Sustainability in Innovation

Wrapped up my latest visit to New York City, and it reaffirmed a vital truth: the iconic skyline, while breathtaking, also represents a significant carbon challenge. As buildings contribute over two-thirds of NYC's emissions, their transformation is crucial to achieving the ambitious 2050 goal of an 80% reduction.   Digital technologies offer a feasible and cost-effective solution. Consider these numbers:   Digital building management alone can achieve 42% emission reduction in offices, with payback periods of less than three years. Electrification and microgrids with renewable energy sources can further reduce emissions by 28%.   The combined impact? 70% reduction in operational carbon emissions. Achievable today, with a quick return on investment.   Now, imagine the impact at scale: New York City's iconic skyline, gleaming with clean energy. Let's make it a reality.

🌱 Sustainable UX Toolkits & Resources (https://lnkd.in/eT6ZR3qz), a large (!) repository of toolkits, Figma templates, books, case studies, articles on sustainable UX — throughout the entire product design process. Kindly put together by the SUX - The Sustainable UX Network, via Thorsten Jonas. Sustainable UX Database (Notion) https://lnkd.in/eyZjigBx As designers, we often are left wondering how to integrate sustainable practices into our design work. Most environmental impact happens on our user’s devices, so we can help our users by reducing waste. Typically, when we speak about sustainability, we mean at least 4 facets of it: 🌱 Reducing waste ← In publishing, heavy visuals, animation, PDFs, 🌻 Deleting content ← Un-publishing outdated, misleading content/flows, 🐝 Maximize reusability ← UI components, flows, processes, templates, 🌳 Sustainable defaults ← Help people make more sustainable choices. In practice, we could use simple but impactful design patterns: 1. Always prefer the lightest mode of communication. 2. Aim to reduce session duration instead of increasing it. 3. Encourage the reuse of existing templates and presets. 4. Auto-delete after 365 days what hasn’t been used once. 5. Discourage users from PDF exports in favor of URLs. 6. Always provide audio-only and transcript for videos. 7. Be intentional with default settings for your users. 8. Highlight key insights to create understanding faster. 9. Skip unnecessary pages: drive users to results faster. 10. Show filters/presets in autocomplete, not just keywords. 11. Nudge users to delete old files for 10% off that month. 12. Establish an archiving, deletion and clean-up policies. 13. Encourage and reward users for trying out dark mode. 14. Question font weights, stock photos, parallax, 4K-videos. 15. Question collected data, if it’s used and when it’s deleted. Individual actions can drive changes at scale. But they need a momentum. And momentum often comes through small changes: better defaults, reused filters and templates, reduced time on task. That’s also just good usability — and can have tangible impact for users and businesses at scale. Useful resources: Sustainable UX Toolkits, by yours truly https://lnkd.in/ePya82v3 Designing For Planet Knowledge Hub (Notion) https://lnkd.in/eiHtpkJH Product Design for Sustainability (+ Google Doc template), by Artiom Dashinsky ↳ https://lnkd.in/dDnujb-t ↳ https://lnkd.in/d95FWb4r *HUGE* thanks to Thorsten Jonas, Isabel Pettinato, Christoph Stark, Alice M., Bavo Lodewyckx, Poppe G., Stine Ramsing and all wonderful contributors to the project. Your effort doesn’t go unnoticed! 👏🏼👏🏽👏🏾 #ux #design

Stakeholder Engagement Map for Sustainability 🌎 Sustainability advances when companies move from speaking to stakeholders toward building solutions with them. Engagement becomes powerful when it shifts from information-sharing to participation and co-creation. Employees are not passive recipients of corporate policies. When positioned as innovators and ambassadors, they can drive cultural change that scales faster than top-down initiatives. Investors increasingly evaluate not only financial returns but also resilience and impact. Open dialogue and credible disclosures create the foundation for financing models that reward long-term value creation. Regulators and policymakers shape the boundaries of what is possible. Proactive collaboration ensures that emerging rules both protect society and enable business innovation. NGOs and civil society connect business with pressing social and environmental realities. Partnerships with them help translate global challenges into concrete, measurable corporate actions. Customers bring more than purchasing power. Through collaboration and product co-design, they accelerate the adoption of sustainable solutions and redefine what markets demand. Suppliers and partners extend responsibility beyond a single enterprise. Joint innovation in sourcing, standards, and technology transforms sustainability into a shared endeavor across the value chain. Communities ground sustainability in place. When businesses co-invest in local development, they secure trust and create ecosystems that benefit both society and the enterprise. Media and opinion leaders influence how actions are perceived. Transparent storytelling backed by evidence strengthens legitimacy and reinforces accountability. Academia and experts contribute the critical lens of science and independent validation. Engaging them ensures that strategies are rooted in knowledge, not convenience. Risk and resilience demand collective approaches. Working groups and cross-sector alliances elevate sustainability from individual commitments to systemic impact. True engagement means entering a space of shared design. It is in these interactions that sustainability moves from compliance to transformation, and from promises to outcomes. #sustainability #business #sustainable #esg

