Verdantix Survey Uncovers The Role Of Services In Supporting An Evolving EHS Function

Verdantix Survey Uncovers The Role Of Services In Supporting An Evolving EHS Function

The 2022 edition of the Verdantix EHS Services Global Corporate Survey has recently been published, which gives EHS executives the opportunity to benchmark their firm’s services budgets and priorities amongst peers and affords services providers valuable buyer information to validate future business decisions. The research process saw Verdantix interview 300 corporate EHS executives across 35 countries and 30 different industries. The survey focuses on the importance of consulting support to the progression of corporate EHS functions, the rising prominence of digital offerings and the impact of ESG in EHS leader’s services priorities.

Unsurprisingly, this year’s survey highlighted the increasing corporate demand for environmental sustainability services. A myriad of prominent drivers, such as TCFD, GRI and SASB disclosure requirements, climate risks, investor scrutiny and corporate ESG targets has made 2022 a pivotal year for firms to take sustainability action. Over half (53%) of survey respondents reported an increase in sustainability management budgets over the next 12 months. Of all sustainability-related service lines, energy transition, system integration for ESG disclosures, and climate risk scenario analysis proved the most valuable for EHS leaders. This comes as no surprise as firms gear up to both report upon and improve key ESG and sustainability metrics, in line with increasing voluntary and mandatory disclosure requirements over the next three years.

Outside of large scale environmental and sustainability projects, health and safety hold a key focus area for services spend. The survey highlighted that reducing serious injuries and fatalities (SIFs) was the most important goal for corporate services spend over the next two years. Of the 300 survey respondents, 43% viewed EHS services as very important to reducing SIF events. Furthermore, EHS leaders showed that digital services offerings would be at the forefront of SIF prevention, with half (50%) of survey respondents classing analytical managed services for SIF identification as very valuable. Corporate EHS leaders have access to a number of analytical tools to proactively identify SiF risks, yet often lack the correct processes and metrics to reap the potential rewards. Health and safety consultants, such as DEKRA and dss+, have developed service offerings to implement and execute SiF identification strategies.

The theme of corporate EHS digitization will continue into 2023. The survey confirmed that budgets were growing across all EHS technology services lines, aligning with the Verdantix market forecast that shows the digital EHS services segment to grow at a CAGR of 8% over the next 5 years. Key investment spikes were seen for digital EHS strategy consultation and technology implementation offerings, with 19% of respondents predicting a budget increase of over 10% for both service lines. EHS consultants from numerous backgrounds have beefed up their digital service lines (see Verdantix Green Quadrant 2022: Digital EHS Technology Implementation Services). Examples of this include EY announcing a global $1 billion investment into its technology processes and ERM that has both acquired and developed numerous sustainability-focused digital tools, including the Climate Risk Impact and Solutions Platform (CRISP) and OPEX.ai, which analyses operations to limit emissions.

To take a more in-depth look at how EHS leaders plan to use services providers, see Verdantix’s new EHS Services Survey or listen to the accompanying webinar recording. To learn more about the key market trends in the EHS space, visit our research page here.