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timoelliott
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert
Digital innovation and the journey to net zero

Perhaps the only good news about recent heat waves, fires, droughts, floods, and once-in-a-century storms is that awareness of climate change is at an all-time high. The changing climate is already taking a staggering human and economic toll, and more people are now heeding the increasingly dire warnings from experts.

We humans are a resilient, resourceful species, and our collective resolve to tackle the climate crisis is growing increasingly stronger. From innovative technologies to new climate accords and regulations, the world is taking bolder action to try to avert the worst disasters and safeguard the future for generations to come.

Organizations across the world are faced with how to meet the ambitious goals of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent by 2030 and achieving net zero emissions by 2050. But jumping into the sustainability fight is not always a straightforward proposition. For business leaders, climate change presents an array of challenges and opportunities. Climate risk is complex, involving not only the physical risks of extreme and unpredictable weather but also what is known as the transition risk that comes with changing regulations and shifts in energy sources and consumption.

In order to help, professional services firm PwC is putting climate change action front and center, PwC saw a wide range of business forces in action: consumers clamoring for sustainability; the capital market looking to invest in sustainable business models; regulatory forces, especially in the EU, forcing sustainability to the top of every company’s agenda; and experts predicting that climate change could put $43 trillion worth of fixed assets at risk by the end of the century.

These factors emphasized the necessity for organizations to include climate change as a significant consideration in their business strategy. But where to begin? PwC had an idea.

Digital Innovation Enables Climate Risk Assessment


The question PwC sought to answer was how to accurately assess a multitude of complex factors across dozens of overlapping industries and with an array of potential climate and regulation scenarios that might unfold over the coming decades. PwC spent years building powerful models that would allow its clients to weigh risks, find opportunities, and make informed decisions.

Those models were a collection of spreadsheets until PwC realized it was time to unleash its climate risk-assessment expertise into a more mature and accessible solution.

PwC turned to SAP Business Technology Platform, and the Climate Excellence tool was born—a software-as-a-service solution that harnesses PwC’s risk-assessment expertise alongside the advanced data analytics capabilities of SAP BTP. The Climate Excellence tool provides deep insights that allow organizations to efficiently and accurately assess their climate change risks and opportunities.

Businesses that have deployed the Climate Excellence tool have seen:

  • 80% more secure evaluation of assets in climate scenarios

  • 90% faster decisions on asset valuation

  • 95% cost reduction by not building their solution

  • 100% savings in the implementation effort

  • Automation of manual processes results in increased employee satisfaction, more accurate data, proactive risk management, data-driven decisions, better collaboration, and increased transparency


Tune In


In this episode of Better Together: Customer Conversations, we sit down with Gunther Dütsch, Partner, PwC, Germany, to explore how PwC, leveraging the advanced data analytics capabilities of SAP Business Technology Platform created a powerful tool in the journey to net zero. We also met with David Jensen, the coordinator of the Digital Transformation program at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) about the use of technology as an essential driver for sustainability in the short and long term.

  • Thought leadership podcast: Gunther Dütsch, who leads PwC’s sustainability team, and David Jensen, a digital environmental specialist from the UNEP, meet with Tamara McCleary, CEO of Thulium, to discuss why data and digital technologies are so essential for organizations looking to navigate climate change.

  • Practitioner’s LinkedIn conversation: I talk with Gunther Dütsch about how PwC created the Climate Excellence tool, and he shares his advice for other organizations looking to translate their expertise into innovative solutions.


Interested in more stories about the intersection of digital innovation and sustainability? Check out:

  • Deloitte Africa: How does embedded cloud technology empower an organization to make an impact that matters?

  • Lloyd’s Register: How a risk assessment tool helps protect people and the environment while increasing productivity and operating performance.


Visit sap.com/btp to find all our Better Together: Customer Conversations.

I’m always interested in hearing your input; let me know which topics you would like us to discuss further. Please contact us if you would like to be a guest on a future episode.