24/03/2022
Decarbonisation is becoming a megatrend. It can no longer be denied that climate change is accelerating and that the world has a responsibility to take countermeasures. This new social consensus is causing a significant shift in priorities and increasing the pressure to act. Partner companies and end consumers demand transparency with regard to environmental sustainability and make their purchasing and investment decisions dependent on it. Added to this are demanding legal requirements: Due to sanctions for insufficient sustainability criteria and rising CO2 prices, companies are confronted with financial risks. The economy is facing a fundamental transformation task to minimise CO2 emissions in the value creation process.
Active climate protection is crucial for the success of companies today. Not only business models and supply chains have to be changed to reduce emissions. Decarbonisation as part of climate protection is a profound transformation process with significant effects on the roles, self-image and culture of a company. To ensure that reducing emissions does not become a cost factor, but in the best case reduces costs, smart technologies can be used that provide comprehensive traceability.
For this reason, professionally prepared life cycle assessments are becoming increasingly important. Environmental indicators must be transparent and verifiable. Where do CO2 emissions occur? What are the biggest emission drivers? Only the transparent presentation of emissions along the entire value chain creates credible accountability.
If companies actively address the issue, decarbonisation can become a strategic competitive advantage - also because companies can currently have corresponding projects funded by the EU and the federal government and thus minimise investment risks.
So far, however, the topic of decarbonisation has been approached reactively and not very strategically. CSR departments often had no access to the actual value chains. A clear strategy for reducing emissions and controlling mechanisms for measuring success are lacking in many places.
„Decarbonisation no longer works today without digitalised processes. Now is the right time to use the potential of digitalisation to reduce emissions!“
Alexander Littwin (msg group)
At the moment, hardly any company knows exactly where the greatest emission factors and optimisation opportunities lie. The necessary information is usually available, but not consolidated. There is a lack of processes to work with the data. Transport companies, for example, do have the information on how much CO2 a vehicle emits. But the data is rarely linked to other data. There is a lack of extrapolations and approaches for improvement. Decarbonisation is not sector-specific. Every sector is affected in its own way. Decarbonisation is also deeply rooted in general process optimisation. Be it in the electrification of vehicle fleets, in credit checks linked to sustainability criteria or in complex supply chains with several sub-suppliers.
The following applies to all areas: decarbonisation no longer works today without the digitalisation of processes. The masses of data collected can only be meaningfully bundled and analysed with professional IT expertise.
At msg, we develop decarbonisation measures together with our customers and use software tools to analyse CO2 emissions simply and with system support. The sustainability of what we do is an important value for us. We make existing processes better by networking the competences of our Group and developing sustainability strategies and associated reports required by the regulator.