Information processing system, information processing method, and program

Abstract

To provide a system capable of reducing the man-hours required for preparing an environmental report, which is a kind of disclosure documents.SOLUTION: An information processing system includes: an active amount storage unit which stores an active amount in association with an activity for emitting greenhouse gas; an emission factor storage unit which stores emission factors for calculating emission amounts of greenhouse gas in association with the activity; an emission amount calculation unit which calculates emission amounts based on the active amount and the emission factors; an information generation unit which generates a report including at least information related to the emissions of greenhouse gas; and an output unit which outputs information on the calculated emission amounts to the information generation unit. The information generation unit reflects the emission amounts in a description column of emission amounts in the report, based on the information on the emission amounts output from the output unit.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing system, an information processing method, and a program.

Background Art

[0002] A system for assisting in creating an environmental report has been disclosed (see Patent Document 1).

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] In recent years, since listed companies are required to disclose climate-related information that has an impact on their finances, listed companies report their efforts towards the environment to shareholders, investors, and other stakeholders by disclosing environmental reports, sustainability reports, CSR reports (hereinafter collectively referred to as "environmental reports, etc.") together with their financial statements. Since creating environmental reports, etc. also requires a huge amount of man-hours similar to financial statements, it has become an urgent task to take measures to reduce the man-hours involved in their creation.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of such a background, and an object thereof is to provide a system capable of reducing the man-hours involved in creating environmental reports, etc., which are a type of disclosure documents.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] The information processing system according to this aspect includes an activity amount storage unit that stores an activity amount in association with activities that emit greenhouse gases, an emission factor storage unit that stores an emission factor for calculating the emission amount of greenhouse gases in association with activities, an emission amount calculation unit that calculates an emission amount based on the activity amount and the emission factor, an information generation unit that generates a report including at least information related to the emission of greenhouse gases, and an output unit that outputs information on the calculated emission amount to the information generation unit. The information generation unit reflects the emission amount in the report based on the information on the emission amount output by the output unit.

[0007] Regarding other problems disclosed in the present application and their solutions, they will be clarified by the embodiments of the invention and the drawings.

Effects of the Invention

[0008] According to the present invention, the man-hours related to the creation of environmental reports and the like, which are a type of disclosure documents, can be reduced.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0009]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Modes for Carrying Out the Invention

[0010] Listed companies are obliged to immediately disclose the content of their financial statements for the business year or consolidated accounting year and the content of their financial statements for the quarterly cumulative period or quarterly consolidated cumulative period when it is determined. Therefore, listed companies regularly disclose financial statements to shareholders and investors. The format used for financial statements (referring to financial highlights, securities reports, etc., hereinafter referred to as the "financial statement format") is provided by the Japan Exchange Group (a corporation engaged in the business of opening and operating the stock exchange financial products market). Listed companies create financial statements by entering numerical values related to their own financial statements into the financial statement format. Generally, the order for creating financial statements is: (1) collect numerical values that form the basis of the financial statements from business departments → (2) create financial and accounting data in the accounting and finance department and enter it into the financial statement format → (3) final confirmation before submission by the general affairs department, and a huge amount of man-hours are required to create financial statements. For this reason, many listed companies use the "disclosure document creation support system" provided by disclosure support companies to reduce the man-hours for creating financial statements. In recent years, listed companies have been required to disclose climate-related information that has an impact on their finances, so listed companies report their efforts towards the environment to shareholders, investors, and other stakeholders by disclosing "environmental reports, etc." together with their financial statements. Even in the creation of "environmental reports, etc.", a huge amount of man-hours are required, similar to financial statements, so in the future, they are considering using the "disclosure document creation support system" provided by disclosure support companies.

[0011] <System Overview> FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration example of the information processing system according to the present embodiment. The information processing system of the present embodiment includes an information processing apparatus A as a first management server 200. The management server 200 is communicably connected to the user terminal 100 via a communication network 300. The management server 200 is communicably connected to an information processing apparatus B as a second management server 2000 via the communication network 300. It shows that the management server 200 (information processing apparatus A) and the management server 2000 (information processing apparatus B) are communicably connected to each other. The communication network 300 is, for example, the Internet, and is constructed by a public telephone line network, a mobile phone line network, a wireless communication path, Ethernet (registered trademark), or the like.

[0012] The management server 200 is a computer that manages the emission status (emission intensity, activity level, emission amount) of greenhouse gases. The management server 200 is a computer that creates and outputs emission reports such as environmental reports and CDP reports. The management server 200 can transmit information related to the emission status of its own company (emission intensity, activity level, emission amount, and other information described in the emission report) to another management server 2000, and can obtain information related to the emission status of other companies (others) from another management server 2000 (emission intensity, activity level, emission amount, and other information described in the emission report). Thereby, the emission status of the entire supply chain including its own company can be grasped.

