Impacts of digital transformation in a warming world

Paris, France, commitments have already been made to maintain global warming below 2 degrees Centigrade aiming for 1.5 degrees below pre-industrial levels. Plans and actions formulated in response to the agreements in 2015 are still valid today except that the window to implement massive programs for climate change adaptation and resilience is now drastically narrowed.

The business sector as part of the global community is a major player in all efforts towards a low carbon economy. By default, current DX initiatives must recognize that they are part of a broader corporate responsibility to deploy ICT-based low-carbon solutions in terms of new business models and technology applications.

Digital transformation, by design, is a new way of leveraging new technologies to serve the higher interests of consumers, shareholders, and other stakeholders. Digitalization through such platforms as mobile computing, big data, and cloud computing should not only enable continuing financial stability of the business but also ensure sustainability in its social and environmental obligations.

To meet various ends, purposeful digital Transformation, that is DX with a mission, has been coined to circumscribe the application of digital technologies within a larger perspective that includes responsible and accountable actions in an increasingly warming world.

In the power generation and distribution industry, digital technologies can be tapped in smart asset planning and grid network management. Savings can be realized on top of using clean energy on the grid for broad positive impacts on climate change.

Digitalization can contribute in new ways of doing business. Big data analytics can enhance op-

chain and customer experience.

Mobile apps can be channels to primarily disseminate information on useful tips in combating global warming. They can also be used to track individual carbon footprint. How’s that for a personalized indicator of one’s impact on climate change?

But let’s not kid ourselves. digital transformation is just one of the myriad ways to address global warming — myriad because the problem now involves a tangled, complicated political dimension.

To begin with, a few of the major participants in the 2015 Paris agreement are dilly-dallying on their commitments. They include economies that have developed themselves by introducing and propagating some of the most environmentally damaging technologies ever known to man.

2030 or die! And the important players continue to think only of saving their own skin.