Manufacturers Leading the Way in Sustainable Technology Investments [Report]

Sustainability advocacy group Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) released a new report exploring how companies are leveraging new technologies to enhance their sustainability efforts and drive business results. The second annual edition of the report, it covers the business sectors of retail, manufacturing, energy, technology, and finance.

The report, “Business and Fourth Wave of Environmentalism,” shows that manufacturers are definitely the business leaders in such investments. The figures illustrate that while there is a 33-point average gap in commitment versus investment in sustainability technology across retail, energy, technology, and finance, there is only a 3-point gap in manufacturing.

According to EDF’s data, 87% of executives in manufacturing agree that emerging tech can help their business improve their bottom line, as well as their sustainability, while 84% say they are actively making those investments for sustainability reasons.

The breakdowon of surveyed manufacturing executives who said their company is adopting advanced technologies is as follows:

• Data analytics:90% (+5 from 2018)
• Sensors:83% (+2 from 2018)
• Automation:91% (+12 from 2018)
• Artificial intelligence:84% (not asked in 2018)
• Blockchain:66% (-14 from 2018)

Other notable figures outlined in EDF’s benchmark survey include:

• 94% of all executives say competition is the driving force behind their investments in emerging technologies.
• 90% of executives say their businesses are either in the early adoption phase or have successfully integrated data analytics and automation into their work, up 4-5% from 2018.
• Data analytics is most recognized for its potential impact on the bottom line (35%), followed by AI (28%), and automation (19%).
• Blockchain has the highest potential for adoption, as it is the least-familiar technology across industry, followed by sensors.
• In the energy industry, 92% say that Industry 4.0 technologies will improve their revenue, 91% say the same for improving the economy, and 85% say the same for job growth.
• Half of tech executives say they have successfully implemented and integrated AI into their business processes — higher than in other industries.