Verdantix Green Quadrant Benchmarks The Climate Change Consulting Offerings Of 15 Prominent Vendors

Verdantix Green Quadrant Benchmarks The Climate Change Consulting Offerings Of 15 Prominent Vendors

Verdantix recently released its inaugural benchmark of climate change consulting providers, the Green Quadrant: Climate Change Consulting 2023. This report provides deep analysis of both the functionality and market momentum of 15 leading vendors in the space, based on a two-hour live briefing with each participant, a 94-point factual questionnaire and interviews with more than 30 corporate buyers of climate change services. Corporate insights were supported by analysis drawn from the Verdantix Global Corporate Survey 2023: Net Zero Budgets, Priorities and Tech Preferences. In the report, we found that:

• Consulting offerings rely on mature legacy capabilities, repackaged under a climate change banner.
  Despite the relatively recent rise of climate change as a business priority – marked by the emergence of global regulations and significant stakeholder interest in climate-related performance – the consulting market consists of mature offerings developed to meet the longstanding voluntary corporate sustainability market. In several key capability areas – such as carbon data management and carbon credit support and sourcing – corporates have a wide selection of vendors to select from, each with significant expertise in the area. The key point of differentiation within the market is how service providers are integrating previously disparate areas into combined service propositions. Organizations may previously have been satisfied with selecting numerous service partners to manage specific climate change projects, but they are now seeking partners with integrated offerings. Evidence of this integration was present across the Leaders in the Green Quadrant.
  
  
• Leading climate change consultants adopt a digital-first mindset to project delivery.
  Managing climate change is a data-first challenge, requiring decision-makers to understand impact and risk, measure performance, and link climate change impact to financial performance. It is unsurprising that consulting providers have therefore adopted a digital-first mindset to climate change service delivery, through partnerships with dedicated carbon management firms – including Enablon, Persefoni, Sphera and Watershed – and global technology giants – such as AWS, Microsoft and SAP. For climate risk management, vendors are engaged in a critical arms race to develop and bring to market integrated solutions. Prospective buyers in the vendor selection process should examine the strength of each provider’s digital offerings.
  
  
• No single solution provider possesses market leading strengths across all service capability areas.
  Although the market is consolidating, and providers are preoccupied with expanding capabilities to offer end-to-end services, no one vendor is able to provide holistic offerings spanning strategy, technical and implementation-related projects. Climate transition requires significant investment into physical assets across an organization’s business footprint, which no single consulting provider can realistically address. Potential buyers must be aware of the need to invest in services to improve climate performance as they advance climate change strategies from the boardroom to the shop floor.

Please follow the link to access the full Green Quadrant benchmark report. For additional relevant research, visit the research portal.