I was invited to speak to the Chief Sustainability Officer group at the World Economic Forum during climate Week. I urged us all to take control of the narrative. Here is a summary... Let’s shift the narrative. As sustainability leaders… Let’s not talk about decarbonization as emissions. Let’s talk about it as innovation that drives: ·    energy cost savings, ·    avoidance of energy pricing volatility ·    avoidance of carbon fees ·    reduced maintenance ·    increased productivity ·    sales lift Let’s not talk about tons of waste diverted from landfill and reused, let’s talk about it as innovation that reduces: ·    virgin input costs ·    waste disposal costs ·    exposure to geopolitical risk in supply chains ·    exposure to tariffs (e.g. Renault is putting 45% of used car components into new cars) Our research into the Return on Sustainability Investment (ROSI) shows that sustainability is just good management.   The methodology (developed with companies) has found nine value drivers associated with sustainability, including operational efficiency, risk reduction, employee retention and productivity, sales and marketing, and and innovation and growth. For example, innovation is about identifying a problem or an opportunity. It can be focused on process, product or service. It can be incremental or transformative. From a sustainability perspective, innovations fall into two broad buckets:  ·    innovating sustainability improvements in an industry or a category ·    innovating with a process, product or service that is needed by society. The first approach requires understanding the material ESG issues for the sector and designing solutions that tackle that issue, while also improving the underlying value proposition - -which sustainability can do. The second approach is tougher, but has more potential to go big: Innovating to solve broad societal problems such as water scarcity, plastic packaging pollution and health impacts, tackling the carbon transition, social inequity and so on. Here we might look at innovation such as 3D printing (e.g. on demand) using recycled inputs – tires, dresses, construction materials etc. We might look at bio-based plastic made from air and methane-based greenhouse gas dissolved in saltwater, recyclable through biological digestion. We might look at how to give immigrants and others with no credit history access to credit through tracking ontime rental payments. So as you work with your companies, help them understand that managing the material ESG issues for their sector and company is not a reporting and compliance exercise. It is a good management exercise that can drive everything from operational efficiency to sales and customer loyalty to innovation that will help the bottomline. Put in place methods such as ROSI with your finance team or ESG controller to track the financial benefits so you can get sustainability to the speed and scale you and the planet want and need. 

The 2025 Risk Report published by World Economic Forum (WEF) clearly states that 𝗲𝗻𝘃𝗶𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗸𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴-𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿𝗻𝘀. At Project Management Institute, we're dedicated to developing resources that empower project professionals to drive impact. Our latest Thought Leadership report explores the successful paths to tackling sustainability challenges using technology, specifically artificial intelligence. My key takeaway is this - organizations are expected to adjust to multiple forces that redefine their business landscape, both in the short term and the long term. And while the perpetuity of organizational transformations has become a norm, one very important dimension must be recognized: 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗳 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗯𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱. Our new report explores the benefits of approaching AI-driven and sustainability-forward transformations together. We observed these two trends that confirm how the utilization of Data, purposeful Leadership, and a Strategic view on prioritization AND alignment of organizational transformation objectives pay off: 🌞 AI is delivering enhanced success in projects that target sustainability impacts, such as route optimization in supply chain & logistics and energy efficiency in manufacturing & production. 🌞 Organizations that reported higher success in their sustainability initiatives are consistently more advanced in adopting AI. Enjoy the report (free for everyone) and tell me what you think!  https://lnkd.in/eCNbVfaK #projectmanagement #sustainability #learning