[0013] The management server 2000 is also a computer that manages the emission status (emission intensity, activity level, emission amount) of greenhouse gases. Further, the management server 2000 is a computer that creates and outputs emission reports such as environmental reports and CDP reports. The management server 2000 can transmit information related to the emission status (emission intensity, activity level, emission amount, and other information described in the emission report) to the management server 200. Also, information related to the emission status of other companies (others) (emission intensity, activity level, emission amount, and other information described in the emission report) can be obtained from other management servers (not shown). Thereby, the emission status of the entire supply chain can be grasped.

[0014] The management servers 200 and 2000 may be general-purpose computers such as workstations or personal computers, or may be logically realized by cloud computing.

[0015] <Management Server> FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration example of the management servers 200 and 2000. Note that the illustrated configuration is an example, and other configurations may be used. The management servers 200 and 2000 include a CPU 201, a memory 202, a storage device 203, a communication interface 204, an input device 205, and an output device 206. The storage device 203 stores various data and programs, such as a hard disk drive, a solid state drive, or a flash memory. The communication interface 204 is an interface for connecting to the communication network 300, such as an adapter for connecting to Ethernet (registered trademark), a modem for connecting to a public telephone network, a wireless communication device for performing wireless communication, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) connector or an RSC connector for serial communication, etc. The input device 205 inputs data, such as a keyboard, a mouse, a touch panel, a button, a microphone, etc. The output device 206 outputs data, such as a display, a printer, a speaker, etc. Note that each functional unit of the management server 200 described below is realized by the CPU 201 reading a program stored in the storage device 203 into the memory 202 and executing it, and each storage unit of the management server 200 is realized as a part of the storage area provided by the memory 202 and the storage device 203.

[0016] An example of the software configuration of the management server 200 will be described with reference to FIG. 3. The management server 200 includes a storage unit 230 (activity amount storage unit, discharge coefficient storage unit, scale information storage unit), an acquisition unit 250 (activity amount acquisition unit, information acquisition unit), a calculation unit 210 (discharge amount calculation unit), a generation unit 260 (information generation unit), an input unit 220 (information input unit, discharge amount input unit), and an output unit 240 (discharge coefficient presentation unit, information presentation unit).

[0017] <Memory unit> The activity amount memory unit that constitutes the memory unit 230 stores information (hereinafter referred to as activity amount information) including the activity amount related to the activities related to the emission of greenhouse gases. The activity amount information may include an activity ID, an activity name, time information, an activity amount, and a unit. The activity ID is information that uniquely identifies the activity amount information. The time information is information indicating the time when the activity was performed (information specifying the period for aggregating the emission amount), for example, a date or a date and time. The activity name is the name of the activity. The activity name can represent the type of the activity amount. The activity amount is the amount or frequency of the activity (for example, the number of manufactured products, the transportation distance, the usage time, etc.). The unit is the unit of the activity amount (for example, pieces, km, hours, yen, etc.).

[0018] The emission factor storage unit that constitutes the memory unit 230 stores emission factors for calculating the emission amount of greenhouse gases. The emission factor storage unit can store, for each business entity, the emission factors for calculating the emission amount of greenhouse gases by that business entity. The emission factor storage unit can store the emission factors in association with the business entity and information (activity details) that identifies the activities of the business entity. The emission factor storage unit can also store the emission factors of its own company. The emission factor storage unit stores information (hereinafter referred to as emission factor information) including the emission factors for calculating the emission amount of greenhouse gases. The emission factor information may include an emission factor ID, a coefficient group ID, activity identification information, gas type, emission factor, and unit. The emission factor ID is information for uniquely identifying the emission factor information. The coefficient group ID is information for identifying the group to which the emission factor belongs. The group of emission factors is, for example, information that identifies the company that calculated the emission factor when the emission factor is primary data, and information indicating the entity that performed the aggregation, the version, etc. (e.g., the 2023 version of the emission factor formulated by the Ministry of the Environment, etc.) when the emission factor is secondary data. The activity identification information is information for identifying the activities related to the emission factor. The activity identification information may be the activity ID of the activity amount information or the activity name. The gas type is the type of greenhouse gas to be calculated (e.g., CO2, CH4, N2O, etc.). In this embodiment, CO2 is assumed. The unit is the unit of the emission factor (e.g., tCO / kg, etc.).

[0019] The scale information storage unit that constitutes the storage unit 230 stores scale information indicating the scale of each business entity for each business entity. In the present embodiment, the scale of the business entity is at least one of the sales scale and the asset scale. The sales scale and the asset scale may be numerical values. In the present embodiment, the scale information includes the sales amount and the asset amount of the business entity in association with the business entity ID indicating the business entity. The scale information storage unit stores the first information and the second information described later. The first information and the second information may be combined as combined information and the combined information may be stored in the scale information storage unit. Note that the first information and the second information may be stored using a storage unit different from the scale information storage unit.

[0020] <Functional unit> The activity amount acquisition unit that constitutes the acquisition unit 250 acquires the activity amount of the business entity. The activity amount acquisition unit can receive an input of the activity amount of its own company. In addition, the activity amount acquisition unit can acquire the activity amount of its own company from its own accounting system, business system, etc. The activity amount acquisition unit can also acquire the activity amount by the first business entity (supplier) that constitutes the upstream or downstream of the supply chain. The activity amount acquisition unit may, for example, be configured to receive an input of the activity amount or acquire the activity amount from the information processing device of the supplier.

