Innovation in sustainability: How technology advances corporate sustainability

In today’s corporate world, advanced technology is key to driving sustainability. Companies are increasingly using tech solutions to integrate sustainability into their operations. Members of the Chief Sustainability Leaders community, which includes over 150 executives from top global companies across 27 industries and 38 countries, are exploring how technology is reshaping corporate sustainability.

This World Economic Forum group aims to share insights, connect peers, and enhance the visibility and impact of sustainability leaders. Here, members of the Chief Sustainability Leaders community explore how technology is reshaping corporate sustainability.

Leveraging advanced technology and ESG data management systems is vital to accelerate our sustainability journey.

Providing transparency about sustainability goals and achievements to internal and external stakeholders is key to sparking credibility and employee engagement. At SAP, a global technology company committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2030 along its value chain, transparency is a cornerstone of its sustainability strategy.

Since 2012, SAP has measured progress holistically, connecting financial with non-financial data in its Integrated Report. Internally, SAP employees can gain insights into the company’s ESG performance through a sustainability dashboard, even down to the level of SAP SE location and line of business.

The recent implementation of SAP Sustainability Control Tower, a cloud-based, artificial intelligence (AI) enabled software for holistic ESG steering and reporting, marks a significant milestone.

This solution facilitates the automated recording of data from various sources and delivers actionable insights across all ESG dimensions. It allows for auditable, compliant ESG reporting based on actuals, not averages, thereby streamlining internal processes, improving transparency, and fostering collaboration across teams.

Our purpose-driven innovation attracts talent eager to help find solutions that address major global challenges.

Biotechnology is revolutionizing sustainable development by creating innovative products that accelerate the shift to a climate-neutral society. dsm-firmenich exemplifies this transformation.

Using both traditional and modern approaches to biotechnology, such as synthetic biology and precision fermentation, coupled with digital technologies, dsm-firmenich develops sustainable bio-solutions.

Recent examples include a game-changing algae-based omega-3 oil (Veramaris®), a next-generation stevia sweetener (EverSweet®) and a scent inspired by sandalwood (Dreamwood®) – all produced through fermentation. The company’s extensive track record of bringing sustainable innovations to market has underscored the critical importance of scalability and robustness.

Delivering sustainability through innovation requires creative integration of technology, diverse perspectives and unwavering dedication. dsm-firmenich continually challenges and improves its innovation processes and establishes strategic collaborations within and outside the company.

Businesses are the engines of innovation, harnessing emerging technologies to drive growth and accelerate solutions for our most pressing environmental challenges.

Taking a holistic approach to sustainability management involves integrating all lines of business across the company and value chains. Cloud-based digital technologies offer a solid data foundation and flexible integration of datasets from various business areas and partners. This approach can scale at the same pace as a company’s net-zero implementation, ensuring that sustainability is embedded deeply within business processes.

At SAP, leveraging advanced technology and ESG data management systems is vital to accelerating the sustainability journey. As a provider of business applications, SAP delivers sustainability management solutions to help its customers reach their sustainability goals. The company also implements its own software solutions to advance its corporate sustainability efforts and acts as a co-innovation partner for its development teams.

Technology can have almost an immediate positive impact on a large industry. Through connectivity and intelligent operations, we can reduce emissions and reach net zero together.

We have seen technology change our lives exponentially over the past 20 years; for many of us, it’s fundamental to meeting our everyday needs. Connectivity has been at the forefront of this change, revolutionizing communication and access to information as well as making it easier for people to collaborate globally, stay informed and access resources instantly. The future is now focused on industrial integration and how we can use this same technology to pave a new future for all industries and, at the same time, consider the impact on the planet.

At Ericsson, we use technology and innovation to support our commitment to reaching net zero by 2040. Beyond our own company, we are using our technology to help our customers and other sectors of society decarbonize.

A recent example of using technology to reduce emissions is our collaboration with the company Kiona. In a collaborative effort, we are using 5G connectivity and Kiona’s AI steering function and Edge Hubs to act as a gateway to connect data transmission between building sensors, the network and Kiona’s Edge platform to improve the energy optimization of heating systems and provide a net reduction of energy and greenhouse gas emissions.

Where technology stands out in this example is that the integration of the system takes only hours and leads to almost immediate savings. This provides a quick and effective way for all buildings to reduce their energy consumption instead of the traditional route of, for example, insulation.

This shows that technology can have almost an immediate positive impact on a large industry. Through connectivity and intelligent operations, we can reduce emissions and reach net zero together.

Strategic collaboration is crucial for building a resilient, adaptable culture of sustainability. Companies like SAP, dsm-firmenich and Ericsson highlight this by integrating sustainability across operations and forming partnerships beyond their own organizations. Driving innovation in sustainability is central to their mission and reinforcing their belief that businesses must make a meaningful positive impact.

Innovation in sustainability is now a strategic imperative. Through digital integration and biotechnological innovation, companies are not only meeting environmental standards but also setting future benchmarks.
By embracing tech-driven change, businesses are reshaping industries, adopting new models and creating lasting societal and environmental benefits.