UK businesses face a critical deadline: achieving net-zero by 2050. This complex transition demands urgent action and strategic planning. Organisations must use trusted and quality data to inform their energy transition and infrastructure strategies as they decarbonise international supply chains, transition to renewables, switch their fleets to electric vehicles (EVs) and optimise their waste management.
Along the way, they need to measure and communicate the effectiveness of their sustainability efforts to satisfy the growing demands of stakeholders and avoid accusations of greenwashing. With an ever-changing list of regional, national and international ethical, social and governance (ESG) regulations, it’s a task that can’t be taken lightly. According to a Capgemini survey, 52% of global businesses with over $1bn in revenue plan to boost investment in sustainable practices.
Location data is most powerful when combined with other data sets, such as traffic flow, air quality or property and building level information
Targeted investment will be critical to the success of their net-zero strategies. John Kimmance, chief customer officer at Ordnance Survey, Britain’s national mapping service, says investing in location data can help businesses to make informed decisions.
“Every organisation has factories, offices, suppliers and customers located in different places and the movement of people and goods potentially has a carbon impact. Understanding where they are and the relationship between them is a geospatial location problem and that’s where our data can inform this analysis. Location data is the golden thread that provides all users with a common view of the environment.”
Accurate location data provides a clear picture of an area and environment. It shows objects and features on the Earth’s surface. However, this data is most powerful when combined with other data sets, such as traffic flow, air quality or property and building level information, including up-to-date address data. It can be used to solve questions but also model impact.
If businesses combine location data with these other sources of information, it can help them to remove silos by creating collaboration between other departments or data providers. Location data is often displayed on a map with other forms of data overlaid. One example is Earth Observation (EO) data. In this case, the blend of EO heat data and accurate location data, enables decision makers to tackle the impacts of climate change on urban areas. This valuable insight helps intervention measures and to identify safer areas to build infrastructure or source suppliers.
A study by McKinsey revealed that 80% of the world’s emissions are embedded within supply chains. But building sustainable supply chains is a huge challenge for businesses with international networks and a lack of visibility of all of their suppliers. One potential solution for leaders is to use location data alongside supplier and regulatory data to generate powerful insights into supply chain risks.
“You need to understand the carbon emissions associated with your supply chain, but also verify safe and ethical work practices,” explains Kimmance. “Leaders need to be able to verify that raw materials are made in an ethical fashion by workers who aren’t subjected to human rights breaches and not in a manner that harms the environment.”
Businesses must also slash emissions by transitioning to EVs. Geospatial data can be used to analyse traffic patterns and reduce emissions by creating routes for fleets that have the lowest possible impact on the environment. Location insights are also a key tool for leaders to identify optimal locations to build the charging infrastructure needed to support EVs.
To implement these changes, businesses need access to accurate and up-to-date data. Ordnance Survey has invested in automatic change detection through artificial intelligence. This means businesses can access a greater currency of mapping data to monitor changes to environments that are critical to their logistics networks.
Retrofitting buildings is another opportunity for leaders, who must ensure they’re energy-efficient or identify suitable building stock for their energy transition. “The richness of our data helps to create an assessment around the size, height and suitability of buildings for things like solar panels on rooftops,” says Kimmance.
“It can also be used to find other buildings in new locations that are more suitable to harness renewables or those that provide easy access to the grid.” Solar could enable organisations to unlock huge cost savings by generating their own renewable energy, but the planning process for larger projects, such as solar farms, can be complex and lengthy.
Farms generating over 50MW are classed as ‘nationally significant infrastructure projects’ (NHIP) and require consent from the Secretary of State, while those below 50MW need approval from local authorities. Local communities also need to be engaged to mitigate concerns over construction or land use. To speed up this process, embracing geospatial data can equip all parties with a single source of truth to aid and accelerate decision-making.
“Our data supports government policy but also organisations that need to abide by it,” says Kimmance. “Developers use it to work out how best to optimise configurations for projects, while councils will also use it to create 3D models and visualisations to show to local communities”.
Ordnance Survey is using location data to merge the past with the present by working alongside the Coal Authority to explore the potential of extracting geothermal energy from warm water in disused mines via large heat pumps. This energy could then be used to heat communities and businesses living and operating near mines. “There could be a business case to put a heat pump into the mines and use it to heat that local geography,” says Kimmance.
“This is a great example of location data helping government, businesses and communities to find sustainable solutions that cut costs.” As businesses embark on the long and winding road to net zero, leaders must take accountability as they make decisions that will impact the long-term health of their organisations and employees. Accurate and reliable location data could provide leaders with the bigger picture they need to get there, faster.
For more information please visit ordnancesurvey.co.uk
