Leading businesses are aware that reaching ambitious sustainability targets necessitates a systematic, 360-degree approach to transformation. But to create sustainability as a competitive advantage, technology and data must be integrated right away. Today technology plays a far broader role than just “green IT.” Management teams should consider whether they are bringing game-changing technology and digital thinking to the task of meeting sustainability goals or whether this important business issue is missing an important dimension as more companies think about their technology and sustainability agendas in tandem.
Companies with consistently excellent environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance between 2013 and 2019 experienced 4.7 times larger operating margins and less volatility than low ESG performers during the same period, according to a report by the United Nations Global Compact and Accenture.
A new poll from Google Cloud examining the potential and difficulties faced by company executives in regards to sustainability has been released. According to the survey, 63% of executives think their company views sustainability as a growth area, and 74% think it can lead to significant business transformations. However, the gap between how correctly businesses can monitor sustainability and how well they believe they are doing it is causing significant concern.
An Analysis of Major Industries & How Technology Can Assist Them in Achieving Sustainability.
An overview of three important industries is given below, along with an analysis of some of their environmental implications and how technology is assisting them in moving in a more sustainable direction.
- Construction and Engineering
Buildings and infrastructure form the foundation of our civilization, allowing people to gather in places like schools, receive medical attention in hospitals, or buy goods at a local market. The environmental impact of building and infrastructure projects can be significantly reduced, thanks to current technologies. Early design processes, continued adoption of building information modeling (BIM), and the growth of technologies like mixed and augmented reality that allows project owners to visualize their projects before they are actually built, can all help lower the amount of rework, material use, fuel and other resource use, and overall energy consumption.
- Agriculture
Agriculture is the world’s largest industry. As a result, it ranks highly among the sources of pollution in many nations. Technology can also be helpful here. Today’s farms can function with less water and chemical input, thanks to precision application equipment, and cutting-edge technologies like robots, drones, and different kinds of sensors helping the agricultural industry become more ecologically friendly. The use of technology in agriculture has several positive effects on the environment, such as lessening the influence on natural ecosystems, reducing chemical runoff into rivers and groundwater, and ensuring safer food production.
- Transportation
As demand for travel rises, which is impacted by a confluence of variables including population and economic expansion, urban sprawl, and cheap fuel prices, it is anticipated that the environmental effects of transportation will worsen. The transportation industry does have a significant environmental impact, but there is also room for improvement. A more advanced infrastructure for electric vehicles, tools for better fleet maintenance, higher fuel efficiency, and routing, as well as the widespread usage of autonomous vehicles, are just a few of the many ways that technology can help in this situation.
Heard of “Technology Ecoadvantage”?
Technology may serve as a significant accelerator for businesses willing to think widely about how to enhance their sustainability activities. This approach of thinking, which we refer to as “technology ecoadvantage,” involves utilizing cutting-edge tools and methods of operation to facilitate economically advantageous solutions that simultaneously advance social, environmental, and political objectives. The capacity of businesses to create adoption roadmaps for new technologies that hasten the transition to sustainability is one of the major advantages of the technology ecoadvantage mindset. Rethinking conventional technology approaches is essential for implementation, notably in the areas of digitized operations, digital product and service design, cloud computing, IoT, and blockchain, application of AI and advanced analytics, data sharing, and ecosystem creation and management.
Companies around the world are bringing forward a wide range of innovative solutions to ensure that our planet can thrive for future generations. Unlocking the solution to industrialization’s environmental impact will be difficult and time-consuming. But it is possible, and technology is unquestionably a part of the solution.