It goes without saying that issues surrounding sustainability and climate change are the center of world attention. However, the debate continues on how best to hit sustainability and decarbonization targets and how to balance this with energy security concerns. 

Many companies, including oil and gas firms, have set net zero targets. Some are already reducing or offsetting their emissions by tools such as carbon trading and carbon certificates, while others are divesting from high carbon emission sources toward investing in new technologies, and renewables such as hydrogen, solar and wind. However, more innovative technologies are needed to accelerate the transition to a greener planet.

Research by US consultancy firm McKinsey last October said that climate technologies that are already mature could, if deployed widely, deliver about 60 percent of the emissions reduction that will be needed to stabilize the climate by 2050. The challenge is that further reduction must come from technologies that aren’t quite ready, including 25 to 30 percent from technologies that are demonstrated but not yet mature and another 10 to 15 percent from those still in research and development.

However, digitalization could be the key to accelerating energy transition. The world is seeing a move toward digitization at a lightning speed and issues around digital transformation and artificial intelligence are as important as energy transition and climate change.

The world is transitioning through the digitalization era, and the global energy landscape is expected to change radically over the next 10 years.

While the world’s energy sector is moving toward renewable energy sources, industrial companies are challenged with addressing this transition in transformative ways.

Digitization can play a key role to make energy systems more efficient and more able to address climate change challenges. For example, digitization can help electric grids to be more secure and resilient, and it can empower the aviation industry to be more sustainable.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been an intense accelerator of digital transformation. Governments and companies have been forced to digitise infrastructures to achieve greater efficiency and resiliency. The power of today’s digital technologies, such as big data, and AI can help governments and businesses turbocharge their sustainability transformation. 

Studies show that companies that integrate digital and sustainable transformations into their operations and value chains are 2.5 times more likely to be among tomorrow’s best-performing businesses than those that don’t.

Digitalization can impact the sustainability of energy systems by addressing its role in the integration of renewable resources, and its use can optimize energy in the industrial sector.

The introduction of scalable renewable energy such as wind and solar have shaken up the system by introducing the concept of distributed energy generation. However, most of these renewable systems are described as intermittent, because of their dependence on weather conditions. The sun must shine and the wind must blow to generate power. This makes the need for further digitalization of existing systems more important, to integrate these individual electricity supplies into the national electrical grid.

Also, digital technologies can bring tools that equip government and business to better address United Nations sustainable development goals to ensure an equitable, environmentally sustainable, and healthy society. This leads to digital sustainability, which is the effort of developing and deploying smart technologies to secure sustainable economic growth while considering and integrating SDGs.

Modern digital innovations such as artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques have seen exponential growth in their value, which it is estimated will add around 14 percent to the global economy by 2030.

For the world to hit climate and energy transition goals, they also need to embrace digital transformation. The fourth industrial digital revolution has the power to reduce waste and make processes more efficient. AI, 5G networks and blockchain, can accelerate environmental measures. A thriving digital ecosystem can help firms to tackle climate change challenges more effectively.

Mervyn King, the former governor of the Bank of England said: “Sustainability is the primary moral and economic imperative of the 21st century. It is one of the most important sources of both opportunities and risks for businesses. Nature, society, and business are interconnected in complex ways that should be understood by decision-makers.”

More should be done to study the challenges and opportunities offered by the digitalization of corporate sustainability management as well as the global impacts of the digital transformation on economic, environmental and social developments.

No one can fight climate change and move toward energy transition alone. Finding the right technologies is the fastest, easiest, and most profitable way to a greener planet.