The goal of sustainable technology is twofold: to produce new technologies using sustainable processes and materials, and to use technologies to address environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. Sustainable technologies may range from physical technologies like solar panels, to ESG reporting and ESG performance management software.

When developing technology sustainably, organizations may consider factors such as resources used to develop the technology, the provider of those materials and potential negative output throughout the technology’s life cycle, such as emissions or e-waste. In this sense, sustainable technology describes a mindset or philosophy when it comes to creating and implementing technologies.

When deploying a sustainable product or technology, companies often set out to make progress toward ESG-related objectives. For example, organizations may create technologies that reduce fossil-fuel consumption like electric vehicles or remove waste through decarbonization initiatives.

Companies can also use sustainable technologies to reduce their carbon footprint. For instance, they can leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to run diagnostics and determine what areas of their business produce the most waste. With those insights, they can then use carbon accounting to identify opportunities to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions or advocate for adopting renewable energy sources.

Sustainability can be defined as the long-term ambition for people to co-exist on Earth without depleting its natural resources. Ultimately, the goal is to create a better future for both people and the planet. Experts generally agree that there are three dimensions or pillars of sustainability: environmental, social and economic.

Many business leaders are aware of these dimensions given that they coincide with the triple bottom line, a sustainability framework that revolves around the three P’s: people, planet and profit. By maximizing all three bottom lines, organizations are more likely to achieve sustainability in business.

Organizations are realizing they don’t need to sacrifice their bottom line to become a sustainable business and reduce their environmental impact. In fact, some companies are seeing greater margins by developing and deploying sustainable technologies. As a result, they’re finding new ways to assess risks and improve resiliency while also considering external regulations and development goals in their decision-making.

Why is sustainable technology important?

Technology has become heavily ingrained in our society and lives, impacting the way we interact with the world around us. At the same time, people and businesses are grappling with a host of serious, unprecedented challenges: the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic; the growing impact of climate change and the depletion of natural resources; and ever-increasing demands on the world’s energy resources and food supply. These challenges have spurred growing disruptions, both in the everyday lives of people around the world and in the operations and supply chains critical to businesses large and small.

Sustainable technology offers an opportunity to reframe our relationship with existing innovations in a way that helps address environmental and societal challenges. For instance, companies can leverage technology solutions like the Internet of Things (IoT) to optimize routes and make fleet management more sustainable. Similarly, an organization’s procurement department can operate more sustainably by tapping into a growing ecosystem of digital technologies like AI and the cloud to automate and optimize purchase order management.

The role of software in sustainable technology:

Another type of sustainable technology is software. There are several ways software can be sustainable, For instance, it’s estimated that over 80% of all product-related environmental impacts are determined during the design phase.1 Designers can embed sustainability into their software development strategies by making sure that the user, community and social value outweigh any negative environmental or social impact of the software.

The future of sustainable technology :

Sustainable technologies can empower organizations to reimagine their business models to better balance financial performance with sustainability goals. For instance, financial services companies can leverage the cloud to reduce on-premises energy consumption in their data centers. Consumer goods companies can introduce robotic process automation into their manufacturing processes to improve accuracy and reduce waste. Healthcare organizations can replace physical health records with electronic ones, reducing waste while boosting security by storing the encrypted patient data in a blockchain.