Our December panel event, Groundbreaking Insights into Sustainability Reporting, offered a pragmatic look at one of the toughest challenges facing organisations today: How to simplify sustainability reporting and make it operational, in the face of increasingly complex regulations.
Hosted by BizCubed CEO Rebecca (nee Walz) Zeus , the panel brought together experts including Steven Capell , Vice Chair at UN/CEFACT, and Zachary Zeus, CEO of Pyx Global, to share actionable insights on how data engineering can support better ESG outcomes.
Key Takeaways
Here are just a few of the aha!moments from the discussion:
🔹 Simplicity is the Key to Scalability: Steve Capell, Vice Chair at UN/CEFACT, explored how the UN Transparency Protocol (UNTP) is designed to enable traceability and transparency at scale. This is not another technology platform. The UNTP is an open source protocol creating a common approach for sustainability data to flow freely across industries, borders, and organisations.
🔹 Sustainability as a Competitive Edge: Zachary Zeus, CEO of Pyx Global, highlighted how Standards Australia’s Unified Data Protocol (UDP) is building bridges between global standards, allowing businesses to not only comply but outcompeteby being better prepared to tackle complex reporting requirements.
🔹 Simple, Repeatable Patterns Win: From discussions about mapping greenhouse gas emissions to building product passports, the conversation kept coming back to one point: an application of the 80/20 rule. Focusing on the 80% that can be standardised and repeatable allows organisations to unlock capacity and confidence to address the complex, case-specific 20%.
Why This Matters
With a significant percentage of sustainability claims at risk of being classified as greenwashing, the stakes have never been higher. Governments are stepping in with stricter regulations, and compliance is essential for market access and business trust.
Our panellists agreed: organisations need to act now to build consistent, scalable data ecosystems. Waiting until more new regulations hit will leave businesses scrambling to comply, spending heavily on auditors and rework instead of embedding sustainable practices into daily operations.
Final Thoughts and a Recent Partnership
The panel’s commentary and the discussions that followed made it clear that sustainability reporting isn’t just a compliance exercise—it’s an opportunity to lead, innovate, and build trust. Tools and technical protocols like the UNTP and UDP are pathways to simplifying complex challenges and unlocking competitive advantage.
This is so aligned with the work that BizCubed does that in 2024 we announced a new partnership with trust architecture start-up and United Nations Transparency Protocol accelerator, PyxGlobal, building on shared goals to revolutionise sustainability and traceability.
Keep an eye out for future collaborations.
Thank you to our speakers—Steve Capell, Zachary Zeus, and Rebecca Zeus—for driving this important conversation.
What’s your biggest challenge when it comes to sustainability reporting?
Reach out if you’d like to explore how BizCubed can help simplify your journey.