform and consultancy. Founded in 2014, Reporting 21, formerly known as Sirsa, has experienced rapid growth, combining strategy guidance with the technology to back it up. Cority plans to integrate the capabilities of Reporting 21 into Cority’s Sustainability Cloud to “support customers in managing, reporting and actioning their sustainability and ESG initiatives”. With 75% of Reporting 21’s customers operating in the financial services market, the acquisition provides Cority with the opportunity to create brand equity in the lucrative financial services market. The acquisition of Reporting 21 will also improve Cority’s ability to help its clients measure and report on a wider array of ESG metrics.

Over the past five years, a diverse range of stakeholders have accelerated demands for better quality ESG disclosures, improved performance and enhanced risk management. These market forces will drive huge demand for investor-grade data and supporting information systems. In April 2021, the EU announced the significantly upgraded Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which replaced the 2014 EU Non-Financial Reporting Directive. Based on European Commission cost estimates, the directive will lead to at least €2 billion ($1.96 billion) of spend across 2022 and 2023 allocated towards ESG software and sustainability service providers (see Verdantix EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive: Time To Gear Up For A Huge Opportunity). Cority aims to penetrate the traditionally difficult European region by providing the market with a CSRD-ready solution by 2024 augmented by advisory services to support firms.  

With the sustained focus on ESG across business operations, EHS functions are increasingly tasked with greater levels of control and influence over diverse ESG workstreams. The 2021 Verdantix EHS Global Survey found that 95% of respondents agreed that EHS software will be used to support ESG data collection in the next two years. EHS software providers are seizing this opportunity, using their strong capabilities in GHG and air emissions calculations to pivot towards providing ESG solutions with new functionality that meets the needs of corporate clients as new regulations emerge.

The acquisition of Reporting 21, as well as Cority’s acquisition of WeSustain in April 2021 and IsoMetrix’s collaboration with independent sustainability data consultant SustainIt, are evidence of these shifting dynamics in action. EHS software providers with established client bases have built strong foundations for which to grow their ESG offerings. This is evidenced in the Verdantix ESG & Sustainability Global Corporate Surveys of both 2021 and 2022, which found that firms with EHS backgrounds like Cority, Enablon, Intelex, VelocityEHS and UL Solutions perform well in regard to brand preference.  What’s unusual in Cority’s acquisition is the foray into the financial services sector, which represents a fairly small segment for most vendors known for their EHS capabilities.  However, the increasing need to recognize the financial implications of ESG and sustainability performance means that we will likely see more acquisitions like Cority’s in the future.