Sustainability

We use our deep knowledge of the TMT market and business plans to help clients to understand the relevance of ESG issues when making investment decisions.

Investors are increasingly seeking companies with robust ESG initiatives. As a result, ESG considerations have become an important part of any responsible investment decision.

From a buy-side perspective, including ESG aspects in the due diligence process adds important information about the value of a company and therefore decreases unnecessary risk (commercial, reputational, legal)​. From a sell-side perspective, clearly demonstrating ESG efforts may attract investors and lead to new investment opportunities.

We can use our deep knowledge of the TMT market and long track record of commercial and due diligence projects to support clients in understanding the relevance of key ESG issues as part of a transaction decision.

We provide investors and asset owners with:

• red flag alerts in due diligence reports on ESG aspects
• comprehensive analysis of ESG aspects in due diligence reports
• advice about risk management measures and business opportunities related to ESG standards.

Analysys Mason has a wide network of ESG experts with whom we collaborate to ensure the highest-quality ESG reviews.

Examples of projects:

• Advised a major global telecoms vendor on the ESG implications of their proposed infrastructure investment.
• Worked with a partner to identify potential risks and liabilities relating to environmental, health and safety (EHS) issues for the due diligence of Telia Carrier.
• Performed a commercial due diligence analysis of a leading immersion cooling provider that offers hardware to improve data-centre efficiency and sustainability.

Having an understanding of what part a company can play in fulfilling society‘s needs can be a key differentiator between economic success and failure. We work with our clients to understand how sustainable practices can lead to competitive advantages and to prepare businesses for the instability that will come from growing political, regulatory and consumer pressure to tackle climate control.

Strategic sustainability is complex. Making the required changes will involve the implementation of multi-year programmes. The industry has a complex value chain of equipment, infrastructure manufacturers and service providers, and much of it is environmentally unsustainable, such as the planned obsolescence of handsets that have short lifetimes and limited repairability, mining raw materials or network infrastructure power consumption that uses fossil fuels.

We guide operators through transforming the end-to-end supply chain as well as their own businesses.

We run board-level workshops with our clients to evaluate their sustainability ambitions. We also guide them through the assessment process and use our extensive experience of transformation projects to enable them to bring sustainability into the core of their business and support the execution of this large change process.

We provide operators with:

• a defined sustainability change programme with meaningful goals and KPIs
• the tools to make your operations more sustainable, reducing risk and making your business more resilient
• meaningful sustainability goals that your customers will understand and relate to
• ways to explore social sustainability and accessibility within your business, products and customer base
• reporting on sustainability milestones, carbon offsetting and the evolution of your products and services offerings.

Example of projects:

• To reinvent market presence for European Tier 3 operator with sustainability as differentiator
• Workshop: How to start with sustainability?
  
  

We help clients in the public and private sectors to use inclusive digital products and services to reach new markets and groups.

Digitalisation comes with a wide range of benefits for companies, public organisations and citizens.

However, the digital world is not accessible to everyone. Large groups, including the elderly, people with disabilities and other minority groups, risk being excluded from using digital products and services. In addition, the current gender imbalance in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) education and the TMT sector may prevent women from fully participating in the development of tomorrow’s digital solutions.

Analysys Mason helps our clients to close this digital divide.

Our extensive work in the TMT sector, combined with expertise in digital inclusion, makes us well positioned to address the challenges of accessibility and diversity.

Analysys Mason supports policy development and the implementation of new regulations to help TMT players to realise the benefits of enhanced accessibility and diversity; for example, increased innovation, extended customer bases and improved customer experience.

We also have extensive experience of analysing market developments, assessing the use and functionality of different digital services, outlining roadmaps and evaluating progress in areas such as chatbots, digital mailboxes, hardware, and digital identity and signage solutions.

We provide public and private clients with:

• cost–benefit analyses in relation to digital inclusion initiatives
• accessibility mapping and analysis
• strategic advice and policy development to close the digital divide.

