It is estimated, that digital technologies can help reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2050, especially in the sectors: energy, materials, and mobility. These industries can already reduce emissions by 4-10% by 2030 by accelerating the adoption of digital technologies.
With enhanced monitoring comes the possibility of planning more assertive actions as well as understanding exactly the points for improvement within the plant and prioritizing them in accordance. By digitizing the process, industries are able to reduce the number of workers in hazardous areas, too.
Therefore, the connection of both – Digitalization and ESG – allows for an increasingly strategic and beneficial action for organizations and for society as a whole.
Digital transformation and ESG are dominating today a company’s agenda and will probably keep the crucial challenges in the years to come.
However, in my daily work, in particular with small and medium-sized companies, I meet certain reservations also because of the assumption, that both agendas demand high investments, but this does not need to be the case at all.
Several affordable technologies such as
– Sensors
– AI
– Machine Learning
– Internet of Things
– etc.
provide new opportunities for the efficiency of operations based on data-driven insights and the possibility of real-time monitoring of key processes. By that you can reduce costs significantly and at the same time contribute positively to the environmental and social impact.
Process digitization has undergone major changes in recent years. With technological solutions for automation and data analysis, for example, companies were able to improve the entire production chain, maintaining quality and gaining more agility in the execution of processes.
Just to give you some examples, where you with success can use digital technologies and contribute positively to the ESG agenda, too:
- Processoptimization:
Data, collected by sensors and IoT as well as AI makes it possible to identify your use of ressources as well as to follow and optimize your processes. You can measure your CO2 fodprint, too.
- Circular Economy:
Digitalization business models as e.g. Product-as-a-Service (PaaS) improve operational efficiency which leads to better productivity. You can increase the product’s lifetime and actually also transform your business model to a more sustainable business. Here it is important to know, too, that a EU law is on its way: “The right to repair”. Endconsumers will have the right to insist on repair of products. That means, that if you are producing e.g. end-consumer products you will be obliged to offer the repair service. Why then not use this fact to transform your business model to a PaaS model? If you would like to read more about this possibility, you can read it in my article “PaaS – A profitable, alternative business model for the manufacturing industry”: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/product-as-a-service-paas-profitable-alternative-business-goos/?trackingId=6IDy1GsoQlGjEP%2BsuncMHA%3D%3D
- Co-operation across sector:
By sharing data-insight across sectors and industries, you can take influence on your entire value-chain and develop new, more sustainable processes and models.