Fedotov: Digital Solutions Will Reduce Carbon Emissions, Boost Clean Technologies

Senior Vice President, EMEA Region at AVEVA, Evgeny Fedotov, speaks about AVEVA’s participation in the just concluded COP28 and the role of digital solutions like Artificial Intelligence in attaining green future. Emma Okonji presents the excerpts:

AVEVA participated fully at the just concluded COP28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Can you share AVEVA’s vision on Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) that was displayed at COP28?

AVEVA is committed to its vision on Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG). In our recent report, we were very proud to unveil the concrete steps we are taking to promote ESG in our organisations. We have also entrenched ESG in our leadership roles and in our managerial positions. We are partnering with some universities to make sure that ESG is entrenched across boards. We as a company, we are keen at driving inclusive culture and we have a strong leadership team that is driving our ESG vision to achieve a truly international business that we represent. For the environmental aspect of our ESG, we are working with specific industry players to achieve new ways of operations that will reduce the impact of environmental pollution.

Why has sustainability become very important for business growth and survival?

Indeed, a lot of work has been done to make it clear to businesses that environmental factor is an important aspect of business. Governments globally have incentives and disincentives for businesses. Governments globally need to be reminded to inculcate sustainability model into businesses, but more interestingly, the concensus in the just concluded COP28, was about self regulation, where many businesses need to be more proactive in defining their roles in environmentally friendly business. In this case, businesses are becoming more practical in finding solutions, regardless of the legislation that was introduced recently. Businesses are looking for practical examples on how they can drive sustainability into their operations. Businesses are no longer looking at the cost implication of introducing the sustainability model because we can see more and more business incentives for introducing the sustainability model into their businesses. This is actually working well across the supply chain of businesses.

What kind of sustainability initiatives does AVEVA promote for its customers and staff?

Our sustainability initiatives for customers in the industrial companies are based on two major areas. The first is the focus on how to make their existing facilities more environmentally friendly and many of those facilities are quite large and for this reason, we get the customers thinking about how to process the existing facilities in such a way that they are more friendly to the environment, and this is where the digital technology comes into play. We know that this is one of the largest areas where we can deploy the technology and have a very large impact on the environment. So by making use of the data collected and using new approach, we can actually run an application that will help us to find an optimal point for our operations. Very often in the past, an optimal point of operations would be the profitability of our operations. All these are driving towards the safety of the customers. We at AVEVA hold safety to paramount importance and business sustainability is also key for us. For example, our drive towards reduction in carbon emissions can become an optimal point for operating their facilities.

Having successfully reduced the scope 1 and 2 emissions by 90%, what is the next step for AVEVA?

Yes we have fulfilled our promise earlier made to reduce scope I and 2 emissions by 90 per cent and we are glad we were able to keep to our promise. Having achieved that feat, the next step for AVEVA will be to achieve scope 3, which is where we will have to be more careful in our supply chain and making sure that we are more mindful over the impact on the supply chain of service providers. We have actually outlined our own ambition in terms of the scope because we are not just making decisions by ourselves, since we need to ensure that we are working closer with our supply chain and that is our next focus area as a company. I strongly believe that it will lead to multiple effects. We believe that our scope 3 mission will have great environmental impact and will encourage our suppliers to begin to think of how they can make their own offerings more sustainable.

In your view, what will be the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in cutting down cost and in reducing carbon emissions?

 Artificial Intelligence (AI), is a very powerful tool that requires trusted data sources. AVEVA is working with a combination of AI tools and the trusted data that can be used for AI and Machine Learning (ML). We are in talks with data generating companies to ensure that data collected is clean and that only those data that are needed, are stored and used for the purpose it is meant for. Looking at multiple equations and the previous patterns, it is clear that humans will never be able to do a scale and come up with the recommendation on how to operate assets. So AI helps a lot in reducing energy consumption and it also helps to predict the potential failure of critical equipment and it reduces the impact on the environment and even the impact on facilities. So AI is powerful, but must be used with the right combination of tools.

Most organisations understand the power of AI, but do not know how to go about it. How is AVEVA helping such organisations to leverage AI to perform greater tasks?

We are working closely with companies to first of all understand the full technology impact of driving their transformation agenda, using Artificial Intelligence. Deploying emerging technologies cannot be done in silos. So what we did, was to look at the organisation’s strategy from end to end, from the point of data collection and use of data in the most useful way. When we engage with customers, we try to come up with a review of what they will like to achieve, how they can achieve it, and how they can scale. We will make them to understand the used cases that have helped in driving and sustaining growth and development, Our goal is to ensure high level satisfaction on the part of the customers. By the time we share the knowledge with customers, they will be able to grow faster in their business. Again, no body is questioning the fact that digital technology can bring a lot of improvement to companies and help them to become more profitable, more sustainable, and safer to operate. Every company is looking up to the real practical ways that AI can develop their specific industries, specific assets and specific future plans.