[0021] The emission amount calculation unit that constitutes the calculation unit 210 calculates (computes) the emission amount of greenhouse gases. The emission amount calculation unit can also calculate (compute) the emission amount of its own company. The emission amount calculation unit can also calculate (compute) the emission amount of the supplier. The emission amount calculation unit can read out the emission coefficient corresponding to the supplier from the emission coefficient storage unit and multiply the read emission coefficient by the activity amount of the supplier acquired by the activity amount acquisition unit to calculate the emission amount by the supplier.

[0022] When the emission factor presentation unit that constitutes the output unit 240 has no registered emission volume of the supplier, it presents the emission factors of other business entities similar to the supplier. The emission factor presentation unit can transmit the presented emission factors to the user terminal 100 and receive an instruction on the emission factors to be adopted from the user terminal 100. The user terminal 100 may adopt the presented emission factors, input the emission factors it knows, or adopt the standard emission factors provided by the Ministry of the Environment or the like. The emission volume calculation unit can calculate the emission volume using the emission factors instructed from the user terminal 100.

[0023] The emission factor presentation unit reads out the scale information corresponding to the supplier from the scale information storage unit, and further refers to the scale information storage unit to identify a second business entity (another supplier) corresponding to the scale information that matches or is similar to the read scale information, and reads out the emission factors corresponding to the identified other supplier from the emission factor storage unit. The similarity of the scale information can be determined by whether the difference in sales amount and / or asset amount is within a predetermined range. The emission factor presentation unit may read out the emission factors corresponding to the identified other supplier and the activity from the emission factor storage unit. The emission factor presentation unit can present the read emission factors. Note that the second business entity is one or more other suppliers.

[0024] The emission factor presentation unit may identify other suppliers with similar scale information related to the activity. In this case, the scale information stored in the scale information storage unit includes the sales amount and / or asset amount by activity (for example, by product, by service, etc.). The emission factor presentation unit can read out the emission factors corresponding to the other suppliers with scale information related to the activity that matches or is similar and the activity from the emission factor storage unit.

[0025] The information acquisition unit that constitutes the acquisition unit 250 acquires the first information and the second information. The first information is information that at least includes information related to greenhouse gas emissions by business entities that make up the upstream or downstream of the supply chain. The first information is, for example, a report (hereinafter referred to as an emission report) in which information related to emissions is described, an information group showing a plurality of external findings, etc. The first information is also referred to as emission information. The emission report exemplifies an environmental report, etc., but may also be other reports such as a TCFD report, a CDP report (response to a CDP questionnaire), a sustainability report, a regular report based on the Energy Conservation Law, and a securities report. Information related to greenhouse gas emissions is, for example, information indicating the emission volume, information on the content described in the emission report, information shown by internal and external findings, etc.

[0026] The second information is information that at least indicates the attributes of the business entity (supplier). The second information includes, for example, scale information, attribute information of each supplier, industry information, greenhouse gas emission registration information, future target information, industry information as supplier attribute information, industry trend information, customer information, information mapping accounting items and emission unit coefficients, information on guidelines related to the GHG Protocol, information mapping accounting items and emission factors accumulated in the past, and various other internal and external finding information.

[0027] The methods by which the information acquisition unit acquires these pieces of information include the method of acquiring information input from one or more user terminals 100 and the method of acquiring information by the management server 200. In the case of the method acquired by the management server 200, based on the attribute information corresponding to the first business entity, etc., scale information of the second business entity, information related to emissions, etc. are acquired. For example, if the attribute information corresponding to the first business entity is transportation, scale information of the second business entity, which is transportation information, and information related to emissions are acquired. Information related to emissions (also referred to as information on the type of emissions) is, for example, information on greenhouse gas emissions, information indicating Scopes 1 to 3, information indicating Categories 1 to 15 of Scope 3, etc. The information acquisition unit and the activity amount acquisition unit may be not separate acquisition units but a single acquisition unit. Also, the information related to emissions may be information such as the content described in the emission report.

[0028] The information generation unit that constitutes the generation unit 260 generates a report including at least information related to greenhouse gas emissions. The report exemplifies, for example, an environmental report, etc., but is not limited thereto. Also, the information generation unit reflects the emission amount in the emission amount description column of the report based on the emission amount information output by the emission amount output unit, and creates an environmental report, etc.

[0029] The information generation unit reads out second information corresponding to the first business entity (for example, transportation information which is the company's own attribute information) from the scale information storage unit, refers to the scale information storage unit, and identifies a second business entity corresponding to the second information that matches or is similar to the read second information (for example, other transportation suppliers). Then, it reads out information related to emissions corresponding to the identified second business entity (for example, information described in an environmental report, etc.) from the scale information storage unit, and generates third information (for example, an environmental report reflecting the review results or a new environmental report, etc.) that is different from the first information and the second information based on the read information related to emissions. The third information is information reflecting the content described in the emissions report of the second business entity. That is, the third information is information created based on the emissions reports of multiple other suppliers, and the management server 200 stores the emissions reports of multiple other suppliers and generates the third information based on these pieces of information.

