15-20 years ago, nobody would have thought that there could exist a healthy relationship or association between the two concepts: digitization and sustainability. Sustainability, which was perceived as a group of physical activities or actions, was opposite to the digitization concept that involved conducting virtual/online/digital actions. Digital sustainability is a concept that revolves around establishing and attaining sustainability goals using digitization as a medium. Before, it was usual for businesses to have minimal knowledge of their assets or products after they were produced and sold. So, the cycle of production and consumption has unintentionally created a lot of garbage. However, businesses can begin to gather information on demand, usage, and the life cycle of items for "circular economy" advantages by using digital technologies, such as electronic tagging. A circular economy is one in which things are produced for the benefit of the environment, and services are offered with an emphasis on the reuse of materials and dependence on renewable resources. For instance, in order to reduce waste, the consumer electronics maker Philips is leveraging digital technology to collect more data on the product life cycle. According to the company's examination of the secondary component market, its customers had the chance to reuse specific parts and increase the lifespan of some current machinery, such as X-ray machines. This implied that Philips might forge a new, continuous relationship with its clients, in addition to helping the consumer extend the life of the equipment they had purchased.
Data Bridge Market Research report on digital transformation provides analysis and insights regarding the factors expected to be prevalent throughout the forecasted period while providing their impacts on the market's growth. The digital transformation market size is valued at USD 1,755.18 billion by 2028 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 19.75% in the forecast period of 2021 to 2028. Digital transformation is usually the use of digital technology in several areas of the business to resolve problems. It also changes the way, that how business work and convey values to the customers. It also helps the business contend better in the market by making changes maintained by the new technologies. Digital transformation helps the corporation to reach to the large masses effortlessly. Over the 2021–2028 forecast period, the increased digitalization of organizational business processes to accommodate shifting customer preferences and improve operational efficiency has directly impacted the market's expansion. The digital transformation market is thriving due to the quick spread of mobile devices and apps.
Additionally, the market is growing as a result of the growing usage of IOT and cloud services, as well as the ease of access provided by blockchain and online services during COVID-19. Additionally, the market for digital transformation is being significantly boosted by the growing desire to enhance operational performance and the rising popularity of smartphones, mobile devices, and applications that support digitization. The major players covered in the digital transformation market report are Cognizant, Dell Inc., Microsoft, Adobe, Marlabs Inc., Accenture, Capgemini, IBM, KELLTON TECH, Oracle, Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP, Apple Inc., Broadcom, PwC, Equinix, Inc., Deloitte, Cognex Corporation, SAP SE, and Siemens among other domestic and global players.
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Sustainability and digital strategy are becoming more and more interwoven. According to 40% of respondents in a recent poll by Bain & Company and the World Economic Forum of 400 executives from diverse industries and regions, digital technologies are already positively influencing their sustainability goals. A more circular economy is now made feasible by digital technologies, which are also used to measure and track sustainability progress, optimize resource use, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Digital twins, additive manufacturing, and design-based artificial intelligence (AI) are a few potent tools enabling the next generation of climate change solutions. Technologies that promote collaboration across the value chain and align participants on shared metrics and goals include Internet of Things-enabled sensors, blockchain-based authentication, data-sharing platforms, and gamified apps.
DIGITAL TRACING TO REDUCE CARBON EMISSIONS
Evidence released every day reveals that current promises are insufficient to end the climate crisis, despite the numerous appeals for action from climate experts and civil society. To achieve the most recent goals set at COP26 and restrict the temperature rise to 1.5° C, businesses must take immediate action because the industrial sector is failing. Direct greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced by switching to renewable energy and using resources more effectively, but decarbonizing indirect emissions from industry is still difficult. Indirect emissions may include emissions from the transportation and distribution of incoming raw materials and component parts as well as finished goods to customers for businesses that manufacture electrically powered equipment or gadgets.
