The tech sector can help lead the world into a low-carbon future

We’ve been advising our clients to focus on ESG for years. But the recently concluded COP26 makes it clear that the conversation can no longer be about education or training. Companies really need to take action by building their own strategies, mapping out a roadmap and having an execution plan in place. That includes the technology sector.

In the weeks surrounding the events in Glasgow, it was heartening to see tech leaders who traditionally compete against one another come together to make significant net zero pledges on behalf of their companies, their products and their supply chains.

It’s becoming increasingly clear that tech is among the industries that will have the greatest impact in our fight against climate change - perhaps even beyond some of the five main carbon-emitting sectors targeted by the Glasgow Breakthroughs agreed at COP26 (steel, road transport, agriculture, hydrogen, and electricity). Why? Obviously, technology permeates every part of our lives. And it is important to shrink the carbon footprints for the data centers that house the cloud or power the smartphones that sit in our pockets.

More broadly, the tech sector will play a vital role in developing green technology. Gains made by harnessing blockchain technology, the cloud, internet of things and artificial intelligence will filter down through every other industry. They will be seen in the software underpinning smart grids, in the servers powering emissions monitoring, and in the industrial systems that run low-carbon manufacturing. Everyone will be counting on tech companies, both incumbents and startups, to drive and undergird this change. The fact that they will be building ESG into the DNA of the technologies that they are creating to help other industries combat climate change is an incredibly hopeful development.

This is a win-win for the planet and for the technology sector at large. The clean technology field is an already burgeoning sub-sector that is set to explode with the pledges made in Glasgow. With over 40 world leaders, representing over 70 percent of the global economy, agreeing to global standards, companies finally have much-needed benchmarks for sustainability. That guidance will force the much more rapid development and adoption of technologies that are currently in their infancy. Thanks to the commitments made at COP26, in the future, we’ll be talking about clean technology the way we currently talk about blockchain, AI or IoT.