Rapid innovation in digital technology is expanding its role in the push to achieve deep decarbonization in the habitat and transport sectors. The opportunity is unique. Digital technology may have an outsized effect. Research suggests that every unit of digital input into the electricity sector, which spans the habitat and transport sectors, may reduce carbon emissions by 5.6 units (Huang & Lin, 2023).
Institutions in the European Union and United States are pushing for greater climate action, especially in the habitat and transport sectors. The two sectors jointly account for approximately 34 percent of total global greenhouse gas emissions and have been identified as primary targets. Various decarbonization strategies, including net-zero, carbon neutral and carbon negative, have been targeted for implementation in these sectors.
However, as 2030 and 2050 deadlines for climate goals loom, achieving the goals requires rapid decarbonization of legacy and safety-critical infrastructure. Sectors such as banking are discovering the enablers and drivers of digitization, digitalization and digital transformation. But the question remains as to whether digital technologies can have economic, social and technical effects in the transport and habitat sectors while maintaining the reliability of these dependency-heavy systems.
This Engineering for Change Impact Project aims to explore potential targets for climate action that can limit the average global warming to 1.5°C, the target identified in the Paris Agreement. E4C Fellows and our partners have reviewed existing literature, conducted interviews with experts in both the United States and Germany, and synthesized the quantitative and qualitative data collected through a PESTEL framework.
This report identifies key actions that can be taken by stakeholders, including industry professionals, policy-makers and educators. Additionally, this report covers the existing state of decarbonization efforts, further challenges involved and key hardware and digital technologies. Finally, potential futures of digitalization are surveyed to curate recommendations focused on equipping stakeholders with capabilities for the present and future of digital technologies.
This report finds several outcomes of interest. Firstly, the historic trends surrounding improvements in computing power and capabilities show no sign of abating. With projected improvements at algorithmic, hardware and platform levels, there are potential digital futures that suggest rates of “doubly exponential” growth. This directly impacts the digital initiatives for decarbonization. Flexibility in revenue streams, advanced workflows, hardware utilization and open-source development have not been fully realized in industries with deep decarbonization initiatives. The benefits could potentially skyrocket with improved computing power.
However, the educational profiles and skillsets of policy makers and interdisciplinary engineers are currently insufficient to leverage digital technologies. The requirements for interdisciplinary skillsets for solving complex decarbonization problems have grown, and building cross-disciplinary skillsets for digital work should be explored. Finally, an inhibitor for digital transformation for decarbonization is building technologies that don’t compromise the reliability of high-dependency infrastructure. Additionally, the way current venture models finance climate tech is insufficient to disrupt safety-critical infrastructure.
From these findings, seven primary recommendations were curated for the partners of this research, which could be adapted by other interested stakeholders. The researchers also defined five further areas of exploration. These recommendations and future research areas are key in helping achieve decarbonization pathways using digital technologies.
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RESEARCH FELLOWS: Alexander Eckervogt, Dalitso Kuntambila, Pradyumna Rao, Rica Schulz.
MANAGING FELLOW: Martín Ignacio del Pino.
ADVISORS AND COLLABORATORS: Iana Aranda, Sr. Director, Engineering for Sustainable Development, ASME; Dr. Thomas Kiefer, International Affairs | Strategy & Transformation, VDI.
This research was completed as part of the 2023 E4C Fellowship program.
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