Digitalization can close a fifth of the "climate gap" by 2030
By driving forward digitalization, Switzerland can reduce up to 20 percent of the emissions that need to be cut to achieve the climate target by 2030 (climate gap). These are the findings of a new study by the digitalswitzerland location initiative and the economiesuisse umbrella organization in collaboration with Accenture.
The study highlights the importance of digital technologies for achieving the Swiss climate target and shows that digitalization represents a significant lever for closing the "climate gap" by 2030.
2030 climate target: Switzerland must drastically reduce its CO2 emissions
In accordance with the Paris Agreement, Switzerland has committed to reducing its annual emissions by 50 percent by 2030 compared to 1990. This corresponds to a reduction from approx. 55 to approx. 28 million tons of CO2eq. Emissions are already declining, but one challenge is becoming clear: Switzerland must reduce more CO2eq in the next six years than it has in the last 34 years - and close an annual climate gap of around 16 million tons of CO2eq. A Herculean task for which all the stops must be pulled out.
Digital technologies offer considerable savings potential
The study examines how digital technologies in the buildings, transport, industry, agriculture and energy sectors can contribute to reducing CO2eq emissions. To this end, specific digital use cases were examined, such as intelligent building management systems, real-time route optimization in freight transport or automated processes in industry. For this purpose, two digitalization speeds - standard digitalization and ambitious digitalization - were compared, which differ in the speed at which the use cases are adopted.
The use of all examined use cases could save between 1.2 and 3.2 million tons of CO2eq annually by 2030, which corresponds to around 7 to 20 percent of the existing climate gap or one to two times the current emissions of the canton of Thurgau. The speed of digitalization is decisive for the size of the leverage: ambitious digitalization could more than double the savings compared to standard digitalization. So if the current trend is not only continued, but the market penetration of digital technologies is accelerated, their full potential for climate protection can be exploited.
Business and politics have a responsibility
The results of the study clearly show that Swiss companies and private individuals are making an important contribution to climate protection through the use of digital technologies. It also shows that the savings potential between standard digitalization and ambitious digitalization is far apart. In order to realize the full savings potential, politicians in particular are called upon to create the necessary framework conditions and increased digitalization for Switzerland as a location for innovation.
Source: www.digitalswitzerland.com