The next evolution of sustainable AI isn’t just about using more efficient hardware—it’s about Autonomous AI Agents that code with sustainability in mind. These agents are designed to operate independently, learning and adapting as they go, and have the potential to transform software development by writing energy-efficient code. They don't just optimize for speed; they prioritize minimal resource consumption. Why This Matters for Sustainability Modern AI models consume massive amounts of power, yet software development still prioritizes performance over energy efficiency. Agentic AI could change that paradigm by: ✅ Reducing Computational Waste: AI agents could select or generate the most efficient algorithms based on real-time constraints instead of defaulting to resource-heavy models. For example, they could optimize database queries to reduce data retrieval and processing or dynamically adjust resource allocation based on demand. ✅ Automating Green Software Principles: AI-driven frugal coding practices could optimize data structures, reduce redundant calculations, and minimize memory overhead. This could involve choosing the most energy-efficient programming language or framework for a specific task. ✅ Measuring & Optimizing in Real Time: The reward function would be clear: lower energy consumption, less latency, and reduced emissions—all while maintaining accuracy. ✅ Parallel & Distributed Optimization: AI agents could continuously refine codebases across thousands of cloud instances, improving sustainability at scale. AI-Driven Innovation Archive for Green Coding One of the most exciting ideas in autonomous coding is the "Green Code Archive"—an AI-generated repository of energy-efficient code snippets that could continuously improve over time. Imagine: 🔹 Reusing optimized code instead of reinventing energy-intensive solutions. 🔹 Carbon-aware coding suggestions for green data centers & renewable energy scheduling. 🔹 AI-driven legacy refactoring, automating migration to sustainable architectures. Measuring AI’s carbon footprint after the fact isn’t enough—the goal should be AI that reduces energy use at the source. The future of sustainable tech isn’t just about efficient hardware—it’s about intelligent, autonomous software that optimizes itself for minimal environmental impact. While this technology is still emerging, challenges remain in areas like training complexity and robust validation. However, the potential benefits for a greener future are undeniable. Learn more about leading with Agentic AI and its transformative potential in my book, "Empowering Leaders with Cognitive Frameworks for Agentic AI: From Strategy to Purposeful Implementation" (link in the comments section). #agenticai #greenai #sustainability

𝗪𝗲 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗔𝗜 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 “𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹” 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 I’m buzzing after seeing our latest research with #Reuters. After years implementing #IndustrialAI for sustainability, watching this shift happen in real-time feels significant. 𝟲𝟯% 𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗶𝗹𝗼𝘁𝘀. Implementation rates jumped from 13% to over 50% in a single year. Organizations deploying industrial AI are seeing: ⚪️ 𝟲𝟱% 𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆 𝘀𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 of 23% on average ⚪️ 𝟱𝟵% 𝗰𝘂𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗢𝟮 𝗲𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗯𝘆 𝟮𝟰% But there’s something even more fascinating underneath. 𝗪𝗲’𝗿𝗲 𝗘𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗨𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗧𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆a I’m watching AI evolve from imitation learning—copying how humans solve problems—to exploration learning. 𝗔𝗜 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗹𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲. This isn’t incremental improvement. We’re talking radical innovation. AI can simulate entirely new designs that were previously impossible to conceive. When you’re juggling decarbonization, circularity, and societal changes simultaneously while navigating a “tsunami of regulations” - this capability becomes transformative. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗞𝗲𝗲𝗽𝘀 𝗠𝗲 𝗨𝗽 𝗮𝘁 𝗡𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 (𝗜𝗻 𝗮 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗪𝗮𝘆) 𝟴𝟭% 𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲 𝗔𝗜-𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗻. Not “AI will help.” But that AI will 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲 innovation. From what I’m seeing? They’re right. We’re using AI to capture regulations requiring hundreds of experts. We’re building multi-agent teams developing entirely new features. We’re optimizing complete process flows. The technical barriers are dissolving faster than expected. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝘀 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗲 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴. 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗠𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝗗𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 For years: “Can AI really deliver on sustainability?” Now: “How fast can we deploy this across our operation?” That shift - from skepticism to urgency - tells me we’ve hit critical mass. The business cases are proven. 71% of leaders expect significant impact on the energy transition. 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗜’𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿. What’s your take? Are you seeing this shift in your work?

