Industry experts deliberate on digital sustainability as path to net zero

Asia-Pacific is home to some of the world's largest carbon-emitters contributing over 60 per cent of total global greenhouse gases emissions. As per latest reports, India's overall Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) score stands at 66 out of 100. India ranks at 120th spot on the 17 SDG adopted by 192 United Nations member states as part of the 2030 agenda.

Within the context of India’s role in the UN SDG, digital technology plays a crucial role in bringing about the balance between economic growth and sustainable outcomes. Digital technologies can help measure the environmental impact of industrial activities, beyond the known outcomes of better coordination and on-time delivery of projects.

Sustainability is about creating technology that improves energy and material productivity. To examine the need for India to make the shift towards green energy and the challenges that are holding it back, Economictimes.com and Autodesk conducted a Virtual Summit bringing together subject and industry experts to share insights on India’s transition to renewable energy and how digital technology will play a key role in this.

The virtual panel discussion touched upon significant actions taken by organisations to improve eco-credentials and emphasised on digitisation of business processes as a step towards sustainability.

Parminder Singh, Country Head- Design & Manufacturing, Autodesk talked about the role of technology in driving sustainable growth and how digitalisation has accelerated the transition to renewable energy.

“Technology is a key growth and sustainability enabler. Today, digital technologies have the capability to help improve sustainability outcomes of a company through various areas, from design and engineering, to project management or compliance. Digital solutions help to manage and analyse complex information to evaluate different data, allowing for effective decision-making at any stage to reduce carbon footprint and aid in overall sustainable outcomes,” Singh shared during the session.

The programme started with a keynote address by Priya Balijepalli, Sustainability Manager for APAC, Autodesk and was followed by a panel which had experts from diverse industries like manufacturing, mining, power & energy to put forth their knowledge and experience on the subject.

Sunil P Borase, CEO, Results Marine; Sushil Kohli, Global Head-HSEQ, Services, Normet Group; H P Singh, Executive Director-CIO, ONGC; R K Tyagi, Director (OSD Operations), Power Grid and Kiran Alla - Sr. Director - Product Marketing, Plug Power were part of the discussion on Digital sustainability set to pave the path to Net zero – Are we ready for a green future?

Watch the full session