Use Workiva AI for sustainability reporting

This article is for:

Sustainability Reporting Advanced workspaces with Workiva AI enabled

Note: Workiva AI is available for any customer who signs the Workiva AI Terms of Use. Once signed and approved, Workiva AI is enabled for the organization — and all of its workspaces and users — by default. Org Admins can manage its enablement as needed, such as to restrict Workiva AI to only specific workspaces and users, or to disable it for the entire organization.

When enabled for your workspace, Workiva AI can assist as you prepare your company's sustainability reporting. For example, Workiva AI can help:

Summarize reporting standards and disclosure requirements with easy-to-digest synopses
Generate compliance-ready narrative responses based on provided content and requirements
Analyze data and reporting outputs to extract trends, performance drivers, and key values

Framework Intelligence

When you enable Workiva AI for a Sustainability Reporting Advanced workspace, it includes additional knowledge bases trained on reporting frameworks:

ESRS Intelligence, for the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) from the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG)
ISSB Intelligence, for the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Sustainability Disclosure Standards from the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB)

With these knowledge bases, you can use Workiva AI as a questions-and-answers (Q&A) tool to help summarize and clarify the Standards and their disclosure requirements with easy-to-digest synopses.

Tip: If your Sustainability Explorer includes the ESRS or IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards, you can review the specific disclosure requirements that Workiva AI refers to within a response for more detail.

Note: To prompt for a draft response based on specific disclosure requirements and provided content or data, use Sustainability Disclosure Agent instead of Framework Intelligence.

Sustainability Disclosure Agent

When you enable Workiva AI for a Sustainability Reporting Advanced workspace, you can use Sustainability Disclosure Agent within Documents for Workiva AI-assisted reporting based on ESRS or IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards.

Note: This feature is provided to select customers as part of the Sustainability Disclosure Agent preview, which runs through May 31, 2026; Workiva may extend the testing period of preview features at its discretion. If interested in testing this feature, please contact your Workiva Customer Success Manager.

With Sustainability Disclosure Agent, you can prompt Workiva AI with a draft disclosure and the specific requirements it should address; in response, Workiva AI provides:

Compliance scorecard, to help identify gaps in the draft disclosure based on the provided requirements
Action items, with guidance on how resolve any gaps identified
Disclosure narrative, with a compliance-ready response based on provided content and requirements

Tip: Based on the provided draft disclosure, Sustainability Disclosure Agent can suggest applicable requirements.

To learn more, view Use Workiva AI with European Sustainability Reporting Standards or Use Workiva AI with IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards.

Suggested prompts

For the best responses from Workiva AI, enter a prompt that asks a single question and provides all necessary context, such as a role or reference file. For example, you can prompt Workiva AI to assist with general sustainability reporting needs, as well as for specific frameworks or carbon emissions disclosures.

Tip: To reference a file in your prompt — such as your company's sustainability report or one from a supplier or peer — click Add and select File.

As you collect data for your sustainability report, you can prompt Workiva AI to help draft narratives and identify anomalies, outliers, and other inconsistencies.

Goal	Suggested prompt
Audit data from previous periods, and explain any significant quantitative variance.	Select the periods' data — such as in your sustainability report or Factbook Spreadsheet — then enter this prompt: Analyze this data from [current period] against [previous period]. Identify anomalies or outliers that exceed a +/-20% variance. Then, to prompt for explanations: For each instance identified, provide a brief rationale — such as potential data entry error or operational shift — to help facilitate further investigation.
Synthesize complex data into a concise executive summary to explain annual changes	Select the data in your sustainability report or Factbook Spreadsheet, then enter this prompt: Based on this data, create a concise executive summary that clearly articulates year-over-year changes, with an emphasis on progress toward sustainability goals and explanations of any major data fluctuations.
Perform a cross-reference check to identify quantitative inconsistencies within your sustainability report	Reference the sustainability report's Document in your prompt: Perform a cross-reference check on the values in [@Document] to identify any quantitative inconsistencies or conflicting data points across its tables and text. List the specific sections where these discrepancies occur.
Perform a cross-reference check to identify qualitative inconsistencies within your sustainability report	Reference the sustainability report's Document in your prompt: Perform a cross-reference check on the values in [@Document] to identify any contradictory claims, goals, or narratives across sections. List the specific sections where these discrepancies occur.
Analyze previous year's CDP Questionnaire responses to identify scoring gaps and suggest a strategy for improvement	Select the CDP responses — such as within your Factbook Spreadsheet — then enter this prompt: Review these CDP responses to identify any gaps in data or disclosure areas. Provide a prioritized roadmap to improve the CDP score, with an emphasis on heavily-weighted questions.

