How location information can help sustainability

Sustainability is not just a buzzword to satisfy investors and customers. The survival of businesses in a world increasingly threatened by extreme heat and weather is eroding consumer livelihoods, disrupting essential operations and choking the supply of raw materials.

It’s a concern shared by most executives, especially those at the helm of thriving companies. In a Deloitte survey of more than 2,000 C-suite executives, 79% said the world was at a “tipping point” in responding to climate change. Only 59% had felt this way just eight months earlier. Nevertheless, optimism that immediate action can mitigate the worst of climate change has grown from 63% to 88%.

That immediate action includes consciously looking at every business decision through a sustainability lens. And location information supports this.

Both large companies and start-ups use location information to guide sustainability strategies and balance the competitive landscape.

Tracing routes and supply chains

Carbon emissions from transportation are responsible for 27% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, the most of any industry, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. But this problem has a geographical solution.

Transport is responsible for a large amount of greenhouse gas emissions and much can be done to extend and shorten routes. Moving a product from start to finish (and back again) by trailer, cargo plane or rail line while covering as few miles as possible can seem like an unmanageable challenge. But smarter routing, fueled by modern location intelligence, can save time and money.

The key is having access to the most accurate and up-to-date basemaps, and sometimes following unconventional routes. A leading company that provides the daily delivery of 19 million packagesfound, for example, that a single mile can make a $50 million difference.

By adding satellite imagery and other key inputs, leaders can better understand raw material sources and determine whether suppliers are operating sustainably. Knowing the chain of custody of each product – including the components that go into it – helps companies recover from supply chain disruptions and transparently demonstrate their impact on the environment.

This knowledge can extend to a product’s path, including how to repurpose it. Plastics are increasingly being recycled for new applications – including for packaging and products themselves – but many tons of plastics still end up in landfills. Track shipments from scrap plastic from location to location can, for example, indicate where plastic goes and what it becomes.

Be accurate

Take almost any industry, add “precision,” and chances are it’s using location information to strategically produce more by using less. That’s because by embedding operations in a data-driven geographic approach, we can clearly see the impact of our actions and act, sometimes in real time.

Innovators and entrepreneurs use location information to determine where and how they can produce more with less land, labor and fertile environments, such as growing new, popular plant proteins.

For example, precision forestry ensures that trees are planted where they are most likely to grow in a climate-changed world, which is essential for the timber industry. Precision logistics helps shipping companies ensure that every kilometer is useful. Precision farming helps farmers determine what they can grow and how much with less water or land.

These examples all involve digitizing operations so that every step of the process can be monitored and analysed, creating a systematic approach. Technology – used by those who always need to be informed – even makes it possible to get a smartphone notification about the state of someone’s cropsfor example, or provide field-by-field profit data.

Location intelligence: select the best place

Just as determining the safest sailing route can save time, money and carbon emissions, so can choosing the right locations – such as where to plant trees for them to thrive; where to place electric charging stations; or where to find the most productive renewables, taking into account factors such as land tenure, accessibility and cost.

Currently, large organizations working with startups and consultants are using algorithms and data-driven maps that show environmental constraints, available land, climate and population distance to give U.S. agencies clear options before they even set foot on the scene.

To build a truly sustainable business – one that not only survives but thrives – location analytics must be baked into business strategy. Sustainability needs geographic context, precision and partners who understand the most effective ways to deploy location-based technology.

Katie Decker is the senior partner manager of the Esri Launcher.