Despite companies claiming to take their sustainability goals seriously, few are putting their money where their mouth is when it comes to investing in the necessary technology to lesson their carbon footprint and increase their overall sustainability.

This is according to research from Kyndryl and Microsoft, which shows that 38% of companies continue to increase their ambitious sustainability goals since last year, showing an overall trends of the topics significance.

The study, conducted by Ecosystem in late summer 2024, presents the perspectives of 1,355 sustainability leaders across 20 countries and nine industries.

While 84% of organisations recognise sustainability’s strategic importance, only 19% have implemented data-driven initiatives, revealing a stark gap between intent and action.

The report delved deeper, however, showing that organisations struggle to engage employees in their sustainability programmes. Most organisations report that while employees are somewhat aware of their company’s broader goals, over two thirds (67%) still have a limited understanding on sustainability.

These two factors combined can reduce many sustainability platforms to simple lip service, with many programmes limited by insufficient access to information and data, and only a third of organisations ensuring staff are fully informed about sustainability progress, roles, and key performance indicators (KPIs). Further, staff may lack encouragement, as less than a tenth (9%) of organisations link sustainability to compensation.

Further, despite widespread recognition of technology’s importance in achieving sustainability goals, only 40% of organisations fully utilise it to reach their ambitions.

In addition, just 15% effectively manage to use sustainability data to inform their sustainability transformation.

Recommended

• £150M Announced to Support UK Green Tech Breakthroughs
• This is Where it Gets Hard: A Guide to Transformative Sustainability Practices
• World Sustainability Day 2024: Managing Tech Refresh Cycles

While 80% of organisations recognise the importance of technology in achieving their sustainability goals, only around a quarter (27%) feel they can tap into the technology’s potential effectively.

Only around one in five (21%) of organisations globally recognise technology’s duel role in reducing carbon footprints and advancing sustainability goals.

This seems especially true for AI: 54% of organisations are able to recognise AI’s potential to impact sustainability goals, it is underutilised for critical applications like assessing risks, forecasting energy consumption and preparing for natural disasters.