[0030] Also, the emissions reports of multiple other suppliers can be analyzed by the generation unit 260, and the third information can be generated based on the analysis results. Additionally, an analysis unit 280, which is a functional unit different from the generation unit 260, can be provided separately from the generation unit 260. The analysis unit 280 analyzes the emissions reports of multiple other suppliers, and based on the analysis results in the analysis unit 280, the generation unit 260 can generate the third information. The object of analysis is not limited to the emissions reports of other suppliers. Also, the third information generated may be the emissions report itself. In this case, the information generation unit creates a new emissions report. Furthermore, the third information may be information indicating the emissions amount of the second business entity, information indicating Scopes 1 to 3, information suggesting Categories 1 to 15 of Scope 3, etc.

[0031] Also, the information corresponding to the first business entity may be, for example, information in which the user maps the scope and / or category for accounting items and the emission factor. In this case, the information generation unit reads the information corresponding to the first business entity (for example, information in which the scope and / or category for accounting items and the emission factor are mapped) from the scale information storage unit, refers to the scale information storage unit, and identifies a second business entity (for example, another supplier) corresponding to the second information that matches or is similar to the information corresponding to the first business entity read out. Then, the information generation unit reads the information related to the emissions corresponding to the identified second business entity (for example, information on external insights) from the scale information storage unit, and generates third information (for example, an environmental report reflecting the insights on the mapped information) that is different from the first information and the second information based on the read information related to the emissions. The third information is an environmental report or the like that reflects information in which accounting items and emission units are mapped, information in which the scope and / or category and the emission factor are mapped, and the like.

[0032] The information presentation unit that constitutes the output unit 240 presents an environmental report or the like as the third information. The information presentation unit transmits the presented environmental report or the like to the user terminal 100, and the user terminal 100 displays the environmental report or the like. Also, the environmental report or the like transmitted to the user terminal 100 can be edited and processed on the user terminal 100. Although the information presentation unit is described as a function different from the emission factor presentation unit, it may be the same function, and in this case, it is referred to as the presentation unit.

[0033] The emission amount output unit that constitutes the output unit 240 outputs the calculated emission amount (information indicating the value of the emission amount as the information on the emission amount). Although it outputs to the user terminal 100, it may output to the input unit 220. The emission amount output unit may output, for example, the total value of all emission amounts, the total value of the emission amounts for each scope according to the GHG protocol, or the total value of the emission amounts for each category of Scope 3.

[0034] The information input unit that constitutes the input unit 220 inputs the information corresponding to the first business entity input from the user terminal 100 into the management server 200. The management server 200 acquires the input information corresponding to the first business entity by the information acquisition unit.

[0035] Also, when the user inputs the information of the emission report created by the user's own company into the management server 200 by the user terminal 100, the review result (the third information) may be displayed. In this case, the emission report created by the user's own company is the first information. Also, it is preferable that the second information is included in the emission report created by the user's own company. The management server 200 generates a review result, which is information on the description items required for the user's emission report and the information on the content to be added or corrected in the emission report, based on the acquired emission reports of a plurality of other suppliers, and presents an emission report reflecting the review result. The method of inputting the information of the emission report into the management server 200 may be such that the character information via OCR is input by the input unit 220. By doing so, a plurality of types of emission reports can be easily acquired.

[0036] The emission amount input unit that constitutes the input unit 220 inputs the information on the emission amount output from the emission amount output unit. Note that the emission amount input unit may be a function that constitutes the acquisition unit 250. In this case, the acquisition unit 250 acquires the information on the emission amount output from the emission amount output unit.

[0037] <Operation> FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a process of generating a report as an operation of the management server 200. The management server 200 stores the activity amount in the activity amount storage unit in association with activities that emit greenhouse gases (S401). Next, the management server 200 stores, in the emission factor storage unit, an emission factor for calculating the emission amount of greenhouse gases in association with the activities (S402). Next, the emission amount calculation unit of the management server 200 calculates the emission amount based on the activity amount and the emission factor (S403). Next, the emission amount output unit of the management server 200 outputs the information on the calculated emission amount to the information generation unit (S404). Next, the emission amount input unit of the management server 200 inputs the information on the emission amount output from the output unit (S405). Next, the information generation unit of the management server 200 acquires the information on the emission amount output by the output unit through the input unit, and based on the acquired information on the emission amount, reflects the emission amount in the emission amount description column of the report, and generates a report including at least information (emission amount) related to the emission of greenhouse gases (S406).

