Technology is the key ally of sustainability

Reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, uphold the limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius of global warming set in the Paris Agreement and lift humanity ‘off the climate cliff’, as the United Nations Secretary General called it, Anthony Guterres, continue to be top priorities after COP27, which brought together more than 35,000 people in Egyptincluding world leaders.

(Read: Ecopetrol acquired a credit of US$1,000 million: what will it be used for?).

The participating countries agreed to create a financing fund to compensate the nations most vulnerable to climate disasters.
The UN warned that it will not be enough and that it is necessary to drastically reduce emissions now. “The climate crisis is the battle of our lives and we are losing it,” Guterres said.

Fortunately, more and more companies are aware of this pressing reality. Sustainability has rapidly climbed up the agenda of executive priorities. In the same way as a few years agohe digital transformation led every business to take a technological turn, now, with technology at the center, every business must be sustainable. The environment demands it and the customers too. We must all look for formulas to reduce our carbon footprint in a world under the latent threat of global warming.

Accenture, Amazon Web Services and Ecopetrol, for example, are jointly developing an open platform for intelligent water management in the operations of energy companies. It is a high-tech tool to optimize water management, based on volume, cost, quality analysis and the possibility of sharing data for water reuse between industries, as well as outside of them.

To the extent that various actors contribute information, it is possible to evolve as ecosystems, and not individually. This is a clear sign that it is not the excess of speech that counts, but the measurable plans and actions; generous leadership to face common challenges, such as reducing the water footprint. The result will be better decisions and effective actions.

(See: Promigas aims to become carbon neutral by 2040).

And that’s how the companies seem to understand it. In a study conducted by Accenture among 560 global companies90% claimed to have set goals of zero carbon emissions by 2030 and 2050.

To achieve this, they will need to deploy advanced technology that allows them to measure, monitor, reduce, offset, and trade responsibly with the planet. All of the firms consulted in the analysis ranked technology as important or very important to achieving their sustainability goals. But, How to make technology part of the solution, without it becoming part of the problem? In the deployment of technology it is essential to consider how sustainable the technology is.

This transformation will be viable by aligning a strategy of Sustainability + Technology = Complete transformation of companies. This strategy should include at least three key elements. The first is sustainability through the use of technology, in five lines of action: accelerate the transition to carbon neutrality, ensure the evolution towards sustainable supply chains, motivate sustainable decisions by customers and consumers, implement measurement, reporting and performance on environmental, social and governance goals, and building a sustainable organization.

The second element is sustainability in technology. Today, technology is embedded in all aspects of our lives, offering enormous benefits in terms of speed, convenience, and connectivity. However, a side effect is that the global population generates more and more data and consumes more energy. In order not to erase with your feet what is done with your hands, it must be selected and developed, prioritizing the following factors: zero-carbon thinking throughout the technology supply chain; build reliable systems, that is, safe, transparent, robust and accessible; and, finally, establish the appropriate governance mechanisms. By taking care of these elements, it will be possible to guarantee that their contribution to sustainability is not only given by providing tools, but that sustainability is incorporated into them, which is known as sustainability by design.

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And finally the third element of Sustainability + Technology is to drive sustainability on a large scale. Technological disruptions are decisive so that the 8 billion people who inhabit the planet can continue to improve our living conditions in a carbon neutral way. Today, the technologies that allow for reliable carbon-free energy systems are not yet in a mature phase, nor is it still possible to have zero-carbon steel, cement or paper. The planet requires us to eliminate limits and consolidate efforts with competitors, other industries, academia, NGOs and the public sector, among others, to develop technologies on a global scale. Ecosystems must be generated and work with the same level of competence and impetus, as when the vaccine against covid-19 was sought.

Management teams play a decisive role in the total transformation of your company towards a sustainable business and organization. An effective technology strategy helps fuel business growth by ensuring that technology is a lever to accelerate the path to environmental and social sustainability. As the UN Secretary General rightly stated, in the fight against climate change we cannot give up. It is urgently needed to move from discourse to actions, from what to how, and from goals to project execution.

Maria Fernanda Suarez
President of Accenture Colombia.