A contribution to Fridays for Future and the Climate Change Discussion.
The legendary wisdom of management mastermind Peter Drucker has universal validity far beyond the classic management of a company. It is a call for fact-based analysis and decision making as well as continuous monitoring of the effects. A reminder that is more important than ever today.
In the discussion about climate change and CO2 emissions, we experience it every day. Beyond science-negating deniers of climate change, we are all familiar with the discussion of this kind:
“Airplanes are terrible CO2 producers” and “Such nonsense – aviation is only responsible for a fraction of CO2 emissions. Heating and power generation are much more important! Both are correct and yet this is not a helpful discussion.
CO2 emissions correctly considered
In order to carry out a real assessment, the CO2 emissions of a sector would have to be considered at least in the context of that sector. The following points of view could be helpful for this:
What is actually the output of CO2 emission? In the case of heating systems: “80 million people are warm in winter”, in the case of aviation: “Professional and private mobility over longer distances (for significantly fewer people)”.
What does the trend look like?
What ROI (return on invest) do possible investments for CO2 reduction have?
What are the implications of possible restrictions, e.g. a ban on short-haul flights?
Companies face similar complex challenges when preparing their CO2 balance sheets. In order to effectively implement measures to reduce emissions from their business activities, they need detailed information about the type and source of the emissions. We need detailed information on the process steps in which they occur. A major complexity is that almost all companies are part of networks and only generate part of the added value themselves.
Carbon Accounting System for Logistics Customers
A carbon accounting system helps here. This collects data on all emission sources and distributes them to the individual business units or processes. Even for medium-sized companies, this is an unsolvable task without digitization and automation. The continuous collection, verification and storage of data alone cannot be done manually. And only with sufficient basic data can the actual task be solved successfully. Namely, the allocation of emissions to their originators in the company. Only through this process does a company receive the information it needs to make fact-based and verifiable decisions and make investments.
We created the first system of this kind for a customer in the logistics sector 10 years ago. We are confident that sustainability will continue to gain importance in performance management. And that Peter Drucker’s reminder will also make its way into the discussion about CO2 reductions.
With this in mind, we wish the Fridays for Future demonstrations taking place today every success with our motto IT for future. And the discussions around the topic sustainability the perseverance to take care of the complex underlying questions.