In using AI to achieve net zero carbon emissions in organisations, are there security implications in sharing trusted information among organisations?

I think it is very important to share information among organisations, especially trusted information. The truth is that many organisational processes are generating lots of data, and very often, we find ourselves overwhelmed by the amount of data that are generated within organisatons. So in sharing information, two things must play up in our minds. Firstly, such information needs to be trusted, and secondly, we must be security conscious about sharing data. Trust is very key in information sharing because it is about making sure that the technology, which companies like AVEVA is providing , has a verifiable source that is authentic and can be trusted.

In the area of security, we at AVEVA engages in many critical and large assets, and this is where we are making sure that security protocols are well followed, because security in itself is very critical for any organisation.

Given your technical expertise, do you think the world is ready in terms of infrastructure for net-zero carbon emissions?

I think the world is beginning to recognise that there is really no option left for net-zero carbon emissions and that time is actually running out. At COP28, which just ended in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), it was clearly stressed that there was a lesson for every nation to learn from the global initiative of net-zero carbon, and I think there has been progressive conversations on how best the world can achieve it and who will have to do what, in order to ensure global uniformity. I can tell you that the task before all nations of the world is massive as to who begins the process first. The world is looking at who the suppliers of the new source of energy will be or who will be the first consumers of the new source of energy. So the key thing is that the world has this understanding that there is no option rather than to embrace the new source of energy and every nation is looking at the most practical ways to do it.

AVEVA prominently featured at the just concluded COP28 in Dubai, UAE . So what will you say were the key message for AVEVA during this year’s COP28?

COP28 was a gathering of global businesses and governments. AVEVA featured prominently at COP28, and we are aware that governments all over the world spend a lot of time, building infrastructure. Some governments are keen at building roads that connect the people that are moving the goods, thus creating the economic connections between nations. Some are into building of railways and electrical bridges, among others. So our key message for governments all over the world, was for them to concentrate on building specific infrastructure that will benefit the people. On the part of businesses, our key message for them was about the need to develop practical ways of optimising exiting facilities equally and more importantly, finding new ways of handling their facilities, giving consideration to the singularity of some of them. We also advised them on the better ways to utilise the new source of energy and how they could be introduced in a much faster way.

In your view, how can digital technology help in achieving the green future that the world is currently talking about?

Digital technology is key in achieving the green future that the world is clamouring for. As for AVEVA, we are working with companies to assimilate the future processes of new energy sources. Technology helps to build the facilities of the infrastructure of the future by making it much faster and much cheaper. Technology is the key to operate those facilities and find the optimal price for those facilities. Technology will lead to better productivity, and less environmental impact on the future industry.

What is your view about the growing controversy on fossil energy?

At the just concluded COP28 in Dubai, there were heated debates about the need to phase out fossil energy. Those pushing to phase out fossil energy, have their reasons, but what I would like to say is that at COP28, industry players, governments, businesses had  heated debates on fossil energy. Some opposed to it, while some were in support of it. For me, such debates were practical steps towards achieving great progress and finding a lasting solution to a global challenge.

So what is your general assessment of COP28 in relation to global development?

My impression about COP28 is that there were several practical discussions about the future, which I think will help in shaping future development globally. Such discussions will open up further practical discussions for businesses on what their future lines of thoughts should be in the context of environmental change. I think it is time when organisations and businesses begin to measure the impact of the legislation frameworks. For me, the discussions at COP28 will guide businesses to deliver on their vision and mission statements. Also I saw organisasions and businesses, asking the right questions and looking for the right collaborations that will further help to drive businesses to achieve their goals.

There are talks around electric vehicles replacing fuel combustion engine vehicles in no distant time. What is your take on this?

Those driving the vision of electric vehicles have made tremendous progress, which shows that the world can actually move from one phase of mobility to another phase. The world sees electric vehicles as the vehicles for the future and a lot of works have been put in place to achieve this in the near future, looking at the global supply chain. Companies are beginning to manufacture components that will support electric vehicles and others are in collaboration with players in the electric vehicle space in order to produce affordable electric vehicles that will be sustainable, safe with high performance output and easy to maintain.

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