One of the ways Microsoft says it will help the environment is through software tools for other companies, as detailed in our story last week on environmental chief Rob Bernard. Today the company unveiled one -- the "Environmental Sustainability Dashboard" for its Dynamics AX business software. The dashboard tracks and analyzes energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

Ironically, however, Microsoft itself isn't in a position for a big rollout internally. The free dashboard is available to companies running Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, the latest version of the enterprise resource planning software. Several Microsoft groups use AX 2009, and some plan to use the dashboard, but not enough for widespread companywide implementation.

In general, the idea behind the sustainability dashboard is to help companies measure and reduce not only their environmental impact but also their costs, said Jennifer Pollard, a Microsoft Dynamics senior product manager.

"Companies that engage in these practices are actually just engaging in good business practices," she said, "because when you start to look at your business through the lens of environmental sustainability, it means finding efficiencies in the way you're running your business and the way resources are flowing through your business."

As for Microsoft itself?

"We've had some discussions about using the dashboard all-up, and it would require some manual entry from parts of the business that aren't necessarily running AX," Pollard said. "But that's possible, and it may be something that we do over time."

Add it to the benchmarks we'll use to assess Bernard's progress as we check back in with him over the next year.