As enterprises face growing regulatory and investor pressure on environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance, data and artificial intelligence are emerging as the backbone of sustainability execution. Global Capability Centres (GCCs), once focused on operational support, are now becoming central hubs for ESG analytics, automation and intelligence.

With regulations such as Europe’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), climate-risk stress testing and expanding Scope 3 disclosures, companies must process large volumes of sustainability data across geographies and value chains. GCCs are responding by building centralised data platforms, AI-driven carbon accounting models and automated governance reporting systems that deliver real-time ESG insights.

Advanced analytics and machine learning tools deployed within GCCs now enable enterprises to model climate risks, track supplier sustainability performance and simulate transition scenarios at scale. These capabilities are increasingly embedded into enterprise decision-making, linking ESG metrics with capital allocation, procurement strategy and risk management.

“ESG credibility today depends on analytical depth and data integrity,” said Alouk Kumar, MD & CEO of Inductus Group. “GCCs are transforming sustainability from fragmented reporting into an intelligence-led discipline.”

India’s GCC ecosystem is playing a pivotal role, hosting large-scale ESG data engineering, dashboard development and AI-enabled assurance platforms for global companies.

As sustainability reporting shifts from periodic disclosures to continuous monitoring, data and AI-driven GCCs are positioning themselves as the digital infrastructure powering enterprise ESG execution.