As the world’s dual transition toward a digital and sustainable future is challenging how businesses leverage technology to achieve their sustainability goals, it has become evident that modern technology is providing answers to some of our society’s oldest challenges.
While technology may hold the key to maintaining the longevity of our planet, many organizations continue to struggle with finding the right ESG investments and solutions for their needs. The current state of sustainability and facility management is evolving rapidly, driven by increasing awareness of environmental impacts and the need for energy efficiency. At Capgemini, we have worked to combine digital engineering, hybrid intelligence, and IoT to optimize building assets consuming energy and help organizations accelerate their sustainability efforts. We call this effort the Energy Command Center (ECC).
Research shows that the operations of buildings account for 30% of global final energy consumption and 26% of global energy-related emissions. With capabilities such as real-time monitoring and predictive analytics enabled by platforms like the ECC, enterprises can easily monitor their energy consumption and ensure optimal efficiency.
To face the challenges associated with climate change, mounting energy prices, limited resources, and concerns about security of supply, innovative solutions are the key to optimizing energy resources and pushing a sustainable future.
Rethinking Consumption
This year, government policies, volatile market forces, and societal demands are reshaping the pace and direction of the energy transition agenda. With the widespread recognition of climate change as a leading cause of future operational disruptions, 57% of global business leaders believe their business’ investment in clean tech will rise over the next 2-3 years. This is only heightened by global economic incentives such as the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the EU Green Deal Industrial Plan.
And while 52% of businesses are expected to increase their sustainability investments in the next year, there are several challenges across the building sector and facility management, such as slow adoption of new solutions, inefficient processes, outdated and siloed systems, and reactive rather than predictive solutions that result in waste, higher costs, and inadequate decision making. Retrofitting or upgrading existing infrastructure will have a direct impact on the cost and scale of implementation as businesses justify the return on investment (ROI) for a building that’s already been utilized for most of its life.
Today, almost 80% of CO2 emissions come from energy. It is crucial for leaders to understand the carbon footprint of their facilities, specifically with growing regulatory risks and increased gas and electricity prices. The adoption of new solutions like the ECC will not only help enterprises address customer challenges regarding measuring and reporting, but also directly improve their bottom line as operations become more efficient with data-driven decisions. The platform will also assist businesses in meeting ESG reporting compliance and achieving their overall sustainability goals for carbon emissions reduction and net zero targets.
Although we are seeing new buildings inherently designed to be greener and more energy efficient, leveraging emerging technologies to address waste for buildings that need to be retrofitted is the fastest and least capital-intensive solution to reduce energy use, costs, and emissions.
