Sustainability is the uppermost business imperative for many industries right now—and for good reason. The need to conserve resources, find more environmentally responsible solutions and lessen the impact on the planet has never been more crucial.
The goals of cutting global carbon emissions in half by 2030 and reaching net-zero by 2050 are bold. Operationalizing sustainability requires significant changes, but the payoff for the environment and industry is well worth it. Yet, without solid execution plans and a sense of urgency, the world will not achieve these objectives in time.
For companies, their future business viability depends on delivering sustainability outcomes. Consumers, investors and employees are pushing companies toward these goals, and this urgency is why Chief Sustainability Officers (CSOs) are also solidifying their role as a company’s key influencer for corporate responsibility and reputation. CSOs are acting fast and learning as they go. Moving quick is inherently risky—but the greater risk is not moving fast enough or being smart enough. While speed is critical, companies must also balance investment and scalability to ensure continued success as they push for short-term changes driving toward 2050 goals.
CSOs today have a more influential seat at the table, with tremendous responsibility and pressure to demonstrate tangible progress while meeting financial targets. As a result, CSOs are looking for programmatic, repeatable sustainability strategies. Like any investment of time or resources, they are trying to find the areas where they can make the most valuable and measurable improvements for the long haul.
CSOs are acting fast and learning as they go. Moving quick is inherently risky—but the greater risk is not moving fast enough or being smart enough.
Sustainability requires transformation, which percolates into every organizational function. To drive measurable change, CSOs need information and a deep understanding of how different sustainability initiatives affect other parts of the organization. Collaboration among operations, engineering and technology leaders—and empowering employees to contribute—is vital to identifying and acting on the best opportunities for environmental performance. CSOs should lean on the expertise, data and years of manufacturing operations experience from the organization to discover innovative ideas that translate into actual solutions that can go to market faster to support global and corporate sustainability commitments.
Searching for and selecting the best places to start an energy transition to a lower-carbon future is critical for success. Four opportunity areas that world policymakers and industry executives mention most are: energy source decarbonization, emissions management, electrification processes and energy efficiency. Small improvements in each of these areas become meaningful when scaled across an enterprise.
The growth of renewable energy options such as hydrogen, solar, wind, nuclear, hydro and biofuels continue to offer new decarbonization opportunities for lower emissions. Digital technologies equipped to manage these more environmentally responsible energy sources can optimize operations, driving further energy efficiencies. Organizations are exploring technologies to diversify the energy mix, such as converting agricultural or landfill waste into renewable transportation fuels or excess electricity into hydrogen and transforming toxic emissions like methane and carbon dioxide into heat for buildings and fuel for transportation.
Industrial manufacturing and power generation account for nearly 50% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and are the number one source of global warming. Advanced measurement technologies and software can detect, monitor and reduce leaks—known as fugitive emissions—as well as optimize combustion processes to reduce known emissions.
For example, one Emerson customer, Denka, saw a 7% reduction in lost steam by using smart acoustic sensors and analytics to “hear” steam leaks throughout its plant and guide personnel to remedy the leaks quickly.
While emissions management technologies provide immediate, scalable opportunities to make a significant impact, companies can invest in more transformative improvements, such as carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technology for longer-term gains.
The power industry’s focus is on the “3 Ds”: decarbonization, decentralization and digital transformation. Advanced automation technologies enable more renewable sources of energy—from solar, wind, hydro, microgrids and other distributed energy resources—to be generated and shared on the power grid. Digital twin systems help operators dynamically model electricity production models and optimize plant performance.
Technologies exist today that allow virtual power plants to switch seamlessly between larger and smaller energy sources to model, aggregate, optimize and dispatch energy onto the grid in real-time. This interconnectivity is critical to safely providing reliable power. Sustainable grid solutions, fueled by integrated, end-to-end predictive and prescriptive analytics, provide real-time operational visibility across the entire power system, enabling utilities to optimize energy efficiency and more easily integrate renewables into the energy mix.
Emerson’s digital grid solutions are helping TenneT, a leading European electricity transmission system operator that serves nearly 42 million people across the Netherlands and German, balance electricity supply and demand while incorporating more environmentally responsible energy sources.
Industrial operations consume enormous amounts of energy, making energy efficiency one of the most critical opportunities in the environmental sustainability toolkit. Energy efficiency not only lowers operating costs and improves resource utilization, but it also improves emissions performance. Looking at ways to optimize and drive greater energy efficiency can make a measurable impact, with minor adjustments adding up to big wins.
The bottom line: CSOs will increasingly be required to demonstrate real, measurable progress. Their companies’ reputation and bottom line will depend on it.
From optimizing plant combustion processes—including dynamic monitoring and control of boilers, furnaces and other energy-hungry assets—and modeling and reducing fuel consumption, to maximizing fuel and oxygen performance, energy management technologies and software like energy management information systems can significantly improve energy efficiencies, while also reducing emissions.
One such example is consumer products manufacturer Colgate-Palmolive, which uses Emerson technologies to reduce energy use across its product packaging facilities to help the company reach its goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions in operations by 2040. Using data from Emerson’s advanced sensor technologies and analytics, Colgate has already seen a 15% reduction in energy use and expects more significant savings as the technology rolls out more widely.
The bottom line: CSOs will increasingly be required to demonstrate real, measurable progress. Their companies’ reputation and bottom line will depend on it, especially as institutional investors make environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance a key criterion for investment in a company, and prospective employees weigh their career options.
But sustainability success doesn’t reside in the CSOs office alone—it’s everyone’s job. CSOs need partnerships, internally and externally. They need engineering and operations to pivot to new metrics and help discover ways to operate more sustainably while still protecting company profitability. They need supply chain team members to find creative ways to source materials that enhance their metrics. They need suppliers to step in, align and contribute.
With these collaborations, combined with advanced technologies, investments and innovations, CSOs will be on the road to drive to true decarbonization in a meaningful way. Only then can we get on track for net zero.
