Why sustainability and digitization go hand-in-hand
Source: Peter Weckesser · SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC BLOG · | May 13, 2021
Source: Schneider Electric Blog
A few weeks ago I talked about some of the lessons I learned during my onboarding as a CDO of a global company during the height of the pandemic. This time, I’ll be talking about sustainability and fighting climate change.
If that sounds odd (why would a Chief Digital Officer talk about lowering global emissions?), it really shouldn’t. Yes, decarbonizing the global economy is about moving away from burning fossil fuels, and stepping up electrification and clean energy alternatives. But it’s also about being smarter and more efficient with our resources and energy usage.
That’s where digital transformation and technology – and thus CDOs like me – come in.
Climate change won’t wait for our decisions
The climate crisis we face today is the result of how we, as businesses, organizations, governments, and individuals, make decisions.
To reduce carbon emissions, we must decide to consume less energy and use energy more efficiently. It sounds simple. But we all know that this involves often unpopular decisions: Making it happen is tough. Especially without the right data.
Digital transformation at the service of sustainability
The good news is that today’s digital technologies can help us make decisions smarter, faster, more precisely – all of which is ultimately better for the planet.
There are three key enablers:
Transparency of consumption
The Internet of Things (IoT) allows us to collect and analyze energy and resource data, providing insights across systems, buildings, and plants, all the way up to the enterprise-level. With this visibility, electricity and other resources stop being “commodities“ that are simply delivered and used when needed. We can measure what we use and control what we measure, matching consumption to actual demand, grid performance, forecasts, and targets. This is the starting point for decarbonization.