REDUCING ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT:
THE ROLE OF DATA AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
As companies adopt sustainable business practices to meet carbon reduction targets, quality data and AI are critical to success.
87% of business leaders expect to increase sustainability investment by end 2024*
75% of organizations will have implemented a data center infrastructure sustainability programme by 2027*
Yet poor data quality costs organizations an average of $12.9 million annually, increasing the complexity of data ecosystems, contributing to poor decision making*
The importance of trustworthy data can’t be overstated for meeting sustainability objectives. Data helps meet environmental challenges to establish extra-financial reporting, optimize energy consumption, and involve stakeholders in the emissions reduction trajectory.
* Source: Gartner, Inc. survey of business leader, November 2022
* Source: Unlock the Business Benefits of Sustainable IT Infrastructure, 2023
* Source: How to Improve Your Data Quality, Gartner Insights
Data for Sustainability: Measuring and reducing our environmental impact
Watch the Video
(For videos, you can enable subtitles in your language directly in YouTube – check settings)
Vincent Luciani, CEO and co-founder of Artefact, stated, “We believe that using new technologies and artificial intelligence will play a crucial role in achieving the collective goal of reducing our carbon footprint.”
Margot Millory, Senior Data Consulting Manager – Lead Data x Sustainability at Artefact, wondered: “Why are so few companies on the right track to achieving their environmental ambitions? Many factors are responsible, but an important one is a lack of control over environmental data. There’s so much of it, it’s hard to measure, and it’s often decentralized and unreliable. Data mastery is essential for organizations everywhere.
“At Artefact, we rely on four pillars to help our clients achieve their sustainability goals:
:
- Organizational acculturation,
- Data governance,
- Empowering people with the right tools,
- Implementing AI factories to get things moving.”
How can AI and sustainable development be compatible at SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC?
Yoann Bersihand, VP AI Technology at Schneider Electric, said: “At Schneider, we believe access to energy is a fundamental human right. Today’s generation faces accelerated digital transformation in an increasingly electric world. Our goal is the integration of energy management and industrial automation technologies to serve the objectives of sustainable development and energy efficiency.”
And Schneider is already integrating AI internally and into customer offerings in the areas of energy efficiency and sustainable development, including projects such as Schneider Electric AI Hubs and the Schneider Electric IntenCity Building.
“70% of carbon emissions can be eliminated using existing technology, there’s no need to wait 10 years to take control,” affirms Johann.
How RENAULT’s monitoring system (EMS) helps track and optimize site energy consumption
Gael Theze, Director of Energy Efficiency for Renault Group described the four steps to decarbonize a factory: “The recipe is simple, but its execution can be very complex.”
He told the story of Renault’s EMS (energy management system). Their longtime supplier was bought out in 2022 by a larger company, leaving Renault just six months to find a backup solution.
“What saved us is our ‘collect once, use many times’ data capture standard. We structured our data at source using a worldwide standard with a common dictionary for all our equipment, installations and machines. We reconnected our 24 factories and 10,000 energy meters to our existing Google cloud infrastructure so we could continue to guarantee continuity of activity, management and monitoring.”
How CARREFOUR measures their e-commerce carbon footprint to create a realistic, actionable roadmap
Manuel Chatain, Group E-commerce CSR Manager of Carrefour, polled the audience to see if they knew which part of the online food delivery process is the greatest source of carbon emissions. Almost all correctly answered that products are the culprit, not infrastructure or delivery services.
What does this mean for Carrefour? “While 98% of our emissions come from the products we sell, which is Scope 3, and our Scope 1 and 2 only represent only 2% of our emissions, we still need to work on reducing all of them,” stated Manuel. Some of Carrefour’s initiatives to reduce emissions include:
De-listing suppliers that don’t meet a 1.5°C trajectory by 2026
Reducing the sale of animal products
Improving last-mile delivery efficiency
Expanding e-commerce and physical accessibility for all consumers.
Experts from DECATHLON DIGITAL, ORANGE France and AKTIO discuss emissions reduction with Data & AI
Moderated by Margot Millory, industry experts shared the steps their organizations are taking to reduce carbon emissions and manage environmental action plans using data and AI.
Jonathan Juan, Group Product Manager, Decathlon Digital,
Analyzes products from design to disposal;
Considers usage patterns to calculate unit impacts & align CO2 budgets with future trends;
Measures supplier CO2 intensity to promote supply chain sustainability.
Stéphane More-Chevalier, Head, Cross-Functional Projects & Communication, Orange France:
Considers both financial viability and carbon impact of all projects;
Understands the importance of granular data for impact measurement.
Laurent Barbezieux, Co-founder, carbon footprint measurement platform Aktio,
Measures production-level footprint and shares this data with suppliers;
Gives suppliers three years to meet standards, otherwise, will defer to referenced ones,
Believes long-term vision and realistic expectations are vital as future purchase decisions depend on it.
Collecting and using Data ethically for maximum strategic and social impact
Download the ebook
DATA CONSULTING | DATA & DIGITAL MARKETING | DIGITAL COMMERCE
