Decarbonization in business

A decarbonized economy (also known as a low-carbon economy) is an economy with low greenhouse gas emissions from the energy sources. The benefits of this are cleaner air and a planet with a longer life. It is now more important than ever that businesses take decarbonization seriously and start applying it to their practices. It should also be seen as an opportunity to enhance old methods in a way that benefits both business and the environment.

Unfortunately the act of decarbonization is not simple. It can be time consuming to reimagine an entire business model and it certainly comes with a price. However, this should be no reason to shy away from the process. Despite costs and strategy conversations, this should be a priority for all businesses. A decarbonization platform is therefore highly advantageous in making the first necessary adaptations in order to achieve this. This is where Dassault Systèmes comes in. Their 3DEXPERIENCE Platform involves a variety of tools to help your business’ journey towards a more energy efficient and eco-friendly mode of production. This may involve but is not exclusive to: optimizing product life to minimize waste and promote reusability, analyzing and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and exploring disruptive technologies that positively contribute to the circular economy.

Our individual digital carbon footprint

Although the practices of businesses are extremely significant, it’s also important to be aware that our actions and behavior as individuals are equally as vital for the process of decarbonization. Most of us have heard of the concept of our “carbon footprint” but how much do we really know about reducing our digital carbon footprint? You may believe that it requires a lifestyle change but in actual fact, small changes and additions in habit can make a large difference to your digital carbon footprint. Something as simple as turning off your devices when they’re not in use will make enough of an impact to make that small extra action worth it. In the same strain, we shouldn’t be leaving our devices plugged in for longer than they need to charge. So perhaps it’s time to stop charging your phone overnight as it is spending a lot more time plugged in than it needs.

Another easy way to reduce your carbon footprint is to regularly clean out your inbox of emails. This is because these emails have to sit in data centers which in turn uses energy. To reduce your efforts, it may be worth unsubscribing from those automated emails that you never read or don’t need. This may come as a surprise but each email uses CO2 to reach you (and stay in your inbox) and so the less arriving in the first place, the better.

One more subtle lifestyle change for reducing your carbon footprint is avoiding streaming anything when you’re away from home. It’s much more energy efficient to download files to watch/listen to as opposed to streaming them. Alternatively, you could listen to CDs or the radio when you’re driving. If you want to go one step better, reduce your streaming all together even when at home.

Conclusion

These are just a few of the things we can do to minimize our carbon footprint and therefore our negative impact on the planet. The more we do, and the more we care, the closer we get to a low-carbon economy.