[0038] FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a process of generating and presenting a report as an operation of the management server 200. The information acquisition unit of the management server 200 acquires first information including at least information related to the emission of greenhouse gases by business entities constituting the upstream or downstream of the supply chain for each activity of calculating the emission amount (for example, each of the raw materials procured by the company itself, etc.) (S501). Next, the information acquisition unit of the management server 200 acquires second information indicating at least the attributes of the business entities (S502). Next, the management server 200 stores the acquired first information and second information in the scale information storage unit (S503). Next, the management server 200 reads out the second information corresponding to the first business entity from the scale information storage unit (S504). Next, the management server 200 refers to the scale information storage unit and identifies a second business entity corresponding to the second information that matches or is similar to the read second information (S505). Next, the management server 200 reads out the information related to the emission corresponding to the identified second business entity from the scale information storage unit, and generates a report (third information) based on the read information related to the emission (S506). Next, the information presentation unit of the management server 200 presents the report (third information) (S507).

[0039] In the process of generating and presenting a report, the management server 200 may calculate information related to greenhouse gas emissions by business entities constituting the upstream or downstream of the supply chain. This calculation is executed by an emission calculation unit. Also, the operations in FIG. 4 and the operations in FIG. 5 can be combined.

[0040] Also, according to the process of generating and presenting a report, an acquisition unit that acquires first information (e.g., an environmental report, etc.) including information related to greenhouse gas emissions by business entities constituting the upstream or downstream of the supply chain (e.g., information described in an environmental report, etc.), and second information indicating the attributes of the business entities (e.g., corporate information such as industry type, sales, and number of employees as supplier attribute information), an information generation unit that generates third information (e.g., a new environmental report, etc., an environmental report reflecting review results, etc.) based on information related to emissions of a second business entity (another supplier) that is the same as or similar to the second information (corporate information) corresponding to the first business entity, and a presentation unit that presents the third information, an information processing system can be provided.

[0041] The first information and the third information are not limited to reports of the same type, and may be reports of different types. For example, a CDP report or a securities report may be the first information, and an environmental report, etc. may be the third information. By doing so, it is possible to easily create a report different from a certain type of report from a certain type of report.

[0042] By simply inputting prerequisite conditions such as the first information and the second information in this way, a format of an emission report suitable for the user is provided. Therefore, even an operator who does not have specialized knowledge or know-how can easily create an emission report. Also, since the information processing system reviews based on a large number of published emission reports, the accuracy of the emission report created by the company itself can be improved.

[0043] In addition, the information processing system may be provided with an analysis unit 280 to execute an evaluation of an environmental report or the like acquired by the acquisition unit 250 and acquire a report with a high evaluation. It may refer to and analyze the scores of the previous year, sort them in descending order of score, and acquire the top 10 (not limited to the top 10) reports. Or it may refer to and analyze the scores of multiple years such as the previous year and the year before last, and acquire the top 10 reports with a high average score. When referring to and analyzing the scores of multiple years, the latest score may be preferentially used. Further, the analysis unit 280 may perform machine learning on the information acquired by the acquisition unit 250 and generate the best answer. Since it analyzes and presents the environmental reports, etc. at the top of the industry indicated by the attributes in this way, it is possible to create an emission report (for example, an environmental report, etc.) with a high score and also utilize it for strategies for climate change and the like.

[0044] Note that the second information may be information indicating customer attributes. The information indicating customer attributes is, for example, information such as industry type, sales amount, sales amount by business, market segment, number of employees, region of the business, content of the business, products and services sold, manufactured, or provided. Further, the second information may be information on initiatives related to sustainability. The information on initiatives related to sustainability is, for example, information such as goals related to climate change, in-house strategies and systems, and numerical goals. Furthermore, the second information may be information on external factors such as competitive information and information related to customer trends. Also, these information may be the first information. By having a large variety of types of the first information and the second information in this way, it is possible to easily create the third information.

[0045] In this embodiment, an example in which the first information processing apparatus includes an activity amount storage unit, an emission factor storage unit, an emission amount calculation unit, an emission amount output unit, an information generation unit, an emission amount input unit, and other functional units has been shown. However, the first information processing apparatus may include an activity amount storage unit, an emission factor storage unit, an emission amount calculation unit, and an emission amount output unit, and the second information processing apparatus may include an information generation unit and an emission amount input unit. For example, the greenhouse gas emission amount calculation system (the first information processing apparatus) is linked with the disclosure document creation support system (the second information processing apparatus) provided by the disclosure support company. When the greenhouse gas emission amount calculation system (the first information processing apparatus) calculates the greenhouse gas emission amount of the company, the calculation data is automatically reflected in the disclosure document creation support system (the second information processing apparatus), and an environmental report or the like is created using the disclosure document creation support system (the second information processing apparatus) in which the calculation data of the greenhouse gas emission amount is reflected. By doing so, the man-hours required for creating an environmental report or the like, which is a type of disclosure document, can be reduced.

[0046] <Other functional units (functions of P089)> In this embodiment, a logic storage unit, a reception unit, an emission amount calculation unit, and an information generation unit described below may be added.

[0047] The logic storage unit that constitutes the storage unit 230 stores information (hereinafter referred to as logic information) including the logic for calculating the emission amount. The logic information may include a logic ID, items of a report, and logic. The logic may include logic for calculating the activity amount (hereinafter referred to as the calculation activity amount) to be multiplied by the emission factor based on the activity amount corresponding to one or more activities. For example, it is possible to set logic that calculates, as the calculation activity amount used for calculating the emission amount (multiplying by the emission factor) for a specific item, the total of the activity amounts excluding those activities whose activity names include a specific character string among the activities. For example, it is possible to set logic that obtains the calculation activity amount by multiplying the activity amount for a specific item by a predetermined ratio. For example, it is possible to set logic such that 60% of the gasoline cost is used for the downstream transportation item and 40% is used for the upstream transportation item.

