Seizing the net zero moment

Nourdine Bihmane – Chief Delivery Officer, Decarbonization and Marketing. Atos

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“Those who act today, whether at COP26 or beyond, will be economically, reputationally, environmentally – the leaders of tomorrow.”

With the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference only a few months away, it is time to step up the fight against climate change. This requires organisations of all sizes to look again at their strategies and roadmaps for achieving net zero.

Atos has been carbon neutral since 2018 and we have committed to reducing the global carbon emissions under our control and influence by 50% by 2025, as well as offsetting all our residual emissions by 2028. Our target to achieve net zero by 2028 is seven years ahead of the 2035 target we previously set ourselves, and 22 years ahead of the Paris Agreement’s 2050 target. This acceleration reflects the success Atos has already had – reducing our global carbon emissions by 15% in 2020 alone.

Atos is also enabling our clients and partners to achieve net zero, leveraging our own experience together with industry-leading products and services. Digital tools are key enablers of decarbonization and Atos is helping organisations to digitalise, transform and transition to net zero. Through sharing our expertise and resources, our work generates a multiplier effect across different sectors and industries, meaning that we act as an enabler of the broader global ambition to reach net zero by 2050.

Atos’s work has included creating dashboards that can turn data into decision-making tools and simplifying emissions reporting and data analysis across our clients’ value chains. We have also developed Going4Zero, a digital one-stop shop powered by EcoAct, an Atos company, providing automated and personalised services to measure carbon emissions, track emissions reduction trajectories, and select and manage carbon offsetting activities.

Our involvement across multiple sectors, markets and industries underscores the vital role of digital technologies in making a net zero world a reality. Technologies as diverse as digital twin, blockchain and AI are enabling a diverse range of businesses to make major strides in decarbonizing.

And while their use is growing, innovations in energy efficiency mean that the associated energy consumption has only risen slowly.

Yet we still now face a choice: we can continue as we are and risk dramatic and irreversible climate change; or we can transform and future-proof our economies by combining digitalisation with decarbonization. Governments, business leaders and citizens have already taken important steps towards the goal of the Paris Agreement; we now need to accelerate these efforts through innovation and collaboration. Those who act today, whether at COP26 or beyond, will be the leaders – economically, reputationally, environmentally – of tomorrow.