Is AI's Growth Sustainable? How to Make Generative Applications Greener. The rise of generative AI tools like ChatGPT and others has been remarkable, but their environmental impact is often overlooked. The data center industry, housing these systems, accounts for up to 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, with energy consumption doubling every two years. Hyperscale cloud providers like Amazon AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure play a significant role in powering these models, leading to major carbon footprints. Understanding the carbon footprint lifecycle of AI models is crucial. Large generative models consume extensive energy during training, and fine-tuning can be a more energy-efficient option. Inference sessions, though less energy-intensive, involve many more sessions, contributing to ongoing energy consumption. Efforts to reduce energy usage include employing less computationally expensive approaches like TinyML and using large models only when significantly valuable. To make AI greener, companies can use existing models from providers instead of creating new ones. Fine-tuning existing models on specific content domains consumes less energy and provides more value. Utilizing energy sources from carbon-friendly regions and monitoring carbon emissions can significantly reduce AI's environmental impact. Reusing models and resources, incorporating AI activity into carbon monitoring, and encouraging green AI practices are crucial steps in promoting sustainability. 1. Prioritize Fine-Tuning: Instead of training new generative models from scratch, focus on fine-tuning existing models for specific content domains. Fine-tuning consumes less energy and provides more value to businesses. 2. Explore Energy-Conserving Methods: Adopt energy-conserving computational approaches like TinyML for processing data. TinyML allows running ML models on low-powered edge devices, significantly reducing energy consumption. 3. Re-use and Open Source Models: Opt for reusing open-source models instead of creating new ones. Recycling tech can lower the carbon impact of AI practices and reduce the need for energy-intensive model development. 4. Monitor Carbon Emissions: Include AI activity in carbon monitoring practices to understand the carbon footprint of AI-related operations. Share footprint numbers to make informed decisions about AI partnerships. 5. Choose Green Energy Sources: Select cloud providers and data centers that prioritize environmentally friendly power resources. Running AI models in regions with carbon-free energy sources can significantly reduce operational emissions. Have you already considered the impact of using compute-heavy applications on our planet? Are you tracking the impact of compute in your sustainability report? #genai #aivalue #sustainableai #sustainability

❓ Is your sustainability strategy ready for the real world? So, You've done the work—research, securing stakeholder buy-in, choosing the right partners. You’ve laid a strong foundation for a sustainable supply chain. But before you launch, have you considered every detail that’ll keep your efforts on track? Imagine this: You’ve set ambitious goals, like reducing fleet fuel consumption by 5% or cutting warehouse electricity use by 10%. But to hit those marks, you'll need the right checkpoints. In the first month, check in with your data partner—is everything being captured effectively? At two months, ask your suppliers if they're comfortable with the Service Level Agreements (SLAs) you’ve set together. By six months, assess whether the data you’ve gathered allows you to make meaningful predictions and take new action. Data backs the need for these checkpoints. A study by McKinsey reports that companies with a structured sustainability strategy see 20% higher supply chain efficiency. And according to the World Economic Forum, sustainable supply chains can reduce overall environmental impact by up to 50%, while increasing resilience against future challenges. But sustainability isn’t just about hitting numbers. It’s a cultural shift. From top leaders to new hires, your team needs to embrace the mindset that goes beyond "doing business as usual." Internal education is essential—create programs that inspire every team member to see the value of these efforts. When your employees understand how their day-to-day work impacts long-term goals, the commitment deepens. Remember, Sustainability is also about outward visibility. Sharing your journey publicly can set you apart as a trusted, forward-thinking organization in your industry. When others see your authenticity and progress, customers and partners are more likely to trust and admire your mission. Let’s lead the change, One small improvement at a time, and proves that businesses can drive meaningful impact for people, the planet, and profit alike.

Under a quiet field in the UK, climate innovation is happening where you’d least expect it. For years, this site was just another landfill: buried, sealed, forgotten. The kind of place we cover up so we don’t have to think about it. But something has changed. Pipes now run beneath the surface, capturing gases that once drifted into the air. Methane is cleaned and upgraded into Bio-CNG, a low-carbon transport fuel. CO₂ is mineralised into Calcium Carbonate, a solid form of carbon that ends up in building materials, locked away, stable, and useful. It’s not a story about offsets or abstractions. It’s about engineering, chemistry, and circular thinking, the kind of climate innovation that happens quietly, far from the spotlight. Project LFG002 isn’t just a local experiment. It’s part of a broader shift toward high-quality carbon reduction, that measure, verify, and deliver tangible impact. Where every credit is backed by a physical process, not just a promise. This is where the next phase of carbon markets is taking shape 👇🏻 https://lnkd.in/eWejNZVA