[0048] The reception unit that constitutes the input unit 220 receives from the user who creates the report a designation of items included in the report, activities necessary for calculating the emission amount related to the items, and emission factors. The activity can be designated by activity identification information. The emission factor can be designated by activity identification information and a coefficient group ID.

[0049] When the reception unit cannot retrieve from the activity amount storage unit the activity identification information (second activity identification information) included in the activity amount information that matches the received activity identification information (first activity identification information), it can perform an identification process between the received first activity identification information and the second activity identification information. The identification process can be performed, for example, by searching for those with a similarity between the first and second activity identification information equal to or greater than a predetermined value. Also, the identification process may be performed by machine learning. For example, a learning model is created by machine learning using two pieces of activity identification information and information indicating whether or not they correspond as training data, and the reception unit can estimate the corresponding second activity identification information by applying the received first activity identification information to the learning model.

[0050] When the reception unit cannot retrieve from the emission factor storage unit the activity identification information (third activity identification information) included in the emission factor information that matches the received activity identification information (first activity identification information), it can perform an identification process between the received first activity identification information and the third activity identification information. The identification process can be performed in the same manner as the above activity amount information. For example, it may be possible to search for those with a similarity between the first and third activity identification information equal to or greater than a predetermined value, or it may be possible to estimate the corresponding third activity identification information by applying the received first activity identification information to the above-described learning model.

[0051] The emission calculation unit calculates the emissions of greenhouse gases. For each item in the specified report, the emission calculation unit reads the activity amount corresponding to the specified activity from the activity amount storage unit, reads the specified emission factor from the emission factor storage unit, multiplies the read activity amount by the read emission factor to calculate the emission amount, aggregates the calculated emission amounts, and calculates the emission amount for each item.

[0052] The information generation unit creates the data of the report. For each item included in the report (the item received by the reception unit), the information generation unit can create report data with the emission amount for each item calculated by the emission calculation unit filled in. The report data can be data in any format such as a PDF file, a word processor file, an HTML file, etc. Regarding the format of the report, it can also be received from the user by the reception unit, and the information generation unit can create the report data in the received format. The information generation unit provides the created report data to the user terminal 1.

[0053] The reception unit can receive the input of the logic for calculating the emissions related to the item from the user. The logic can be received for each item. The logic can include information for specifying the activities necessary for calculating the emissions related to the item. The logic can also be set to calculate the emissions based on the activity amounts related to multiple activities. The logic can include information for calculating the activity amount to be used in the calculation based on the activity amount related to the activity. For example, for the activity amount of a specific activity, a predetermined ratio can be multiplied to be used in the calculation of the emissions for the item. For example, in the case where a certain ratio of the activity amount of transportation costs is allocated to upstream transportation and the remainder to downstream transportation, for the calculation of the emissions related to the item of upstream transportation, logic can be set to multiply the activity amount by the certain ratio. The emission calculation unit can calculate the emissions for each item according to the logic.

[0054] The management server 200 receives from a user who wishes to create a report the items of the report and the specification of the logic for each item. The specification of the logic includes the specification of activities and the specification of emission factors. It can also include the specification of time information (any period such as months or years).

[0055] Next, the management server 200 calculates the emission amount for each item according to the logic. When only the specification of activities and the specification of emission factors are made in the logic, the activity amount corresponding to the specified activity is read from the activity amount storage unit, the specified emission factor is read from the emission factor storage unit, and the emission amount can be calculated by multiplying the read activity amount and emission factor.

[0056] The specification of activities may be done by activity ID or by activity name. Also, when the activity amount information that matches the specified activity name is not registered in the activity amount storage unit, the activity amount information that matches the specified activity name can be retrieved using a learning model learned by machine learning with two names indicating the same activity as training data. In this case, not only the two activity names but also the user's attributes (industry type, company name, business expansion area, etc.) can be included in the training data for machine learning, and the user's attributes, the specified activity name, and the activity name of the activity amount information can be given to the learning model to determine whether they indicate the same activity.

[0057] When the emission factor is specified by the factor group ID, the factor group ID and the emission factor information corresponding to the activity can be read from the emission factor storage unit. Here too, when the specified activity does not match the activity identification information of the emission factor information, it is determined whether the specified activity and the activity identification information of the emission factor indicate the same activity using the learning model as described above. Among the emission factor information indicating the same activity, those including the factor group ID can be specified as the emission factors to be used for calculating the emission amount. Also, when time information is specified in the logic, it is possible to narrow down to the activity amount information corresponding to (matching or included in) the time information. Further, when the logic includes an aggregation method, the calculated emission amounts can be aggregated according to the aggregation method. When no aggregation method is included, when the emission amount is calculated by multiplying the emission factors for a plurality of activity amounts, the calculated emission amounts can be totaled and used as the emission amount to be included in the report.

