At the Conference of the Parties (COP 28) being held in Dubai from 30 November to 12 December, some 75,000 dignitaries, climate scientists, politicians, business leaders, and the world’s press will gather to discuss about addressing the growing climate crisis affecting the planet. However, this year’s event may not match the positive momentum in the tech sector, a leader in fulfilling environmental, social, and governance (ESG) commitments. It is anticipated to be more of a talking shop , says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
Since COP 27, the planet has grown hotter and climate-related disasters have become more prevalent around the globe, with countries across every continent suffering extreme floods, droughts, wildfires, and more. Recently, the UN stated that global warming is on track to increase by as much as 2.9C above pre-industrial levels.
While governments are tending to prevaricate and postpone, companies across the tech sector are accelerating the timing of their commitments to net zero.
Robert Pritchard, Principal Analyst at GlobalData, observes: “The tech sector has been a leader in efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This has been driven by the power of customer, investor, and talent demand on the pull side. On the push side, great strides have been made from making equipment, services, and operations more efficient and environmentally friendly.”
In the broader market outside of tech, progress has been made with improvements in using renewable energy, as well as with advances in carbon capture. Recycling and a rise in the circular economy are also making great progress.
Pritchard concludes: “The tech sector is not only cleaning up its own act, but also actively contributing to resolving climate change. New ways of working facilitated by services like unified communications, multiple specific niche propositions such as optimizing water usage in agriculture with IoT and optimizing data center efficiency through hyperscaler economies of scale, mean that the tech sector can drive forward the digital economy while also making a substantial contribution to efforts to fight the climate crisis.”