Example of projects:

• Examined the financial and social consequences of complying with the
• European Accessibility Act for Swedish players.
• Provided strategic advice to a local municipality on the development of inclusive digital services.
• Developed manuals for the elderly and their key contacts with recommendations on how to use video conferencing and remote desktop tools.

We support clients in the food, agriculture, forestry, fishery, energy, transportation and city development sectors to use digital solutions to build sustainable societies.

Our society is undergoing a fundamental digital transformation. Every sector is affected, from agriculture and forestry to healthcare.

This transformation comes with a range of opportunities such as the creation of smart and sustainable products, services and practices. For example, smart solutions for public lighting that can cut energy consumption, connected and automated machinery that can enable more sustainable agriculture and forestry, and digital technology that can help decrease the carbon footprint of food. It also presents a number of challenges, from the need for better connectivity, to cyber security and the ethical aspects of big data management.

Smart solutions for public lighting can cut energy consumption. Connected and automated machinery can enable more sustainable agriculture and forestry. Digital technology can help decrease the carbon footprint of food.

Analysys Mason’s experts can help governmental bodies to successfully navigate the challenges that come with digital transformation. We assist our clients in building smart and sustainable societies by providing foundations for effective new policies and incentives, and by evaluating ongoing initiatives.
 
We provide public and private clients with:

• evaluating initiatives for smart and sustainable development
• market analysis and policy recommendations
• supporting the development of state-of-the-art research facilities.

Example of projects:

• Examined the ‘state-of-the-art’ solutions for, and approaches to, ‘smart urban agriculture’, and developed cross-sectoral collaborations and networks.
• Evaluated EUR17 million initiative in energy-efficient and smart lighting in public locations for a consortium of public bodes in the Greater Copenhagen region.
• Co-ordinated a network of cutting-edge testbeds to support digital transformation in the Nordic and Baltic bioeconomy.

We advise stakeholders in the postal, parcel and e-commerce sectors on new infrastructure and services to support a more sustainable and better-governed last mile.

ESG themes are having a significant impact on the postal and courier industry.

Firms in this sector recognise the need to reduce their direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions. However, elimination strategies in the sector go right to the heart of the business. If courier firms introduce electric vehicles, the emissions challenge simply moves from direct to indirect sources. Some of the challenges of reducing greenhouse gases in the sector will be pushed onto subcontractors and suppliers.

Social and governance themes in this sector also have important impacts on broader society, in terms of environmental waste management, air pollution, employee working conditions, community relations, and employee and board diversity.

Responding to ESG-related themes is particularly demanding for the postal and courier sector, given its intrinsic logistics, significant workforce, reliance on packaging, and generally slim profit margins in what is a competitive industry.

Parcel lockers are a key form of digitally-enabled infrastructure that is being deployed in ‘smart’ cities to improve the efficiency and reduce the impact of delivering e-commerce, groceries and other items to residents. This type of infrastructure brings the potential for carbon savings (from lower delivery mileage), reduced congestion and pollution. However, there is a risk of displacing these negative externalities to the consumer side, if the users drive to pick up the items (for example, if the network is poorly designed and deployed).

City logistics and transportation – serving parcel lockers and other e-commerce network points – are also prime applications for ‘greener’ autonomous electric vehicles, due to the digital and/or AI scheduling requirements of same-hour, same-day, next-day urban deliveries.

We provide clients with specialist expertise, in collaboration with our last-mile industry partners:

• development of sector policies and transformation plans
• market forecasting and strategic analysis
• digital infrastructure strategy advice to support smart, digital, out-of-home delivery of groceries and other ecommerce items
• due diligence on courier, parcel and out-of-home industry players.

Example of projects:

• business models and policy implications of ‘social commerce’
• review of the courier industry in Malaysia with a view to proposing
• regulatory and policy developments to support improvements in efficiency, pricing and out-of-home services
• scenarios for deploying a parcel locker network in a densely populated city in Asia, to determine the impact on unit costs of delivery, sectoral efficiencies, and adjacent letter services
• network costing for a national transportation network under different ‘universal service’ delivery standards
• market forecasting of the e-grocery market in India.