By Prince Osuagwu, Hi-Tech Editor

Global Industrial software giant, AVEVA has been in the Vanguard of sustaining good environmental behaviours, through its Action for Good programme which provides £1 million to support good causes driven by UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, around the world
Apparently, this singular goal has seen the company becoming a regular attendee of the COP conferences which aim to minimise negative impacts of climate and environmental changes across the world.
Evaluating its participation and contribution to the just ended COP28 held in United Arab Emirates , UAE, AVEVA’s Senior Vice President, EMEA, Evgeny Fedotov, in a chat with our Hi-Tech Editor, X-rays actions before, during and after each COP programme and what the future looks like for any organisation pursuing net zero carbon emission across the world.
He believes that Africa being the next frontier for 4th industrial revolution, should be the prime target for sustainable investments towards tackling world climate change issues, for good

AVEVA appeared a key participant at the COP28. Why was the summit important to you?

We have been participating in COP events for a couple of years because we find that this is the global platform for both governments and businesses to exchange ideas on the topic of climate change. We at AVEVA believe that businesses have got a significant role to play in this equation. We appreciate the fact that the governments are coming up with certain incentives and legislations which will help us to pay more attention to the climate-related aspects of business operations, but we also believe that at the end of the day, businesses have got the knowledge, the financial strength, and the technology which will be able to change the world. That’s the main reason for our participation at COP28, to drive this conversation. And we’re quite happy to see that the event is changing, in the sense that there are more specific conversations around how to do things versus continuing the conversation around ‘that is important’ or ‘that is something which we should be doing’. I think we have passed that moment. Everybody is aligned on what needs to be done. Now let’s focus the conversation on how to do that.

For you, is it just about attending the COPs, what were the action plans between COP27 and now, for instance?

Between COP27 and COP28, we have been focusing on multiple aspects, and if we start from ourselves we have openly published our own roadmap of driving our sustainability agenda. We’ve been very specific with the actions which we are taking in this regard, and we have been working very hard during the year and are delivering on those very measurable actions according to the plan to reduce our carbon footprint.
Earlier in the year, we published the results of our last year’s efforts, and we are very proud to report that we have been achieving a majority of the metrics which we have set out for ourselves. To be very clear, this is a metric which has got independent auditors checking them. This is our own achievement and there’s our own focus on the company because I think this will be important, not only to help ourselves, but to also help others have a more sustainable business. We have also, of course, engaged with more industrial players who are looking for very specific actions and partners to drive the topic forward.
As a result, we have published results achieved by our customers in terms of driving the reduction in their carbon footprint. We’re talking about a 20 to 30% reduction in energy consumption, and that is very significant for some of our largest customers.

This issue of climate change raises a fundamental question. Can we completely decarbonize energy sources?

Well, of course, that’s a big debate. But whatever the situation may be, companies must start to think of new types of energy sources. This also requires completely rethinking their approaches. Will they be driving hydrogen as a prime source of energy? Are they looking at electrification of some of their key processes, with the condition that, of course, electricity will be purchased from green sources?. I think there is a longer way to implement these types of solutions, however, the impact going forward will be much more significant for businesses.
Businesses must be very practical in their approach to limit global warming. First and foremost, we have to be very clear on existing business models and see how the existing facilities might be potentially less impactful or have less of a negative impact on nature. I think in this case, businesses can drive this transformation by using digital technologies which would result in a significant reduction in their CO2 emissions. And again, being very practical and making sure that it’s been implemented at scale when they see the results delivered on their pilot project. An important element is being persistent when you see that the results have been delivered, and that you’re scaling it across all of the enterprise. Luckily, there are artificial intelligence and machine learning-powered technologies which help optimize processes, deliver quite significant improvements in this respect.

So, AI is key to the digital techs adoption you’re advocating?

AI is potentially driving up to the 25% productivity gain, and helping companies find an optimal point on their operations. Maybe in the past, for us, an optimal point was maximizing the profit. Now, more and more companies have set up a new optimal point – minimal environmental impact, or maybe it is the combination of environmental impact, and then economic performance. So, that is where machine learning and AI are actually highly capable of operating our facilities in such a way. In order to achieve it, as this is just one element of the equation, the AI would need to have the data to analyze and actually drive the conclusions. This is where digital technology makes sense of the data being produced by operating assets and combining that with other data sources, to help find optimal points of performance.

Right now, Africa’s contribution to global warming is infinitesimal, yet, attention is turning to the continent because of its stake in 4IR. What cautious steps should Africa take for fair environmental balance when the revolution comes?

Africa has huge potential. There are a lot of projects to come, and a lot of industrialization is even happening right now. I think that it’s an opportunity towards doing the transition right. And why I’m saying that is that many more businesses are thinking about not only their own carbon footprint, but thinking about Scope 3 and basically the supply chain impact on the environment. It is fair to say that Scope 1 is actually what impacts some of the companies in Africa and not Scope 3 which is the problem of some of the large companies of the global North, it will also be good to prepare for the future.
What I’m seeing is that in the future, Africa will be part of the global supply chain program. Now, it will be quite beneficial for companies to be offering, from day one, more sustainable products or services because of the demand for carbon-free sources of energy and more sustainable products. There is an opportunity for Africa to really build an industry with sustainability in mind even as it’s trying to modify what has existed for quite a few years now.

What are the differences between Scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon emissions, and how easy are they to reduce?

These are levels of carbon emissions. I don’t think any of the levels are that easy to reduce, but it is doable; and that is the most important thing. Scopes 1 and 2, are a bit more in direct control of the company. They are slightly easier journeys to embark because they are more dependent on the organization itself. However, it also largely depends on the types of businesses.
With Scope 3, it slightly goes beyond the boundaries of an organization. It has the larger impact on society because of the multiplier effects. However, depending on size, for some companies, Scope 3 is Scope 1 for their supply chain partners.
Any large company that is taking care of Scope 3 actually will bring many hundreds of midsize and small companies who start thinking about how they can do their own part.

What was AVEVA’s key message to the world at COP28?

As a technology provider and as a software business, we at AVEVA are focusing on the practical solutions where our technology and overall digital technologies can help companies drive decarbonization, and we’re really doing it by using multiple angles here. First and foremost, we know that technology can drive much more efficient use of existing resources. We’re reducing energy consumption and we are helping to optimize certain complex processes to make sure that they are becoming less carbon intense, helping companies and our clients achieve a significant reduction in their carbon footprint. We have also been engaging these companies to drive the energy transition. We’re helping people simulate potential future processes, where there will be no CO2 emissions as a part of the process. A very active area for us, for example, is engaging with hydrogen players. It is a very interesting and promising source of energy, and it’s an industry which has been invented from scratch, as we speak. Many players find it promising and we are keen to work with them to make sure that digital technology is going to be in the middle of this industry. We’re going to support the facilities to be built, operated and optimized using the digital technology at the center. The main agenda for us is ensuring that digital software is a portion of the future.