How ecosystem thinking can help create a sustainable future

Greg Sarafin and Orlan Boston discuss the importance of technology, collaboration and ecosystems in delivering a sustainable future. 

In brief

• Technology alone is not enough to deliver a sustainable future.
• Collaboration and ecosystems will be essential in delivering ESG and sustainability strategies.
• Data interoperability is a key challenge for businesses to overcome in building sustainable solutions and practices.

At the 2021 Reuters MOMENTUM conference, Greg Sarafin, EY Global Alliance and Ecosystem Leader, and Orlan Boston, EY Americas ESG & Sustainability Markets Leader, sat down to discuss the role technology and ecosystems play in seizing ESG and sustainability opportunities through reimagined operations.

Following EY’s October 2021 carbon negative status announcement, the discussion explores the monumental sustainability challenges faced by businesses across all industries and how solutions can be found at the intersection of technology and collaboration. 

The discussion covers much ground, including the importance of data sharing and co-operation in relation to tracking and reporting on Scope 3 emissions, as well as real-world examples where EY is collaborating with alliance partners such as Microsoft, IBM and ServiceNow to help organizations lower and track emissions and improve operational efficiencies.

Interoperability and data sharing are discussed in detail. Exciting and disruptive technologies in this area must be underpinned by good data, and for many companies to collaborate and cooperate they need to interoperate at this level quickly, easily and cost-effectively. The advent of powerful cloud platforms and increasing collaboration via ecosystem business models is making this easier, however, interoperability continues to be a major problem for businesses that is exasperated by increasing amounts of data, cyber-crime and data privacy concerns.