If you use a knowledge base trained on the ESRS or IFRS Sustainability Reporting Standards, you can prompt Workiva AI to analyze reports for compliance or identify metrics' applicable disclosure requirements. For example:

Goal

Suggested prompt

Assess a draft report to identify missing disclosure requirements and suggest corrections

Reference the draft report's Document in your prompt:

As a Sustainability Compliance Auditor, evaluate @[Document] and identify missing or insufficient mandatory disclosures.

Then, to prompt for recommended corrections:

For each gap identified, provide a specific recommendation on the quantitative data or qualitative narrative needed for compliance.

Suggest applicable disclosure requirements to align with a metric in Sustainability Program, based on its name or description

Identify the specific Standards applicable to [metric name or description]. Provide each Standard's full title, and reference the exact paragraph number or letter to ensure accuracy for audit and compliance.

If you report Scope 1, 2, or 3 emissions data — such as from Carbon — you can prompt Workiva AI for performance analysis and peer benchmarking. For example:

Goal	Suggested prompt
Analyze emissions data to identify year-over-year (YoY) trends and key performance indicators (KPIs)	Within a Document, select the YoY emissions data to analyze, then enter this prompt: Based on this [Scope 1, 2, or 3 emissions] data, perform a comprehensive variance analysis to identify year-over-year trends and key performance indicators. Highlight any significant increases or decreases, and provide their potential business drivers.
Review a supplier's sustainability report to extract emissions data and generate targeted due diligence questions for procurement	Upload the supplier's report to your workspace, then reference it in your prompt: Review [@Report]. Extract the reported Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions, and summarize their primary decarbonization strategies. Then, to prompt for due diligence questions: Based on these findings, provide 3-5 high impact questions for the procurement team to assess the supplier's feasibility and reliability.
Compare your company's emissions data — such as from a report Document — against a peer's, to identify market standing and disclosure gaps	Upload the peer's report to your workspace, then reference it and your own Document in the prompt: As a Sustainability Analyst, compare our Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions data in [@Document] against our peer's in [@Report]. Identify our relative standing in total carbon footprint and renewable energy adoption. Highlight any areas where the peer discloses categories of Scope 3 emissions that we omit.
Create structured corporate policy for emissions reductions, including governance and reporting frameworks	Draft a formal Corporate Policy and Proceduce document for an emissions reduction strategy tailored to the [Industry] sector. Include sections for Governance, Operational scope, Target-setting methodology, and Annual reporting requirements. Tip: To help tailor the response to your content and narratives, reference your sustainability report or other file in the prompt.
Identify and rank facilities where renewable energy certificates (RECs) or power purchase agreements (PPAs) would most effectively reduce the Scope 2 footprint	Select the facilities' Scope 2 footprint data — such as in your sustainability report or Factbook Spreadsheet, then enter this prompt: Analyze this data to identify the facilities with the highest Scope 2 impact, ranked based on where the implementation of a REC or PPA would most significantly reduce the total carbon footprint.
Develop a facility-level decarbonization strategy with baseline analysis and implementation frameworks	Select the applicable emission data — such as in the Carbon lead sheet Spreadsheet template — then enter this prompt: Based on this data, create a facility emissions reduction roadmap. Include a baseline analysis, specific reduction projects, a prioritized timeline, and key performance indicators to track progress.

To learn more, view Tips for getting useful responses from Workiva AI.

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