Digitalisation can save more than 70 million tonnes of CO2 by 2030

According to a study of industry association Bitkom, digital technologies can contribute about 24 percent towards the climate goals for 2030. Within industrial manufacture alone, up to 12.7 million tonnes of CO2 can be saved by the year 2030 by accelerating digitalisation.

Wind turbines that use sensors to optimally adapt their rotor blades to the strength of the wind, crop fields where data from satellites helps save on fertiliser, factories using AI for highly efficient production while saving energy: digital technologies can offer a significant contribution towards reaching the German climate goals by the reference year 2030.
As the new Bitkom study “Climate Effects of Digitalisation” demonstrates, the annual emissions of CO2 in Germany can be reduced by about 73 million tonnes in the year 2030, if digitalisation is accelerated. This refers to a net effect which already factors in the carbon emissions from the use of these technologies by e.g., data centres and end devices.
“Digitalisation can contribute almost one quarter to Germany’s self-imposed climate goals for the year 2030”, says Bitkom vice president Christina Raab with regard to presenting the study. If digitalisation is not accelerated but continues at today’s pace, in the year 2030 the amount of reduction achieved will be around 50 million tonnes of CO2 – this correlates to 16 percent of the overall target.
Within industrial manufacture, up to 12.7 million tonnes of CO2 could be saved with accelerated digitalisation by the year 2030. If digitalisation continues at standard rate, the saving would amount to 5.6 million tonnes. One instrumental technology is automation in production, which connects systems and machines, workpieces and their components. Here, autonomous processes use as little material and energy as possible. So-called digital twins are another option to save significant amounts of CO2: these virtual images of complete production and process cycles allow for processes to first be carried out on the digital instead of the physical object – which could save massive amounts of material, energy and resources.
Christina Raab: “With digitalisation, the industry can meet two urgent requirements at the same time: It not only becomes more friendly to the environment, but also faster and more productive.” The Bitkom study “Climate Effects of Digitalisation” was carried out by the sustainability and digitalisation experts at Accenture. The study uses three projections about future carbon emissions to examine the CO2 effect from use of digital solutions in the especially significant sectors of energy, buildings, industry, traffic and agriculture. According to the study, the greatest possibilities for change lie in the energy and building sectors.
Source: Bitkom