How Ependion completed their DMA with a self-driven approach

Introduction

When Ependion began preparing for the ESRS reporting, they recognized the importance of building internal expertise to align their sustainability strategy with business objectives. Part of this was an ambition to take ownership of one of the crucial parts of their sustainability work, their DMA. This assessment is an important foundational step for companies to assess the scope of their sustainability work, enabling proper resource allocation for CSRD, as well as insights for wider value creation.

As they knew their internal processes best, they believed that with the right tools and guidance, they could confidently get ready for their test audit without getting external guidance.

Led by Fredrik Persson, Quality & Sustainability Manager, Lena Westerholm, Group Head of Sustainability and Maria Åhman, Finance Accounting Manager, this is how they executed a cross-department initiative to complete their DMA.

Handling the DMA work internally

Like many organizations, Ependion faced the daunting task of starting their DMA from scratch. Managing diverse data sources, engaging stakeholders, and ensuring compliance with ESRS requirements felt overwhelming at first.

“We knew that involving external stakeholders with more expertise, while potentially helpful, would also require us to set up entirely new ways of working and affect our ability to conduct internal due diligence.

While we were initially daunted by the complexity and the scope of CSRD, ESRS, and even the DMA itself, we opted to learn as we went. With several team members coming from a background in sustainability, we researched software solutions and landed on Position Green’s ESRS solution.”

The solution provided step-by-step guidance, automated workflows, and pre-configured templates tailored to the CSRD framework. It helped them streamline data collection and align with the frameworks efficiently.

Simplifying the complexity of the DMA

“We understood that a successful DMA required input from various departments. By involving stakeholders from finance, operations, HR and sustainability, we ensured the process reflected the company’s holistic impact.

Position Green’s software facilitated this collaboration by enabling real-time input from team members across the organization.”

This cross-functional engagement not only enriched the DMA but also strengthened internal buy-in for sustainability initiatives, enabling Ependion to assign tasks and track progress, so colleagues felt involved and accountable.

Building internal expertise to align sustainability efforts with long-term business goals

A principal aspect of this process for Ependion was in building their knowledge internally across different departments, from procurement to HR.

“As a precursor for this, we leveraged our internal experts to work internally to re-educate our team members on the key elements of this sustainability project.

To make this executable, we focused efforts on delegating through management and educating stakeholders at this level of the organization on why a DMA was crucial to pursue. This helped secure cross-functional buy-in for the project, and to leverage expertise from different departments for the different stages of their DMA.”

With the organization aligned on the bigger picture and roped in from the start, it also meant that Ependion’s teams were working on the same wavelength for the project.

Not to mention that since the DMA covers so many different types of materiality, it meant that they were able to activate the expertise in each of their departments to solve different stages of the DMA process more efficiently.

“We initially struggled with how we could estimate our financial impacts as part of our financial materiality. This is where our financial team stepped in. Rather than building an entirely new process to measure our financial impacts, we leveraged the existing processes they had in place already for evaluating financial risks.”

And despite involving multiple stakeholders at different levels of Ependion’s organization, Position Green’s platform was able to serve as the hub where different stakeholders could log, collate, and collaborate together.

A more closely aligned organization through Position Green

At this time, Ependion are going through the audit process with ESRS auditors, giving them access to their ESRS-related data through Position Green for them to conduct a deep dive into Ependion’s DMA. 

“So far this has been a very smooth process and we have yet to receive any negative feedback, which is great news.

The auditors also seem to appreciate getting access to the software themselves, as it reduces the back-and-forth communication that can often come from audits like these.

We have also seen that by taking the plunge and handling this process internally, we have saved many thousands in costs from not being dependent on consultants.”

More than that, though, this process has helped bring Ependion closer together. They were independently able to contribute to a company-wide project and align all their processes.

“Having all data in one system eased audits.”

Fredrik Persson, Quality & Sustainability Manager & Lena Westerholm, Group Head of Sustainability at Ependion

With these processes aligned and ready to be improved for next year, Ependion feel more confident and ambitious with their DMAs and sustainability strategy than they did before they started.

About Ependion

Ependion is a global leader in industrial digital solutions, specializing in secure control, data communication, and visualization technologies. With a focus on innovation and operational excellence, Ependion serves a wide range of industries, helping them adapt to the demands of digitalization.

Committed to sustainability, the company aligns its operations with international climate goals, integrating environmental responsibility into its business strategy to drive meaningful impact.

Read more about Ependion’s work here.