Guest blog: Sustainability and digitalization: A powerful partnership for 2021
Sustainability must be one of the top priorities for businesses in 2021. Leaders can no longer view climate change from a harm avoidance perspective. At its core, your very legitimacy (and your success) in the eyes of your customers, stakeholders, partners, and broader society depends on it. From China announcing it aims to cut carbon emissions per unit of economic output by over 65% by 2030, to the United Nations urging countries to announce a climate emergency, there is a level of seriousness and action, that businesses can no longer “greenwash”.
To do so however, is a major challenge. To be ready, organizations need new rules, processes and expertise, to define how they can create, implement and follow a roadmap to reduce their climate impact and achieve responsible business.
The world is moving faster than ever with accelerating business models and opportunities. Forward-thinking executives already understand that moving globally at an unprecedented pace is positive only if we do so responsibly, fairly and in a way that truly supports our planetary needs. This means everything from managing your carbon footprint, to managing people, finances and reporting in ways that are aligned with the needs of our time.
The main challenge for businesses are considering sustainability and climate change as non-material, or financial issues, and not classifying them as a double dividend: both a risk and an opportunity. Fortunately however, technology can play a helping hand here.
The role of technology in sustainability
We have already seen how digital technologies and digital models can have an enormous impact on the scale and the speed of change. 2020 has been a year like no other, but what has helped us get through very difficult times, has been new digital technologies, which have been implemented and adopted at speeds few thought possible just a few months ago.
If used intelligently, and sustainably, these same technologies can help us revert climate change and go beyond carbon neutrality faster than we ever imagined. It is clear we can’t accomplish the change we need, without digital technologies. Just as a simple example, digital tools are a key part of training, surveys, calculation, quantifications - all aspects key to an organization’s climate culture and change management. Digitalisation is involved in any transformative step of an energy and financial transition to becoming a sustainable business.
A new vision for sustainability
Recognizing the challenges businesses face with sustainability, here at Globant, we recently launched the Sustainable Business Studio, to provide organizations with knowledge and
expertise to be ready for the green economy. Next week, on Tuesday 22 December, I’ll be presenting our vision of sustainable business and providing advice on how to achieve long-term success in the new green economy. I hope you can join me - register here.
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