[0058] Next, the management server 200 creates report data with the calculated emission amounts filled in for each item. The report data may be described, for example, in HTML or the like, or may be created as a word processor file, a PDF file, or the like.

[0059] Next, the management server 200 transmits the report data to the user terminal 1 of the user who wishes to create the report.

[0060] As described above, according to the information processing system of the present embodiment, a greenhouse gas report can be easily created in the format desired by the user.

[0061] <Data collection from external sources> For example, the management server 200 may be configured to include an activity amount acquisition unit that automatically acquires the activity amount from an external data source. The activity amount acquisition unit can acquire, for example, the number of sales, the number of purchases, the inventory quantity, journal entry data, etc. as the activity amount from an external computer such as a sales management system or an accounting system. The activity amount acquisition unit can also, for example, collect the activity amount from sensors or IoT devices in real time and store it in the activity amount storage unit.

[0062] In addition, the management server 200 may be configured to include an emission factor acquisition unit that automatically acquires the emission factor from an external data source. The emission factor acquisition unit can acquire, for example, the emission factor (primary data) calculated by the operator from the operator's computer. The emission factor acquisition unit can acquire, for example, the emission factor (secondary data) from a computer (such as an API, etc.) of an entity, local government, country, etc. that provides secondary data of the emission factor. The emission factor acquisition unit may also acquire the emission factor periodically and update the emission factor storage unit.

[0063] <AI Prediction> Furthermore, the management server 200 can predict future activity amounts, emission factors, and / or emission amounts based on past data using machine learning. For example, the management server 200 creates a prediction model by machine learning using past activity amounts, emission factors, and / or emission amounts as training data, and can infer the predicted values of the activity amount, emission factor, and / or emission amount by specifying future dates, periods, etc. for the created prediction model.

[0064] <Dashboard> Moreover, the management server 200 may display the emission amount data as a visual dashboard to support intuitive analysis. For example, the management server 200 can display the emission amount at different cut - offs such as by activity, period, type of greenhouse gas, etc. on the dashboard in the form of a graph. The user can also slice and dice the data on the dashboard to perform detailed analysis.

[0065] <Proposal of Offset> In addition, the management server 200 can propose greenhouse gas offsets for the calculated emissions. For example, it can be equipped with a database of environmental values (credits) for offsetting, search for sellable environmental values according to the emissions, and propose them to the user.

[0066] <User Interface> In addition, the management server 200 may provide a user interface that can create logic through a GUI. On the user interface, a list of selectable activities can be displayed, and the user can be allowed to select the activities necessary for calculating the emissions of the items. Note that multiple selections of items are also possible. On the user interface, the emission factors for each group can be shown, and the designation of the group of emission factors to be used can be accepted. On the user interface, the user may be allowed to select arithmetic operations such as apportionment processing, unit conversion processing, and multiplication processing with other activity amounts. The management server 200 can create logic that describes the activity amounts, emission factors, and arithmetic operations using these selected / input on the user interface.

[0067] The input unit 220, output unit 240, acquisition unit 250, calculation unit 210, generation unit 260, estimation unit 270, analysis unit 280, and execution unit 290 of the management server 200 may be executed by a system (mechanical system) having an artificial intelligence that learns by itself.

