As the world's largest companies spend on digital transformation, investment must also support their sustainability goals

• Meaningful sustainability efforts require calculated spending on digital tools and technology.
• Companies can meet sustainability goals by using lessons learned in digital-transformation efforts.

If it seems like every large company is announcing sustainability goals, it's because most are. Businesses are interdependent with the world's social and environmental systems, meaning environmental issues are financial issues. Businesses can thrive only if society prospers and the natural environment is protected.

To help meet worldwide carbon goals, the companies that power the global economy must leverage the lessons they've learned during their digital transformations to ensure the success of their sustainability efforts.

To understand why companies are investing in digital experiences and announcing major sustainability goals, look to their customers. The same customers who demand a personalized digital experience also demand meaningful sustainability efforts. Likewise, investors want to ensure that their holding companies carry out their sustainability efforts in a measurable, impactful way.

Sustainability requires the design and deployment of complex, organization-wide road maps to achieve business objectives and ESG goals.

The World Economic Forum's 2022 Global Risk Report notes, "Climate action failure is the number one long-term threat to the world and the risk with potentially the most severe impacts over the next decade. Climate change is already manifesting rapidly in the form of droughts, fires, floods, resource scarcity and species loss, among other impacts. In 2020, multiple cities around the world experienced extreme temperatures not seen for years."

This urgent need means that businesses need to shift from an era of sustainability talk to an era of sustainability action. But not just any action: transparent, measurable, and meaningful action. And that requires a conscious and calculated spend on digital tools and technology.

Sustainability requires the design and deployment of complex, organization-wide road maps to achieve business objectives and ESG goals. Companies should leverage the same investments, tools, and partnerships that have advanced their digital transformations to help them achieve their sustainability goals.

For example, at Cognizant, we are helping a global pharmaceutical firm reduce energy and water consumption via data and analytics tools; an automotive company prepare for smart electric vehicles through software management; a utility firm generate renewable energy through smart meters; a farming company improve crop yield through data management; and a US healthcare insurance company enroll members via a process that eliminates paper, to name a few.

As organizations make the critical move toward a reduced carbon footprint, they need to integrate it into their core business strategy if there is to be any progress. The top things companies should consider when developing this integrated strategy include:

• Ensure robust and measurable ESG data
• Reengineer and redesign products to digital platforms to meet environmental-sustainability needs
• Reduce the carbon footprint of buildings and enhance the health and well-being of occupants.
• Implement solutions and services to improve capabilities in collecting supply-chain data so companies can identify and fix problems at every point in the process

As a technology-services provider for the Global 2000, our greatest impact lies in using our knowledge and technology to transition our clients to a low-carbon economy.

Sophia Mendelsohn is chief sustainability officer and global head of ESG at Cognizant