Digital technologies could deliver up to 40% of Ireland’s 2030 carbon reduction targets

Successfully deploying digital technologies could deliver up to 40% of the reduction in carbon emissions needed to meet Ireland’s carbon reduction 2030 targets, according to a new study by Amárach Research.

The report suggests the effective implementation of a digitally sustainable programme of transformation – through digital solutions in energy, manufacturing, agriculture, buildings and transportation – has the potential to reduce emissions as part of meeting the targets set out by the Climate Action Plan 2021.

Ireland’s 2030 carbon reduction targets

Using Digital Europe figures for digital’s potential role in CO2 emission reductions, Amárach Research calculated that digitalisation could deliver 9.9-13.1 MtCO2eq. in emission reductions towards Ireland’s 2030 target.

The new research has also found that 52% of senior decision-makers across the energy, agri-food and public sectors now see climate change as the most important business consideration – ahead even of labour/skills shortages – while 92% of leaders surveyed expect sustainable business operations to be important in saving money, driving overheads down and actually reducing costs.

The new Amárach report, “Ireland’s Digital Path to Sustainability”, was commissioned by Huawei Ireland and launched by Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien TD, at a virtual event based in Dublin Castle to mark Huawei European Innovation Day 2021.

The research found that 49% of Irish organisations think digital technologies will play an important role in achieving their sustainability goals over the next three years, with 43% also saying sustainability now aligns with their organisation’s values and aims.

Companies are now overwhelmingly seeing carbon reduction as fundamental to their business operations, according to the report, but with SMEs tending to be further behind on their journey towards sustainable business operations relative to larger firms.

When asked which technologies will be most important for their organisation’s sustainability objectives over the next three years, respondents had diverging views as to which technologies would be most relevant, with 5G, Cloud, Internet of things (IoT), Machine learning, Artificial intelligence (AI) and Virtual Reality (VR) all cited.

Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien TD, said: “Everything runs on energy, and to make our solutions sustainable, we need to innovate. A significant amount of carbon emissions occur during the manufacturing and construction process, but innovation can play a key role to mitigate this and is already doing so.

Industry 4.0 is making building and manufacturing processes more energy-efficient. The European Environment Information and Observation Network also pinpointed the role for the digital sector in contributing to the European Green Deal and reducing the manufacturing sector’s environmental impact in a report earlier this year.”

Commenting, Tony Yangxu, Chief Executive Officer, Huawei Ireland, said: “With Ireland already performing very well at integrating digital technology into the economy, and ranked 5th of the 27 EU countries in the 2021 edition of the Digital Economy and Society Index, we believe that Ireland has a great opportunity to accelerate the transition to clean energy and sustainable growth.

“This new research carried out by Amárach gives valuable insight into the evolving and increasingly prominent sustainability objectives of organisations and companies across Ireland. It is clear innovative digital technologies will play a central role in tackling climate change, but it is only by working together that we can find and deploy the critical government, industry and society-wide digital solutions required for Ireland to meet its Climate Action Plan 2021 goals.”

Speaking on the launch of the report Mary Rose Burke, Chief Executive Officer, Dublin Chamber, said: “The findings demonstrate that digital technologies will play a crucial role in achieving sustainability goals and reducing carbon emissions.”