5 innovations transforming net zero targets into actions

Innovation and net zero at Davos

While many companies talk the talk of sustainability and their ambitions for net zero, do they really have any idea of how they’ll get there?

My answer? Innovation, led by purpose-driven ecosystems. 

Innovation is core to driving sustainable business transformation—and in many sectors, it is already happening. While the global climate emergency is the most pressing issue, other environmental priorities for leaders and their organizations include waste, food, water, natural resource scarcity, and the loss of biodiversity.

Addressing these complex and very real challenges can seem insurmountable. In my view, that is exactly why innovation sits at the heart of ultimately solving these challenges—but it must be embraced in all aspects of business decision making and strategy.  

This topic is particularly top of mind for me this week as I join other TCS delegates at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos. This year’s theme is ‘Cooperation in a Fragmented World,’ with a core focus on ways organizations can create sustainable futures for all. 

The imperative to act is not just a moral one. Creating purpose-led companies to pursue sustainable goals will also limit business and financial risk and allow organizations to grow. Indeed, many companies are responding to this challenge. More than 85% of large corporations have already made net-zero pledges and are working on their execution plans to decarbonize, use more renewable sources of energy, and create greener supply chains.

Even so, we must all do more, and do it faster. Here are five sectors where we at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) see innovation already in action, or, at the very least, its promise to create real change:

Manufacturing: Reimagining materials, products, design 

More than two-thirds of our global Manufacturing & Utilities clients have declared their carbon neutrality goals.

For manufacturers, these pledges are particularly complex, since they often come with implications for long and involved supply chains: ethical sourcing, material circularity and lower product life-cycle emissions, to name a few.

To achieve these bold goals, leading companies apply innovative modelling of their operations, using AI and creating digital twins to map and reduce emissions. These technology applications will help companies be sustainable, accountable, and future-ready. 

Aviation: Ecosystems are key

On the highways and in the skies, ecosystems lie at the heart of sustainability in the aviation and automotive industries, with all players relying on collaboration and accountability at both industry and organizational levels.

Industry leaders are moving towards the circular economy model, where innovations around product life, fuel and energy sourcing and production, resource management and knowledge sharing are key.

Digital technologies can also play a key role in helping to implement and accelerate these circular economy principles across downstream ecosystem partners. 

Industry leaders including P&G, Unilever, 3M, Shell, Dow Chemical, BASF, Lyondellbasel, Toyota, BMW and Rolls Royce are all adopting innovative technologies to incorporate the principle of repair, retrofit, reuse and recycle.