My goal is to reach Carbon Neutrality

But to be honest: like many of us, I knew absolutely nothing about the topic until 10 months ago.

Since last year my eyes have been opened.We will go all-in with Amsterdam Standard to transform our focus. I visited Sustainability Live - Net Zero last week in London for education, inspiration and confirmation.

Awesome event; I can highly recommend visiting it next year (virtually or live).

I was mostly interested in finding out more about how tech and AI can help to make a positive impact on this world.  

• Businesses can lead the change. 
• Taking action for climate makes business sense:
  • To build resilience
  • To be more competitive
  • To create stronger supply chains
  • To be part of a community
• Storytelling is crucial; it’s really hard to engage people. Be persistent. 
• Action is needed; and it has never been more clear how businesses can contribute.
• It’s not too late; there are plenty of technological opportunities. 
• Sustainability functions in businesses are massively under-resourced. More budget is needed to reach the goals.
• The best moment to start change was 20 years ago, the next best is today.

• Politics & democracy seems broken.
• Global governance is missing.
• Resistance against scientific evidence distracts from the mission.
• Geopolitical issues make it even more difficult.
• Regulation (too slow) can’t keep up with innovation; which is a massive blocker atm. 
• 2010-2020 feels like a lost decade. But the last 3-5 years have seen massive investments & change. The sustainability movement is finally gaining traction.
• CEO’s are more involved in the sustainability strategy than ever; which is good news: bottom-up initiatives are great, but top-down is needed to set the goals and create budgets.
• The discussion needs to be reframed: we are missing the point if we feel that sustainability is just an insurance policy that you have to have; it's basically a better way of doing things. And the outcome is how we want it to be.
• Customers will like to buy from sustainable companies.

Even though it's good news that ± 12.000 companies need to report on climate data in roughly a year from now and more and more (European) regulation like the CSRD is coming there is a risk that the focus on compliance reporting has become the nr1 priority; it sucks away budget from the exciting (innovative) projects itself which can kill the energy.

To get up to speed: digitize your sustainability processes. Invest in ESG reporting and sustainability management, work on Carbon management and net zero zero transition plan & review your Supply chain risk and sustainability.

Big shout out to Urlike this video is a must see.

• In the long run AI can help to optimize energy efficiency, manufacturing processes, maintenance, reduce waste, etc…
• For now AI just consumes a massive amount of energy itself; it’s the WildWest GoldRush.
• 62% of large EMEA organizations will spend at least 5% of the IT budget for sustainability actions in 2025
• Carbon Removal technologies are working; but today we have only removed 0.05% of what we need to in a couple decades; commitment is needed.
• Research has shown that tech companies with the correct ethical standards will much easier attract young people; even accepting serious salary cuts if needed: which shows the massive willingness of people to do something.

Data and datacenters need to be optimized; right now they are one of the ugliest polluters.

The overloaded grid in the Netherlands could not handle Meta’s new planned datacenter.

In Ireland data centers use 33% of the countries energy; 75% is expected by 2030.

Datasets are often replicated to use for AI learning or analyses: which causes massive amounts of data waste again.

It’s really essential to clean up after ourselves (and/or store it away).

The landscape is evolving, business is changing. The demand for pro-climate initiatives from consumers, employees and governments means companies need to adapt.

My goal is to inspire and help to transform the IT and Saas industry. And yes, I truly believe an SME (150 people) like Amsterdam Standard can serve as one of the leaders. We can’t just rely on the big corporations and governments only to drive the change.

I’ll document our transformation here in the next 20 months. 

It will not be an easy one!

Big shoutouts to Ulrike Sapiro (!), Virginie Helias, David Metcalfe, Michelle You, Paul van der Lingen and Sustainability Magazine for their great keynote speeches and this event full of inspiration.