Environmental pressures are reinforcing the demand for business intelligence

Despite the pressures of the global economic downturn, environmental issues remain a central priority for government and business.

Securing more sustainable energy supplies is a central element on their agendas. Yet renewable energy continues to represent a small share of overall generation, with the majority still coming from imported fossil fuels. Growth in emerging economies has introduced further competition for resources, highlighted by China’s energy consumption having recently overtaken the United States. As a result, all countries face the challenge of moving urgently towards secure, affordable and low-carbon energy.

In order to achieve these objectives, energy infrastructure needs significant investment across generation, distribution and supply. While there is considerable financial risk associated with this investment, there is growing evidence that a smart approach can deliver significant efficiency savings to the energy provider as well as reducing energy consumption by the consumer. These range from the way smart grids facilitate remote meter readings and more efficient billing processes, to the provision of increased flexibility in the system and the way they give companies the ability to monitor and respond to outages more quickly.

In emerging economies the potential of smart grids is even more significant. For example, in India a smart grid can help to reduce the 32% of India’s power that is lost every year. So a smart grid could improve reliability and efficiency, as well as deliver environmental benefits.

Further drivers of smarter data to meet environmental objectives come from the widespread introduction of initiatives like the UK’s corporate carbon credit scheme. This requires the measurement of carbon output, rather than using estimates. Over the next three to five years, the regulatory pressure for corporations to report carbon usage more accurately will become increasingly acute. This will be reinforced by corporations wanting to demonstrate to shareholders and consumers the success of carbon reduction programmes they have undertaken. Equally, as the cost of carbon credits rises so will the importance of compliance, measurement and emissions reduction.

Consumers themselves are also driving change as they make real environmental and ethical demands of the businesses that serve them. This means ensuring they have all the data on the implications of their purchasing decisions. Unilever estimates total emissions of greenhouse gases from their immediate operations to be around 4 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent a year but, including consumer use and disposal of the products, that figure could be between 30 and 60 times higher. Therefore, a company’s record in this area can no longer be managed through a simple public relations exercise, as it has the power to affect share price.

So organisations will need more accurate and comprehensive data covering everything from conditions for workers in factories, to food miles, operational sustainability, and the generation of waste and by-products. This kind of real-time data will be vital for organisations who want to minimise their environmental impacts. 

All these factors underline that smart data is likely to play an increasingly important role in meeting our future environmental and energy challenges.

To speak to a PA expert on what smart means for your organisation, please contact us now.