The Sustainability Imperative

O.P. Jindal Global University is moving towards a healthier and safer environment by implementing the SDGs within the university campus. By implementing Sustainable Development Goals, O.P. Jindal Global University has taken a firm step to create a green-accounted, socially-conscious campus. This private university in India at Sonipat, Haryana, has shown other educational institutions the way that futuristic, social, and environmental commitments are met.

This Sustainable Development Report is jointly authored by representatives of TERI, Trust Legal, and Mazars.

As we explore in this Advisor, there are tangible benefits to basing corporate purpose on sustainability drivers, and sustainable business models are gaining pace. Therefore, businesses should rethink their role in the context in which they operate and adapt their strategy, organization, resources, processes, and culture accordingly.

This Executive Update seeks to illuminate two concepts that are extremely important but are at risk of becoming mere buzzwords: “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) and “Agile teams.” Most teams do not have an accurate understanding of these terms. And while the majority promote their workplace as embracing DEI and Agile methodologies, they often do not “walk the talk.”

An often-overlooked aspect in the global discussion about sustainability when it comes to information and communications technology is how software can be created and deployed to mitigate a company’s environmental footprint. This Advisor looks at Mobile and Web apps to see what we can do to create a more positive environmental impact.

The ability to monitor and authenticate is crucial for providing credibility to many sustainability efforts. The use of technology (e.g., blockchain, satellite imagery) to monitor and verify activities provides a method of ensuring accountability for actions, both good and bad. This issue of Cutter Business Technology Journal explores the ways technology can be used to monitor and improve the sustainability of a wide range of processes, industrial and otherwise.

How powerful are today’s artificial intelligence (AI) solutions, and which areas are showing the most promise? This Advisor explores how AI can help the environment through the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the enormous potential for AI in patient care, and provides additional examples of how AI is impacting everyday life.

Cloud-based carbon intelligence platforms can help companies track, measure, and model their CO2 emissions — including providing the ability to integrate and analyze carbon emissions data acquired from across their supply chains — and chart the progress of their overall sustainability initiatives. This Advisor explores some of the new products on the market utilizing distributed ledger technologies to support carbon intelligence platforms.

Cutter Consortium Senior Consultant Helen Pukszta explores the use of drones for sustainability. From the critical application of precision agriculture to whimsical light shows, drones not only provide new functionality, they do so with a low carbon footprint. In precision agriculture, we see again that the data collection capability of drones coupled with sophisticated optimization algorithms can help farmers use natural resources more efficiently. In an unusual application that most would not think of, Pukszta goes on to illuminate the unintended environmental consequences of fireworks and the benefits of using drones for light shows.