Digitalization and sustainability
Reach sustainability targets by creating a digital industrial hub
Accelerate the path to industrial sustainability
Industrial enterprises no longer have to choose between profits and sustainability. Today, digitalization is a critical enabler of both, powering sustainable business growth. Industry 4.0 deployments, such as remote drone inspections, digital twins and autonomous vehicles, empower enterprises to achieve operational, commercial and sustainability goals by driving operational efficiencies and reducing energy, fuel and material waste. This helps lower costs and accelerate decarbonization and net-zero strategies. A recent survey shows that 79% of enterprises have reduced emissions by at least 10% by adopting digitalization solutions such as edge computing and 5G private wireless (GlobalData and Nokia).
By delivering comprehensive, accurate and high-quality data in real-time, digitalization also bridges siloes across the operation to create a single view of all sustainability efforts and operational performance. Having a single centralized view of all data enables deep analysis and insights, laying the foundation on which more efficient operations are built and facilitating reporting transparency and ESG compliance.
Digitalization also allows organizations to take short-term actions and optimize long-term planning. Lasting sustainable business growth is a journey, and the right digitalization foundation will give enterprises the flexibility, security and scalability they need to make initial gains today and sensibly scale their ESG strategy over time, delivering greater competitive advantage and profitability in the long run.
Four key digital strategies to reach sustainability targets
Digitalization provides critical tools to help meet ESG requirements and demands for transparent reporting while also ensuring long-term competitiveness and sustainable business growth. This guide explores four key digital strategies and their enabling technologies to help you reach sustainability targets.
Estimate how to minimize your footprint with our industry-first private wireless sustainability calculator
Our sustainability calculator combines handprint and footprint analysis to quantify the net positive impacts of private wireless networks and key Industry 4.0 applications. The calculator model uses data from multiple sources, making it a powerful tool to estimate your environmental and social footprint, inform operational planning, and improve efficiencies.
What are the barriers to industrial sustainability?
As manufacturing, port, mining and other industrial sectors strive to transition toward industrial sustainability and net-zero operations, they continue to produce significant carbon emissions.
To reduce carbon footprints, regulators, customers and investors increasingly demand transparent and detailed sustainability reporting as an urgent priority. However, technological limitations pose a formidable barrier to effective monitoring and analysis. Additionally, without access to high-quality, centralized data, it remains an ongoing challenge to demonstrate the economic benefits of the sustainability journey to skeptical stakeholders.
25%
of global energy-related CO2 emissions are from industry
90.5%
of the 2.1 billion tonnes of waste generated in the EU every year come from industrial activities
41%
of executives name inadequate data as a top barrier to ESG progress
Sources: 1) International Energy Agency, 2) Eurostat, European Union, 3) IBM
No green without digital
“70% of enterprises will invest in 5G in the next five years and this is absolutely necessary if we want to improve industrial productivity to reduce emissions and reduce waste.”
Watch the full interview with Pekka Lundmark
How does digitalization contribute to industrial sustainability?
By reducing fuel and energy consumption and limiting waste, digitalization provides industrial enterprises with the tools to accelerate toward Industry 4.0 and scale efficiency gains to achieve commercial and sustainability goals, today and in the long term.
The projected energy demand is huge - the role of data and AI
Efficiency and profitability
Digitalization offsets the cost of environmental initiatives by enabling both profitability and sustainability. Digital transformation improves operational efficiencies, and anything that is more efficient is good for the environment – and for business.
Real-time quality data
Digitalization provides access to real-time data that is collected, centralized and harmonized autonomously. High-quality data gives industrial enterprises comprehensive visibility in a single-pane-of-glass view, enabling deep real-time insights, data-driven optimizations and transparent reporting.
Small digital footprint
Digitalization leaves its own footprint due to its energy consumption and GHG emissions. However, technologies such as private wireless produce considerably smaller footprints than some alternatives. For example, private wireless consumes up to 90% less energy than legacy technologies, including Wi-Fi. See the benefits for yourself with our private wireless sustainability calculator.
79%
of surveyed enterprises see more than a 10% reduction in emissions after deploying digitalization solutions
€1.3 million
the average saved cost to society by a medium-sized chemical manufacturing plant deploying private wireless and new Industry 4.0 use cases
7%
lowered fuel consumption and reduced wear and tear from private wireless-powered autonomous mining trucks
Sources: 1) GlobalData, 2) Nokia Private Wireless Sustainability Calculator, 3) Komatsu
Examples of digitalization enabling industrial sustainability
Whether it’s virtual replicas of systems or real-time energy tracking, each digitalization use case can have an immediate impact on operational efficiency and sustainability. As part of a long-term sustainability strategy, it lays the foundation for the development of deeper structural changes, cross-value chain collaboration and more sustainable practices and business models, safeguarding future operations and business growth.
Enterprises are realizing the sustainability benefits of digitalization
Across industry sectors, from manufacturing to mining and ports, forward-thinking organizations are implementing long-term digitalization strategies to create smarter operations, empower sustainable projects and drive efficiencies. Here are some of the pioneering organizations we are privileged to work with:
Port of Kokkola: Improving efficiency through real-time energy and fuel metering
Komatsu: Improving productivity, efficiency and high-quality data analysis
Discover digital applications to accelerate your industrial sustainability efforts
We deliver a wide range of industrial applications that help you create a single centralized view of your operational and sustainability data, and facilitate innovative Industry 4.0 deployments to amplify efficiency and sustainability gains for your business.
Ensuring your workers have access to real-time data and the right digital tools to make informed decisions and drive meaningful change in your operation is critical. It creates a culture of empowerment and vital buy-in from your workforce, who are ultimately in charge of implementing, monitoring and adjusting sustainability measures to meet KPIs and ensure compliance.
Accelerate sustainable business growth with Nokia one platform
Nokia one platform for industrial digitalization simplifies digital transformation for industrial enterprises by delivering secure, reliable and high-quality wireless infrastructure.
The one platform guides you along the path to industrial sustainability, providing seamless and secure high-performance connectivity, a vast range of ecosystem-neutral applications, ruggedized devices to connect your workers and machines, and industrial edge.
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Our commitment to sustainability
Our purpose is to create technology that helps the world act together. Sustainability is central to this purpose, and we are committed to making green initiatives a competitive advantage for us, our customers and our partners. Through networks, our positive handprint accelerates the digitalization of industrial enterprises, helping organizations become productive, sustainable and resilient.
Nokia Bell Labs, our industrial research lab, innovates with purpose, pursuing responsible, sustainable technologies that will have a demonstrable impact on society. Our Industry 4.0 technologies, such as low-latency connectivity, analytics, AI and digital twins, can support hard-to-abate industries to accelerate their sustainability efforts while improving productivity, resource efficiency and safety.
Can digitalization help us get to net zero faster?
Resources
Choose industrial sustainability today
Future-proof your sustainable business growth with Industry 4.0 digitalization.
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