Sustainable Business Practices For A Changing World

Please welcome back Katie Brenneman, a regular contributor to the 21st Century Tech Blog. This is her 21st posting to the site. Katie writes about a wide range of subjects, which makes her well-suited to providing articles for you to read. In the past, she has noted that when not writing, you’ll find her with her nose buried in a book, at her local coffee shop, or hiking with her dog. To learn more about Katie, follow her on X.

Today, her topic focuses on how companies face climate change and finite resource challenges that require a focus on sustainability. Please read on and feel free to comment.

The world faces a growing challenge from climate change. Companies need to adapt. Why? Because consumer expectations, government regulations, and environmental realities are pushing them to rethink their operations. This means taking steps to reduce their ecological footprint while capitalizing through innovation.

The Business Case for Sustainability

As scientists’ predictions on climate change continue to be reflected by reality, sustainability has become a major consideration for companies and for customers who buy from them.

Consumers are increasingly environmentally conscious with more than 80% willing to pay more for eco-friendly products. Clothing brands like Patagonia and cleaning product producer Seventh Generation charge more for their offerings and consumers are prepared to pay the extra premium knowing they are making an environmental impact statement.

Future clean energy standards likely will continue to make demands that companies reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions creating both business challenges and opportunities.

Investing in renewable energy and efficiency is a necessary step for sustainability as retailers are finding out including: 

• Walmart’s commitment to 100% renewable energy for all operations by 2035.
• Kohl’s goal is to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions throughout its operations while expanding its solar energy capacity.
• IKEA has achieved 100% renewable electricity in 25 retail markets and 408 factories and suppliers. The company sources almost 98% of the wood in its products from recycled or certified forest stewardship and plans to be what it calls “climate positive” by 2030. 

Technology’s Role in Supporting Sustainability

When it comes to sustainability, the adoption of smart technology is essential. Companies are introducing innovation to reduce energy consumption, optimize supply chains, and improve operational efficiencies while cutting carbon emissions. 

UPS has embraced sustainability as a core value. It introduced the On-Road Integrated Optimization and Navigation (ORION) system in 2012, a system that optimizes every delivery van’s routes by analyzing real-time events and finding new drop-offs and pickup points. As of 2024, ORION has saved the company over 100 million travel miles and $10 million in fuel. 

Advancements in data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) are enabling companies to monitor real-time energy use, pinpoint deficiencies and address them. 

Industries traditionally associated with high environmental impact, like manufacturing, transportation, and agriculture, are adopting technologies to minimize waste and emissions. For example, the aforementioned UPS is replacing gas and diesel-powered trucks with electric and alternative-fuelled vehicles.

Additionally, energy companies have been implementing carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies to begin to offset the environmental impact of the harmful emissions produced by fossil fuel extraction and production operations. Projects include:

• SaskPower’s Boundary Dam CCS site,
• Shell Canada’s Alberta Quest CCS facility,
• NRG Energy and JX Nippon Oil & Gas Petra Nova plant in Texas,
• Norwegian Equinor and its Sleipner North Sea CCS facility,
• Western Australia’s Gorgon CCS site.

Adapting to Climate Change and Mitigating Risks

Extreme weather, rising sea levels, and public health crises represent increasing risks for businesses in the 21st century. Climate change challenges are already disrupting supply chains, increasing operational costs, and damaging infrastructure. 

Climate change environmental disruptions pose threats that many business leaders tend to overlook such as the potential for public health risks. Experts are seeing upticks in certain health conditions resulting from climate change including increases in respiratory diseases from air pollution, and rising temperatures leading to increases in heat-related illnesses.

Making improvements in energy efficiency, not only safeguards a company against fluctuating prices. It also reduces waste and lowers expenses. Companies that ignore these environmental issues face reputational damage, loss of market share, and increased costs from regulatory non-compliance.

The picture seems pretty straightforward here in the 21st century. The sooner companies incorporate sustainable practices, the more they will mitigate risk and improve not only their operations but gain greater public trust.