The new tool is aimed at midsize businesses looking to find new ways to cut down energy consumption and costs.

"In many cases, midsize organizations can’t retain dedicated consultants to audit their environmental performance. By integrating groundbreaking environmental performance management capabilities with Microsoft Dynamics AX, we are bringing that critical information directly to customers as part of their everyday business management," said Kirill Tatarinov, corporate vice president, Microsoft Business Solutions.

The Environmental Sustainability Dashboard enables companies to collect auditable data on four of the core environmental performance indicators, such as the direct on-premise fuel consumption and the carbon footprint of their power usage.

The generated report can be surfaced within employees’ individual Role Centers within Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 or Microsoft Office SharePoint Server.

In addition, Microsoft released detailed instructions on how businesses can implement environmental management accounting principles within Microsoft Dynamics GP and Microsoft Dynamics NAV to gain greater visibility into their environmental footprint.