What's new in Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability August 2024
Important
Some or all of this functionality is available as part of a preview release. The content and the functionality are subject to change.
The August 2024 release of Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability includes the following updates. Check back throughout the month for new updates and links to documentation as they become available.
To find what's new in previous months, go to What's new in Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability overview.
To discover our plans for 2024 wave 1 and 2024 wave 2, check out our release plans:
- What's new and planned for Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability 2024 wave 1
- What's new and planned for Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability 2024 wave 2
Microsoft Sustainability Manager
This section provides information about release schedules, updates, fixes, and learning resources for Sustainability Manager.
Planned release timeline
This table shows the timeline for when we plan to make the release available for you to update manually for testing purposes. It also shows when we plan to automatically update sandbox and production environments. If you want to update an environment manually, you can update it with the Microsoft Cloud Solution Center, or you can refer to Manage Dynamics 365 apps in the Power Platform documentation.
Important
In general, updates start releasing around the first of the month with a staggered rollout to different countries/regions. Some updates aren't available until later in the month. Occasionally, we might have to delay availability or updates for one or more regions to a future date.
| Region | Availability planned | Automatic sandbox environment updates planned | Automatic production environment updates planned |
|---|---|---|---|
| Germany (GER) | August 9 | August 16 | August 30 |
| United Kingdom (UK) | August 9 | August 16 | August 30 |
| Asia Pacific (APAC) | August 9 | August 16 | August 30 |
| India (IND) | August 9 | August 16 | August 30 |
| Australia (OCE) | August 9 | August 16 | August 30 |
| United Arab Emirates (UAE) | August 9 | August 16 | August 30 |
| United States (NAM) | August 16 | August 23 | September 6 |
| Europe (EU) | August 16 | August 23 | September 6 |
For more information about release cadences, go to Release schedule.
Supported versions
With this release, we support versions of Microsoft Sustainability Manager that are version 2.18 or later. The August release is version 2.22. For more information, including what to do if your environment isn't running a supported version, go to Supported versions.
Updates
This table shows the August 2024 updates for Microsoft Sustainability Manager. We update it with documentation links as they become available.
For information about features that are available in Sustainability Manager Essentials and Premium, go to Microsoft Sustainability Manager plans.
| Feature | Description of update |
|---|---|
| Data import review UI | Improve data quality and accuracy with Microsoft Sustainability Manager's proactive import error-handling experience. You can pinpoint the location and cause of errors on the Connection page, or you can download the errors report. You can also quickly edit the connection right from the Connection page without having to go through the data import wizard. |
| EPA 2024 and International Energy Agency (IEA) 2015-2020 factor sets | These factor sets are added in the August release. For more information about available factor sets, go to Emission factor sets. For more information about using IEA factor sets, go to Calculate emissions with IEA emission factors. |
| Carbon fee | Carbon fee is generally available. Setting a carbon fee can help you visualize and understand the monetary impact of emissions per facility, location, or organizational unit. Use the insights to promote transparency around your internal costs of emissions and make more exacting decisions about reductions. |
| Calculate emissions for different standards (preview) | This capability addresses the complex regulatory landscape by enabling you to generate alternative emission reports tailored to the requirements of different regulatory bodies or regional reporting standards. |
| Trace data flow from input to final output (preview) | Follow your data's journey from the moment it enters Sustainability Manager to when it becomes the final output. This feature provides insights into your data's progression along with the ability to export a detailed report, which makes it easier to keep track of your data's history. The data trail also includes ability to track user changes to ensure compliance and help you make smart decisions. |
Deprecation
The Is market based attribute/column is deprecated. That column no longer appears on the All emissions page, and is replaced with the Accounting method and Alternate result basis columns. The Market based checkbox in the calculation model experience is replaced with the Accounting method dropdown. For more information, go to Calculate emissions for different standards (preview)
Fixes
This table lists fixes included in this release.
| Problem description | Resolution |
|---|---|
| Some waste and water calculation profiles completed with errors but didn't have any error messages. | This issue is fixed in the August release. |
Project ESG Reporting (preview)
Project ESG Reporting (preview) released on August 7, 2024. Project ESG Reporting (preview) enables your organization to collaboratively create voluntary and regulatory disclosure reports across a range of standards and frameworks. Approval and audit workflows help your organization ensure compliance and data accuracy. With these features, Project ESG Reporting (preview) reduces complexity, enhances efficiency, and provides greater transparency for ESG reporting.
Training, videos, and documentation
This section lists new and updated documentation, training, and videos.
Videos
Documentation
| Article | Description of updates |
|---|---|
| Considerations and FAQ for data import | Added Account and contact ingestion behavior section. |
| ESG value chain solution | Added notes to Set up value chain partners section about required attributes. |
| Required attributes for the Cloud for Sustainability shared data model | Added note to Entity/attribute rules section about Primary contact on Account being required. |
| Create a custom report | Updated article with new guidance for creating custom reports. |
| Release schedule | New article that shows expected timelines for Sustainability Manager releases. |
| Extend organizational unit types | Updated article to match UI. |
| Manage user roles and access | Updated article to match UI. |
| Get started with the configuration guide | Updated article to match UI. |
| Set up Microsoft Teams collaboration and chat (preview) | Updated article to match UI. |
| What's new in Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability August 2024 | Added release schedule dates for Sustainability Manager. Also added deprecation information for Sustainability Manager. |
| Resolve data import error messages | Added documentation for three new error messages. |
| Generate a data trail report | New article showing how to generate a report that provides a data trail of your data from input to final output. |
| Overview of Project ESG Reporting (preview) | New article that introduces Project ESG Report (preview). |
| Deploy Project ESG Reporting (preview) | New article that shows how to deploy Project ESG Report (preview) for new users and users who already have Microsoft Sustainability Manager. |
| Configure Project ESG Reporting (preview) | New article that shows how to configure Project ESG Report (preview). |
| Assign security roles in Project ESG Reporting (preview) | New article that describes how to assign roles and permissions. |
| Review standards in Project ESG Reporting (preview) | New article about standards and frameworks. |
| Create assessments in Project ESG Reporting (preview) | New article that shows how to create assessments. |
| Create concepts in Project ESG Reporting (preview) | New article that shows how to create concepts. |
| Create facts in Project ESG Reporting (preview) | New article that shows how to create facts. |
| Create dimensions in Project ESG Reporting (preview) | New article that shows how to create dimensions. |
| Create tasks in Project ESG Reporting (preview) | New article that shows how to create tasks. |
| Manage approvals in Project ESG Reporting (preview) | New article that shows how to create policies and approval workflows. |
| Export assessments in Project ESG Reporting (preview) | New article that shows how to create assessments. |
| Support for Project ESG Reporting (preview) | New article that shows how to get support for Project ESG Reporting (preview). |
| Generate a data trail report (preview) | New article showing how to generate a report that provides a data trail of your data from input to final output. |
| Set a carbon fee | Removed preview tags from feature name. |
| Review data imports | New article showing the updated, intuitive UI for reviewing data imports and finding and resolving errors. |
| Edit data imports | New article showing the updated, intuitive data import UI, where you can edit data imports directly without having to use the wizard. |
| Calculate emissions for different standards (preview) | New article showing how you can calculate emissions for multiple regulatory standards while using the same activity data. |
Related information
- What's new in Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability overview
- What's new and planned for Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability 2024 wave 1
- What's new and planned for Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability 2024 wave 2