[0068] <Disclosed Matters> This disclosure also includes the following configurations. [Item A1 (P093)] An information processing system comprising: an activity amount storage unit that stores an activity amount in association with an activity that emits a greenhouse gas; an emission factor storage unit that stores an emission factor for calculating an emission amount of the greenhouse gas in association with the activity; an emission amount calculation unit that calculates the emission amount based on the activity amount and the emission factor; an information generation unit that generates a report including at least information related to the emission of the greenhouse gas; an output unit (emission amount output unit) that outputs information on the calculated emission amount to the information generation unit; and an input unit (emission amount input unit) that inputs the information on the emission amount output from the output unit, wherein the information generation unit reflects the emission amount in the report (in the emission amount description column) based on the information on the emission amount output by the output unit. [Item A2] The information processing system according to Item A1, further comprising: an acquisition unit (information acquisition unit) that acquires first information including at least information related to the emission of the greenhouse gas by a business entity constituting an upstream or downstream of a supply chain, and second information indicating at least an attribute of the business entity; and a presentation unit (information presentation unit) that presents the report, wherein the information generation unit generates the report based on information related to the emission of a second business entity that matches or is similar to the second information corresponding to the first business entity. [Item A3] The information processing system according to Item A1, wherein a first information processing device includes the activity amount storage unit, the emission factor storage unit, the emission amount calculation unit, and the output unit (emission amount output unit), and a second information processing device includes the information generation unit and the input unit (emission amount input unit). [Item B1(P089)] An information processing system comprising: an activity amount storage unit that stores the activity amount for each activity related to greenhouse gas emissions; an emission factor storage unit that stores an emission factor for calculating the greenhouse gas emission amount; a reception unit that receives from a user who creates a report, a designation of an item included in the report, the activity and the emission factor necessary for calculating the emission amount related to the item; and an emission amount calculation unit that refers to the activity amount storage unit and the emission factor storage unit, and for each designated item, totals the value obtained by multiplying the activity amount corresponding to the designated activity by the designated emission factor to calculate the emission amount. [Item B2] The information processing system according to Item B1, wherein the reception unit receives an input of logic for calculating the emission amount related to the item from the user, and the emission amount calculation unit calculates the emission amount according to the logic for each item. [Item C1(P030)] For each business entity, an emission factor storage unit that stores emission factors for calculating the amount of greenhouse gas emissions, a scale information storage unit that stores scale information indicating at least one of the sales scale and the asset scale for each business entity, an acquisition unit that acquires the activity amount by a first business entity constituting the upstream or downstream of the supply chain, an emission amount calculation unit that multiplies the activity amount by the emission factor corresponding to the first business entity to calculate the emission amount by the first business entity, and when the emission factor corresponding to the first business entity is not registered, reads the scale information corresponding to the first business entity from the scale information storage unit, refers to the scale information storage unit, identifies a second business entity corresponding to the read scale information that matches or is similar to the read scale information, reads the emission factor corresponding to the identified second business entity from the emission factor storage unit, and a presentation unit that presents the read emission factor. An information processing system characterized by comprising: Item C1 includes a base information storage unit that stores information for identifying the location of a base for each business entity (hereinafter referred to as a base) that is an emission source of greenhouse gases, an activity amount storage unit that stores the activity amount by the emission source for each base, an activity amount input unit that receives input of the location information and activity amount of a user's mobile terminal from the mobile terminal, a base identification unit that refers to the base information storage unit and identifies a base based on the location information, and a registration unit that registers the input activity amount in the activity amount storage unit in association with the identified base. [Item C2] The information processing system according to Item C1, wherein the sales scale and the asset scale are numerical values, and the presentation unit identifies the second business entity corresponding to the scale information stored in the scale information storage unit and having a difference from the read scale information within a predetermined range. An information processing system characterized by this. [Item C3] The information processing system according to item C1, wherein the emission factor storage unit stores the emission factors in association with the business entity and the activities carried out by the business entity, the scale information storage unit stores the scale information in association with the activities, the emission amount calculation unit acquires the emission factors corresponding to the activities related to the first business entity and the activity amount, and the presentation unit refers to the scale information storage unit to identify a second business entity whose scale information matches or is similar to the scale information of the first business entity and corresponds to the activity, and reads out the identified second business entity and the emission factors corresponding to the activity from the emission factor storage unit. An information processing system characterized by the above.

[0069] Although an example of an information processing system is shown in the disclosed matter, it can also be an information processing method in which a computer executes each process (step) of the information processing system and a program for causing the computer to execute.

Explanation of symbols

[0070] 100 User terminal 200 First information processing device 2000 Second information processing device

Claims

1. An activity amount storage unit that stores an activity amount in association with an activity that emits greenhouse gases, An emission factor storage unit that stores an emission factor for calculating the emission amount of the greenhouse gas in association with the activity, An emission amount calculation unit that calculates the emission amount based on the activity amount and the emission factor, An information generation unit that generates a report including at least information related to the emission of the greenhouse gas, An output unit that outputs information on the calculated emission amount to the information generation unit, Comprising, Based on the information on the emission amount output by the output unit, the information generation unit reflects the emission amount in the report, An information processing system characterized by this.

2. The information processing system according to Claim 1, An acquisition unit that acquires first information including at least information related to the emission of the greenhouse gas by a business entity constituting the upstream or downstream of the supply chain, and second information indicating at least the attributes of the business entity, A presentation unit that presents the report, Comprising, Based on the information related to the emission of a second business entity that is the same as or similar to the second information corresponding to the first business entity, the information generation unit generates the report, An information processing system characterized by this.

3. The information processing system according to Claim 1, The first information processing device includes the activity amount storage unit, the emission factor storage unit, the emission amount calculation unit, and the output unit, The second information processing device includes the information generation unit, An information processing system characterized by this.

4. A step of storing an activity amount in an activity amount storage unit in association with an activity that emits greenhouse gases, A step of storing an emission factor for calculating the emission amount of the greenhouse gas in an emission factor storage unit in association with the activity, A step of calculating the emission amount based on the activity amount and the emission factor, A step of generating a report including at least information related to the emission of the greenhouse gas, A step of outputting information on the calculated emission amount, Based on the output information on the emission amount, a step of reflecting the emission amount in the report, An information processing method characterized in that a computer executes this.

5. A step of storing an activity amount in an activity amount storage unit in association with an activity that emits greenhouse gases, A step of storing an emission factor for calculating the emission amount of the greenhouse gas in an emission factor storage unit in association with the activity, A step of calculating the emission amount based on the activity amount and the emission coefficient; A step of generating a report including at least information related to the emission of the greenhouse gas; A step of outputting information on the calculated emission amount; A step of reflecting the emission amount in the report based on the output information on the emission amount; A program for causing a computer to execute the above steps.

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