It wasn’t long ago that sustainability wasn’t on the radar of an organization’s corporate strategy. Executives were reluctant to integrate sustainability into the heart of their business and those companies that had did not take the time to translate the strategy into actionable results.
Fast forward to now, 75% of executives agree that sustainability drives better business results, marking the importance of how protecting our planet is not only critical but can also benefit your organization’s ROI.
Incorporating sustainability into the foundation of your business strategy not only puts your organization on a path of innovation and opportunity but can also create a competitive advantage.
With the concern of climate and environmental issues increasing, undertaking the global climate crisis will be challenging without necessary advances in climate tech, a term used to describe the different technologies and services that enable decarbonization of the economy. Climate tech is a fundamental toolset for fulfilling sustainability goals.
Research shows that global executives believe that climate tech is crucial to meeting sustainability targets, with 67% agreeing that their organization will never be able to achieve its sustainability goals without climate tech. Moreover, 69% of business leaders world-wide say that data and digital technologies will play an important role in accelerating climate tech adoption.
Climate tech has already made a big impact across multiple sectors seeking to forge a path toward a sustainable and resilient future. For example, in the automotive industry, a global leading truck manufacturer has been utilizing Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) for their newly assembled vehicles’ internal combustion engines. By using this form of alternative fuel, it can help reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, decrease dependence on fossil fuels and increase circularity. In the energy and utilities space, energy storage solutions (ESS) enable improved integration of renewables into the grid. A solar energy system company in California installed ESS in residential homes to help homeowners save money on energy bills by applying time-of-use pricing, as well as back-up power during power outages.
Generative AI is also a cutting-edge technology tool which many organizations have been using to advance their sustainability initiatives. More than half (68%) of U.S. executives agree that the benefits of generative AI outweigh the negative environmental impact. It can help improve insight-driven decision-making by providing strong quality data regarding carbon emissions and energy consumption. Additionally, this tool can help monitor trends and make predictions in the sustainability space as well as track regulatory changes in real time among many other things.
As business leaders continue to navigate and strategize different ways their organization can contribute to an environmentally friendly future, one of the key areas that companies should prioritize is circularity. Only 7.2% of used materials are cycled back into the economy, which can cause a hindrance to the environment and play a role in contributing to climate, pollution, and biodiversity issues. Circular systems are important because they help in resource conservation, minimizing waste, and energy efficiency.
It’s clear that the sustainability imperative is here to stay for organizations. So as executives take a step back and think about how to leave a long-lasting impression for their business and stakeholders, below are five key measures that organizations should consider taking to make a strong impact. These include:
The sustainability decisions that companies make today will not only make a big impact in the short-term but will ultimately be rewarding in the long run as they embark and operate on their sustainability journey.
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Sol Salinas is Americas and global Group accounts Sustainability Lead at Capgemini. He is a sustainability expert and digital transformation global thought leader with 25 years of experience in all aspects of sustainability and digital transformation. He’s a sought-out keynote speaker and is a proud advocate of human-centered design.
