The World Economic Forum (WEF) has said that smart digitisation will be an important step towards reaching the planet’s 2050 net-zero pledge.

Advances in energy sources, electric transport and heating will “not be enough” to reach net-zero by 2050, according to key findings from a new WEF report.

Carried out by two industry-leading CEOs, the report says that, unless our cities and innovations are digitally interconnected for real impact, the targets will not be met.

General manager and CEO at Enel Group Francesco Starace and chairman and CEO of Schneider Electric Jean-Pascal Tricoire were the authors of the report, and believe that smart, digital tech can connect urban areas, buildings, and operations to “optimise emission and waste management” while providing governments with “the data needed to maximise emission reduction”.

The report defines this approach as ‘systemic efficiency’, which could also boost city resilience to withstand a range of potential future climate dangers.

According to the findings, important areas to focus on decarbonising are buildings and infrastructure. Buildings produce 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions, with 30% coming from operations and 10% from construction, the situation made worse by emission reduction on an individual rather than collective basis.

Statistics from the report state that cities account for the majority of the planet’s carbon emissions (more than 70% ) which mainly come from buildings, energy and transport.

As well as this, cities consume 78% of the world’s primary energy. Currently, 54% of all people live in cities – a percentage that is projected to rise to 68% by 2050. As the population grows, so does new construction, resulting in even higher energy consumption and carbon emissions.

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Commenting on these statistics, Starace and Tricoire said: “While many cities are increasing their commitments on and progress towards becoming net zero carbon emitters, they still have a long way to go.

“With climate change accelerating, we need action on three fronts. First, most of our energy needs to be produced from renewable sources. Second, we need cars, public transport and heating to be powered by electricity. Third, we need a more efficient system.

“This involves making everything – from factories and homes to transport and consumer devices – more energy-efficient and interconnected. Smart energy infrastructure is the fundamental interconnector of such an integrated, efficient system.”

They said: “An intelligent energy infrastructure through digitalisation is key to integrating these actions to make the transition successful.”

Starace and Tricoire say that their ‘systemic efficiency’ plan would have economic benefits too; a report from Rewiring America claims that a US national commitment to electrify all aspects of the economy would create 25m jobs alone.