Effective, dependable, and responsible tracking and tracing of materials and goods could speed up the reduction of carbon emissions while also enhancing business processes, inventories, and delivery. Imagine quickly accessing encrypted data containing a product's unique digital ID by swiping a QR code or RFID tag. This information may be used to verify the product's (and its components') provenance, environmental and carbon footprint information, or the influence on biodiversity. Additionally, it may identify the subcomponent suppliers, the dates and times of shipments, and the specifics of who was working what shift when it was created. Traceability may address three issues in sourcing, production, transportation, operations, and a product's life cycle, while ensuring greater openness and accountability to reduce the industrial carbon footprint. However, the following three topics demand internal firm discussion and agreement:
Fig.1: Key areas of focus
- Information on carbon emissions needs to be clear and easy to disclose- Steel and plastic manufacturing businesses, among others, are committing to net-zero targets, but they have not yet standardized their methods for tracking their progress. The most useful technique to show how the production of raw materials, manufacturing procedures, and use affect an overall carbon footprint is to measure the life-cycle emissions of products. This form of life-cycle traceability will be essential to calculate the environmental impact of businesses as binding measures are put in place to hold them morally and sustainably accountable. It entails disclosing the locations of raw material extraction, how and where products are assembled, transported, and disseminated, how products are decommissioned, recycled, or destroyed, and whether any of these processes involve the use of child or forced labor.
- Improved industrial resilience- By digitally enforcing trust across production and manufacturing processes, end-to-end traceability technologies also promise to enhance industrial resilience. They can aid in identifying the underlying causes of manufacturing blunders and establishing methods for high-quality products to be properly sourced, produced, and shipped. Industrial firms continue to uphold data privacy and control over exposing supplier information or intellectual property.
- End-to-end traceability delivers fresh benefits in the marketplace- A faster reduction in emissions and better control of sustainable manufacturing and material prices will result from comparing carbon footprint data across industrial sectors. Decision-makers can share information, work transparently together, and build consumer trust by having access to data "only when needed." For instance, product recalls, quality, counterfeit, or conformance issues will trigger access to specific information and will conform to safe, sustainable, and ecologically transparent operations. ESG compliance depends on being able to make this data more easily accessible, and doing so will encourage customers to stick with sustainable brands. We are in a time of extreme connection and wealth of data. Businesses that strategically collect, securely analyze, and fully embrace digital traceability throughout industrial processes and value chains stand to gain greatly. It will certainly result in increased performance, flexibility, and productivity but also hasten the industrial decarbonization process.
According to the 2021 Industry Skills study from online learning platform Coursera, which cites Microsoft statistics showing two years' worth of transformation occurring in just two months, the pandemic has accelerated the rate of digitalization on a worldwide scale. The progress that has already been made is unlikely to be reversed, thus, the risk is that the epidemic will widen existing digital skills gaps in a variety of industries. According to the Coursera report, it's essential to upskill the current workforce in cloud computing, cybersecurity, data analysis, and software development areas. According to Microsoft Data Science, there will be 149 million new digital jobs by 2025 in fields including privacy and trust, cybersecurity, data analysis, machine learning, and AI, cloud and data roles, and software development. Because the younger generation makes up most of today's consumer base, firms are using fewer digital marketing methods that do not include sustainability.
The sustainability movement is led by Millennials and Gen Z'ers, who have no intention of giving up on their goal of creating a greener planet. By incorporating sustainability into your marketing, you can be sure to reach this sizable audience. The younger generation makes up a sizable portion of the workforce and a sizable portion of the present customer base. Before deciding to work for or support any company, the younger generation seriously considers social responsibility, environmental activism, and charitable endeavors.
DIGITAL PATH TO SUSTAINABILITY
Local manufacturing and supply chain resilience are becoming more and more crucial in the current geopolitical environment. Organizations must simultaneously address environmental sustainability, improve operations, and positively influence both people and the environment. Local manufacturing and supply chain resilience are becoming more and more crucial in the current geopolitical environment. Organizations must simultaneously address environmental sustainability, improve operations, and positively influence both people and the environment. Utilizing information technology (IT), operational technology (OT), engineering technology (ET), as well as non-technical innovations is necessary for resolving each material challenge with a set of problem-specific solutions. For instance, if one of the sustainability goals is a circular economy (a model that encourages the reuse, repair, refurbishment, and recycling of current materials and goods as much as possible), then potential solutions might be:
- IT and OT: waste exchanges to enable cross-industry circularity or blockchain to track a material's origin
- Engineering technology: use of material science to increase product longevity, recycling rates, and ease of upgradeability
- Non-technical innovation: a change in marketing tactics to persuade consumers to buy recycled goods and generate income from services instead of new things
Important: Digitization does have an adverse impact on achieving sustainable goals
Global internet traffic has increased by 12 since 2010, and there are now twice as many internet users as there were. Although "dematerialized technologies" are occasionally used to describe our digital services, is this the case? Numerous natural resources are needed to manufacture computers, servers, and other electronic devices. High levels of CO2 are released into the atmosphere when they are powered, and e-waste is produced due to planned obsolescence and a poor recycling rate (20 percent). Most of the data stored in the cloud are not utilized. Without discounting the numerous advantages these technologies offer, including those for the environment, it is crucial for consumers, service providers, and policymakers to comprehend the effects and learn how we may transition to more environmentally friendly digital technologies.
