Digitalisation seen to accelerate net zero goals, says expert

Digitalisation will be a key driver of transformation across industries to reach net zero goals, Wael Badawy, head of Energy Performance Services at Siemens, told Gulf Times on the sidelines of a panel discussion at Project Qatar 2023 Tuesday.
“Digitalisation and sustainability are very important topics; they go hand-in-hand. You cannot separate digitalisation from sustainability,” he explained.
“Given the trends in the market and global challenges towards achieving sustainability, we need to accelerate the momentum to reach net zero. And how we can accelerate this or reduce carbon emissions? The only solution here is digitalisation because it enables sustainability, the Siemens official observed.”
Badawy participated in the conference titled ‘New Trends in Qatar’s Construction Sector’ together with Luis Carlos Aranda, country manager, Copasa, and Paraskevoula Ntai, legal counsel, Essa Al Sulaiti Law Firm.
Moderated by Craig Richardson, technical director, Parsons, the panel discussion was organised by the chambers of commerce of Italy, the US, France, and Spain, the Italian Trade Agency (ITA), German Business Council Qatar (GBCQ), Turkish Businessmen Association (TBA), and German Industry & Commerce Office Qatar (AHK), in collaboration with IFP Qatar.
According to Badawy, Qatar “became a role model” for future FIFA World Cup tournaments when it hosted the World Cup last year, which was touted as “the world’s first carbon-neutral World Cup.”
“Stadium 974 is an example, but it’s not about how to utilise sustainable or recyclable material, rather, it is about utilising digitalisation. Sustainability is not about the material. It’s about the preservation of the next generation; it's a mindset,” he explained.
To successfully host the FIFA World Cup, Badawy said Qatar maximised digitalisation to manage and monitor the movement of people and transportation, including other logistics challenges to reduce carbon emissions.
“Ultimately, the tournament in Qatar was one of the lowest carbon emission World Cups in the world. And this is something that Qatar and its people can be proud of; it is something that other countries could emulate.
“This is the beauty of digitalisation and sustainability. Both can be replicated and there is scalability. Other countries could imitate what Qatar has accomplished during the World Cup and these achievements could be applied across different sectors and industries,” Badawy pointed out.
GCC countries, including Qatar, “are on track” in terms of digitalisation, Badawy emphasised, citing the emergence of sustainable communities in GCC states, as well as smart cities like Lusail and Msheireb.
“Building a sustainable community is a vision for the next 50 years; GCC countries are thinking ahead and they are building the right technologies for the next generation, so they are on the right track,” he stressed.