For the world to truly move the needle on climate change, global carbon dioxide emissions must decline by 50% by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050
As one of the top ethical, social, and strategic imperatives of our time, sustainability has found the perfect ally in technology for what it does best — drive innovation and efficiency. That explains why global sustainability challenges are increasingly eliciting technology-intensive solutions.
From tracking greenhouse emissions to global supply chains, catalysing sustainability with artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, big data and a host of other new technologies continues to gain in stature and influence. So much so that improving sustainability using technology solutions has become one of the four key priorities for organisations worldwide, according to Gartner. Evolving macroeconomic conditions and consumer demands are providing further tailwind to sustainability in boardrooms.
Embracing technology as the cornerstone of sustainability
When it comes to sustainability, digital technologies can be great facilitators of better performance as well as reporting. Cloud, for example, can obviate the need for expansive IT infrastructure, creating the right conditions to optimise efficiencies and emissions. Through seamless data integration and aggregation, hybrid multi-cloud technologies can bring greater accuracy to environmental models. Automation can enable resource-optimal processes.
Faster, lower-latency connections made possible by Internet of Things (IoT) and 5G technologies can create intelligent networks that allow for a sharper understanding and optimisation of energy consumption. Artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced analytics can help improve environmental models by enhancing the ability to read, analyse, and address environmental anomalies through timely and effective operational and supply chain interventions. Blockchain can bring greater efficiency to emission trading.
Technologies such as Digital Twin and APIs can weave together multiple disparate organisational systems into digital versions of entire operations. Such virtual representations of present and future performance offer organisations limitless possibilities to drive greater operational and environmental resilience by nipping real-world problems in the bud.
Changing mindset towards environmental responsibility
For the world to truly move the needle on climate change, global carbon dioxide emissions must decline by 50% by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050, according to a recent NASSCOM report. On their part, organisations need to undergo end-to-end transformation to meet net-zero obligations. They must understand how net-zero emissions will affect their growth and operations, and integrate that into every aspect of their businesses, including governance, supply chains, finance, and innovation. They must consider the entire product lifecycle, from sourcing of raw materials to end-of-life management, and work with suppliers to ensure responsible practices. According environmental and social responsibilities their due strategic importance calls for a shift in mindset, ongoing stakeholder engagement, and focused investments.
Digital technologies can help them accelerate their sustainability journeys, be it measuring and reducing carbon emissions, dialling up their use of renewable energy sources and energy-efficient components, or promoting a circular economy through take-back programmes and products with modular components. While digital technologies can streamline and optimise processes and operations to make them more sustainable, efficient, and cost-effective, the key challenge is sustained investments in cutting-edge technology solutions. While making a case for such investments, it must be remembered that they hold several operational, financial, competitive, and regulatory upsides too, helping organisations get closer to the ultimate objective of a thriving, socially just, net-zero future.
Reimagining the role of technology
There is growing interest among investors, regulators, and other stakeholders in how businesses address climate change and sustainability issues. Consumers are increasingly concerned about the global impact of the products and services they use. This has led businesses to reimagine and broaden their interactions with investors, partners, regulators, and customers with sustainability at the core. The complex and dynamic nature of supply chains can widen the information gap around carbon emissions. Being certified as sustainable is no longer a guarantee that organisations are indeed sourcing from environmentally conscious companies.
This has prompted the need for more stringent regulations and frameworks requiring organisations to disclose their carbon emissions and pollutants. Bain reveals that across industries, global CEOs are witnessing a growing demand for increased reporting and transparency on ESG issues. Under new mandates, public companies are required to disclose not only their own carbon emissions but also those of their vendors and their vendors’ vendors. This has created the need for emissions disclosures in more comprehensive terms. As new global mandates push for greater transparency and accuracy in computing and reporting emissions, organisations must proactively adopt technologies to gain a leg up on legislative and regulatory changes.
Technology has long been viewed narrowly in terms of economic and commercial constructs focused largely on cost and productivity benefits. It is time now to re-evaluate the integral role of new-age digital technologies in driving environmentally sound choices and practices. The pressing need for organisations to act is as much about their own future as it is about the future of the only planet we can call home.
Authored by: By Chander Damodaran, Chief Technology Officer at Brillio