The internet contributes 3.7% of all global greenhouse gas emissions, so it's clear that digital infrastructure and services may have a very detrimental influence on sustainability. However, if used wisely and at the core of your strategy, digital can also be an engine of sustainability. Think about these two easy examples:
- A tangible environmental problem has a technological remedy in smart buildings. In this situation, internet of things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) are solution components that aid in lowering the carbon footprint of commercial real estate
- The ability to identify, reach, and provide services to all prospective beneficiaries is made possible by data management and analytics, which are essential facilitators for enhancing the current social safety nets
Fig.2: Risky areas as a result of digital sustainability
Even so enticing as it may appear, there is no magic bullet in this interaction between digital technology and sustainability. Although digital technology and sustainability benefit from one another, they are not always compatible. One reason is that many organizations support them. Digital technology has a huge potential for creating a sustainable planet for future generations but also comes with short- and long-term threats. These can be roughly categorized into six categories with diverse effects on people, groups, society, and the environment. Digital technology and environmental sustainability appear to be at odds in conventional industrial terms. Independent forces propel them. The Internet of Things, artificial intelligence (AI), and robotics, which all promise to disrupt global production, industrial processes, and labor, are the driving forces behind the first. It's about efficiencies, to put it simply. The other is caused by geopolitical instability, environmental degradation, and climate change, all of which call for a new strategy emphasizing resource conservation and environmental governance, including increased efforts to decarbonize the atmosphere. Businesses are becoming increasingly aware that merely increasing output and consumption would not be sufficient to satisfy the world's expanding demand for goods and services.
Without fundamental business model innovation, people won't be able to address the ecological and social issues of the day. Furthermore, it is no longer possible to conceal unsustainable behaviors such as the release of hazardous pollutants. However, digital technology and environmental sustainability frequently complement one another. And we would add that businesses find it challenging to control trash or reduce their environmental impact without digital technologies. Computer energy usage can be wasteful if sustainability is not well understood. Any company that wants to stand out and achieve long-term viability among clients, regulators and the communities where enterprises operate should put combining digital prowess with sustainable practices at the top of its strategic thinking agenda. In fact, it might even be necessary. Some highlights in this regard are:
- Indeed, the low-hanging fruit here may focus on transparent supply chains and the sustainable sourcing of raw materials. Consumer products companies and retailers can seek better ways of validating supply chain claims, using digital tools and sustainability. This could be called business value. Many companies see an opportunity to drive their sustainability goals through digitization in the supply chain.
- Industry 4.0 refers to a variety of digital advancements that industrial businesses can use. Manufacturers and consumers of products should be able to comprehend the life cycle of their products better with greater asset data gathering. Although such an understanding has many business advantages, it might also be utilized to improve usage efficiency and promote the reuse or remanufacturing of assets once their useful lives are through.
- The cost of charging electric vehicles will decrease thanks to demand-response algorithms made possible by big data. Short-haul transportation will integrate AI with other Industry 4.0 technologies, including the Internet of Things, drones, and sophisticated materials. It will be clean, smart, connected, increasingly autonomous, and shared.
- Another illustration is the fact that mining corporations have made significant headway in their understanding of how to use digitalization to track and source the raw materials used in consumer goods, such as tracing and confirming the sources of the metals used in mobile phones. Agder Energi, a Norwegian hydropower company, is utilizing AI and the cloud to forecast and plan for changing energy requirements in Norway, especially given the country's fast expanding use of electric vehicles.
- Digital technology is being used by several programs to provide social advantages. People in Africa now have the ability to conduct financial transactions without a bank thanks to the Kenya-developed M-Pesa mobile phone banking and money transfer application. The Haiti-based nonprofit Plastic Bank uses blockchain technology to provide payment to plastic waste collectors, giving some of the world's poorest people a living and encouraging them to collect the plastics that pollute the oceans.
- The increased concern about corporate sustainability among millennials, who are among the biggest users of technology-enabled gadgets, is also addressed by such action in terms of consumer value. Better consumer outcomes must be prioritized in new business models.
HOW CAN CHALLENGES OF DIGITAL SUSTAINABILITY BE OVERCOMED?
