Exploring Technology's Role in Efficiency and Sustainability

As our planet faces escalating climate challenges, the corporate world is increasingly harnessing technology to meet environmental sustainability goals.

The urgency of this mission is underscored by the potential failure to meet the Paris Agreement's 1.5°C target.

According to Gartner's 2024 Hype Cycle for Environmental Sustainability, businesses need to pivot from merely mitigating climate effects to actively adapting to them, citing a roadmap of 38 key innovations which, when applied, can reshape how organisations approach environmental challenges.

What is a Gartner Hype Cycle?

The Gartner Hype Cycle is a graphical tool that describes the maturity and adoption phases of various technologies, providing insights into their real-world applications, risks and benefits.

This helps organisations navigate the often complex landscape of technological innovation.

Insights from the Gartner Hype Cycle Report

The latest report from Gartner identifies 38 critical innovations that could redefine approaches to environmental sustainability. These range from AI-driven sustainability to establishing net-zero data centres.

However, the report also cautions against the rising energy demands of technologies like generative AI, which might negate some sustainability gains.

This makes it vital to adopt a balanced, strategic approach to technology deployment.

Sarah Watt, Gartner's VP Analyst and KI Leader, emphasises the need for an impact-based approach to sustainability.

“Enterprises should adopt an impacts-based mindset,” she says.

“This means looking at the range of solutions available and assessing where to invest to best protect critical business outcomes, for example, regarding extreme weather events. A combination of digital, engineering and nature-based solutions will be put in place to adapt to a changing climate.

“Climate change impacts can still feel far away. However, some of these impacts are being seen through more severe weather events.

"This impacts business.”

Sarah also touches on AI's potential and pitfalls in addressing sustainability issues.

AI's capabilities extend from enhancing everyday sustainability operations — like data collection and emissions reduction — to groundbreaking uses such as identifying new, environmentally friendly materials or forecasting climate impacts.

Yet, it remains crucial to ensure that the benefits of using AI outweigh its environmental impacts.

“This is a question of applying the right technology to solve the right types of problems,” she adds. “This means making sure that the benefit of using AI exceeds the impacts created.

“AI can be used to optimise everyday sustainability activities by helping with data collection, insight and suggesting actions to, for example, reduce emissions. It can also be used to respond to customer questions or help suppliers identify emissions reduction pathways. 

“AI can also be used in a game-changing way, for example, to identify new materials which are circular or predict climate change impacts.”

While AI represents a significant advance, it's not a panacea for all sustainability challenges faced by businesses and governments. The search continues for transitional solutions that pave the way toward more sustainable practices until more advanced technologies become viable.

Sarah discusses some existing 'bridging' technologies that are effective in the short-term.

She says: “One of the big hurdles in the energy transition is to address thermal energy needs,” she begins. “These needs have been met by a range of fuels from coal to natural gas. We have seen a strong focus on electrification — however, this is not always cost-effective. 

“Where natural gas is used, the focus has been on efficiency through mechanisms like heat recovery. It's about doing more with less, until and alternative scales.”

She adds that Gartner is observing hyperscales looking for low-carbon solutions — with attention recently turning to nuclear energy.

Smart cities and green agriculture practices, Sarah continues, can play a major role in the future of climate-focused sustainable technology solutions and is hoping they will gain more traction as time goes on.

She says: “Smart cities and sustainable agriculture are both interesting areas which can address sustainability needs by using technology. We are also keenly watching both new biology and space innovations to understand their applicability to sustainability challenges.”

Addressing sustainability with determination and innovation

Despite the challenges in deploying technology effectively, Sarah remains hopeful.

The balance between short-term financial objectives and long-term sustainability commitments is difficult but crucial.

“This is a tricky issue,” she advises. “There is a tension between short-term market performance expectations and longer-term commitments to sustainability goals. One of the ways to overcome this is to match interim sustainability deliverables with financial timelines and build in controls into the decision-making process. 

“Reaching ambitious sustainability goals requires concerted effort over time. Delaying action, locks enterprises into future, potentially unknown costs, if goals are to be met."

Sarah underscores that innovation in sustainability is not just a future prospect but is already happening, with tangible benefits being realised through technological applications.

However, the effectiveness of these innovations can vary. She cites voluntary carbon offsets (VCOs) as an example, where emission impacts are challenging to measure due to credibility issues in emission accounting.

“It depends on what we mean by a 'making real difference. In terms of emissions, the impact is hard to measure, as VCO projects have faced a credibility crisis in terms of emissions accounting.

“VCOs will be an important part of helping companies to get to net zero but should always be the action of last resort. There are multiple technologies that could improve the authenticity of VCOs from geospatial data to blockchain. 

“However, it will be a combination of these types of solutions and standards that are needed to rebuild customer confidence in this mechanism.”

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