Being bolder: Why leaders must drive Sustainability Transformation to address the climate emergency

The impact of climate change is undeniable. It is the single greatest challenge facing humanity.

As we learned in a new report from the UNEP this month (*1), in September 2023 average global temperatures were 1.8°C above pre-industrial levels. This year is almost certain to be the warmest on record.

We are already witnessing the effects of this warming, with extreme weather events, wildfires, flooding, and much more. Both the human and economic costs are immense. To build a sustainable, prosperous future, climate action must be our top priority.

As the UNEP report indicates, some progress is being made. When the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015, forecasts showed emissions increasing 16% by 2030 – this forecast has now fallen to 3%.

Yet we need to move faster. To limit global warming to 2°C, emissions must fall by 28% by 2030. And to limit warming to 1.5°C, they must fall by 42%.

There is an alarming lack of certainty in our plans to achieve these reductions. As we heard at the EU Tech for Climate Action conference in Brussels earlier this month, the EU faces a 50bn € funding gap to achieve its 2030 decarbonisation goals. We must take collective action to close this gap, reduce emissions and preserve our planet for generations to come.

I was privileged to speak on a panel at the event exploring the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support the EU’s climate goals. It was also inspiring to hear from policymakers, business leaders, and technologists on other areas where technology is helping us address the harms of climate change.

Since the event, I have reflected on the top insights we heard that will help business leaders in their organizations’ journeys to sustainability transformation.


(*1) UNEP. “Emissions Gap Report 2023.” UN Environment Programme. November 20, 2023.
https://www.unep.org/resources/emissions-gap-report-2023.

One of the most powerful insights shared by several speakers was the potential of technology to enable holistic transformation. There are gains to be made through using technology for incremental improvement, prediction, process optimization, and maintenance – all can indeed help to reduce emissions.

However, the greater benefit lies in using technology to drive deeper changes in our organizations.

As we heard during the AI panel discussion, there is an imperative to use tools such as AI to transform how we do things and help to mitigate climate impact. For example, AI-enabled design could allow us to reduce the weight of manufactured goods, with a commensurate reduction in emissions throughout their lifecycle. Changing the way we do things today can help us limit the impact on our ecosystem.

We also heard how AI, data, and analytics have a role to play in policymaking itself. By empowering policymakers with tools to support their work, it enables them to judge the likely impact of interventions – and indeed, to discover positive impacts beyond what they imagined.

Another theme at the conference was the importance of collaboration. The climate emergency is bigger than any single organization or nation – we must work together to drive action.

One particularly important area of collaboration is between governments and policymakers and the private sector. Clearly, regulation and compliance is an essential tool to drive change. However, there is a risk that regulation lags behind the pace of innovation, and unforeseen consequences can hinder progress.

Several of the speakers also identified the need for large enterprises to more effectively collaborate and embrace the innovation that small to medium enterprises (SMEs) can bring. Often smaller organizations can achieve transformation and decarbonization in a faster, more agile way. To accelerate our collective progress on climate action, it is essential that disruptive SMEs can unlock the funding to scale within a vibrant innovation ecosystem.

Collaboration depends on data. Many of the panellists agreed on the challenges faced in establishing a consistent view of data to support climate action. Often different organizations, even within the same nation, will measure emissions in different ways, using different terminology, and different technology systems.

This presents a fundamental challenge to assessing and taking action on Scope 3 emissions – which may account for more than 70% of an organization’s carbon footprint.(*2)

Again, progress is being made to solve these challenges with projects such as Catena-X, an open data ecosystem with a focus on sustainability for the European automotive manufacturing industry.(*3)

We must collectively accelerate adoption of data projects such as this to meet our climate action goals.


(*2) UN Global Compact Network UK. “Scope 3 Emissions.” 2023.
https://www.unglobalcompact.org.uk/scope-3-emissions/.
(*3) Catena-X Automotive Network e.V. “Catena-X Your Automotive Network.” 2023.
https://catena-x.net/en/.