More than reporting: enterprise resource planning as enabler of business model transformation for climate change mitigation

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are evolving to support organisations in addressing their climate impact. Yet, there is a paucity of empirical and cross-sectoral data on how these solutions can mitigate organisations’ negative climate impact through changes in business models. By focusing on a dataset of ERP-related patents published between 2020 and 2024, within a climate change classification, this study aims to shed light on how ERP-based solutions can enable business model transformation to improve environmental performance and to investigate Industry 4.0 technologies that facilitate such mitigations. Through a pragmatic inductive approach employing mixed methods, the study uncovers three main areas of business model transformation for climate change mitigation: production optimisation, sustainability management and monitoring, and supply chain performance improvement. While most of the examined patents prioritise production optimisation, the findings reveal the emergence of novel applications designed to enhance organisational sustainability management and monitoring. Furthermore, the research emphasises unexploited opportunities to enhance ERPs through the integration of Industry 4.0 technologies. This study provides a substantial contribution to the existing literature by focusing on a significant yet underexplored area: ERP-based solutions designed to enable business model transformation to mitigate climate change, with implications for researchers, organisational adopters, and system developers.