Bitcoin mining involves a " mine " process that consumes a lot of energy. In fact, the Icelandic energy provider HS Orka recently issued a warning that the "exponential" growth of bitcoin mining meant that in a short period of time, the amount of electricity consumed by bitcoin mining data centers could surpass the amount required to power all of Iceland's residential homes. This trend raises important concerns regarding the evolution of data processing and how it may affect nations' capacity to cut back on carbon emissions. Emerging company-specific issues with data and carbon footprints expose businesses to risks they may not have previously foreseen. For instance, banks investing more in digital services are discovering that their carbon footprint is rising due to the energy consumption required to handle ever-increasing amounts of data. Digital industrial processes like 3D printing clearly have appeal and are being vigorously explored by some firms. The uses of 3D printing are undoubtedly beneficial, but the technique may also generate a lot of waste as users experiment throughout the design phase, leading to many "misprints." When sustainability objectives are taken into account, 3D printing does not always appear to be the manufacturing godsend it might initially appear to be.
This ought to result in developing a mutually beneficial partnership between IT and sustainability managers. The professors advise the former to start working on the design of new digital procedures right away "to ensure no opportunity to map energy and resource utilization is overlooked." IT administrators "must acknowledge the importance of their decisions to sustainability," in turn. The effects on society must also be taken into account. Automation on a large scale can potentially eliminate employment across several areas, including transportation, manufacturing, agriculture, and services. The effects of consumers' strong adoption of ride-hailing services in several cities are probably most readily apparent: The economics of taxi applications have resulted in the disintermediation of traditional taxi drivers. Some local government agencies are beginning to challenge the conditions under which ride-hailing businesses are taking advantage of their drivers. In actuality, the so-called gig economy appears less utopian than it did in theory. Additionally, societal effects have an ethical component. The use of massive data, the increasing dependence on algorithms to carry out tasks, shape options, and make decisions, and the gradual elimination of human involvement in many processes are the three primary components of AI's ethical and responsible use. When taken as a whole, these components raise concerns about justice, accountability, and human rights.
THE RESULTS
Manufacturing firms work to increase productivity and lessen the effects of their operations on the environment. In the meantime, digitalization significantly impacts the environment of production processes and helps to boost productivity. It is uncertain whether digitalization has a good or negative impact on this impact; knowing this information can help manufacturing organizations more effectively use digital technologies in an ecologically responsible way. The findings demonstrate that the effects of digitalization on environmental sustainability may be assessed from a variety of lifecycle perspectives, including those of products and technologies. Applications of digitalization throughout the product lifecycle improve the use of resources and information, promote dematerialization, have beneficial effects on virtualization/monitoring, and reduce the need for transportation. The increased resource and energy use, manufacturing emissions and waste, as well as the use and disposal of digital hardware throughout the technological lifecycle, are the main causes of the negative environmental effect. When implementing digital technologies, practitioners in manufacturing organizations can take into account the environmental impact of both the product and technology lifecycles thanks to the multiple-lifecycle perspective. The list of advantages offers businesses implementation strategies for where and how to use digital technologies. Thus, they may lessen their impact on the environment, particularly throughout the production phase of a product's lifespan and at the level of the 5C architecture connections.
Green technology can play a subtle role in achieving the sustainable goals. Analyzing this opportunity, Data Bridge Market Research prepared an investigative report on the global green technology and sustainability market. The green technology and sustainability market is expected to witness market growth at a rate of 26.80% in the forecast period of 2021 to 2028. Data Bridge Market Research report on green technology and sustainability market provides analysis and insights regarding the various factors expected to be prevalent throughout the forecast period while providing their impacts on the market's growth. The increase in demand for the technology is escalating the growth of green technology and sustainability market. One of the key elements fueling the expansion of the green technology and sustainability markets is the rise in environmental awareness and concerns among consumers around the world. Market expansion is accelerated by rising consumer and business interest in using renewable energy sources to protect the environment and rising deployment of RFID sensors that reduce carbon emissions. The modernization of IT and telecom infrastructure for low carbon emission and government attempts to minimize waste production and reduce carbon footprint have an additional impact on the market. Additionally, the green technology and sustainability market is benefited by urbanization, an increase in investment, and a rise in awareness. North America dominates the green technology and sustainability market due to the region's technological advancement developments and innovation. Asia-Pacific is expected to witness the highest growth during the forecast period of 2021 to 2028 because emerging economies such as China and India are investing heavily in overhauling their domestic infrastructure in the region.
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