Google Sustainability Summit

6 June 2023 | 10.45am - 12.15pm

The Gallery | Capella Singapore

Climate change is one of humanity’s most urgent challenges, with this decade critical in setting the world on a path to a sustainable future. Our planet has indeed reached a point where the actions of every individual and organisation define what tomorrow will look like. Each year’s tangibly hotter summer months are far from a coincidence. Melting ice sheets release more than 400 billion tons of water into the sea each year, causing sea levels to rise, and putting coastal cities at risk of being inundated before the next century. 

These unsettling events are the result of more carbon emissions entering our atmosphere each year. Two-thirds of global emissions stem from companies and their operations. Unfortunately, recent economic headwinds have stalled progress. In the Google Cloud Sustainability Survey of almost 1,500 C-suite executives across the world, sustainability dropped from being the top organisational priority last year to being the third priority this year. Only executives in three countries continue to see sustainability as the top priority, two of which are in Southeast Asia – Singapore and Thailand, demonstrating the impact of climate change in our region.

The silver lining from this survey is that technological innovation is a key deciding factor that will impact an organisation's ability to drive sustainable growth in the future. In growing the digital economy in ASEAN, governments and the private sector must cooperate to create an ecosystem for digital transformation and green growth, and young professionals must also be upskilled or reskilled to leverage these new technologies.

This roundtable will therefore focus on the intersection of sustainability and technology. Within the context of sustainability, technology is a double-edged sword. While large amounts of energy are needed to power today’s digital economy, technology also presents innovative solutions that can also address climate change. For example, it can help suggest the greenest way of reaching our destinations or even encourage travellers to consider alternative modes of transportation. It can also help organisations by providing them with macro data, such as satellite imagery and geospatial information, to guide them in making sustainable investments and greening their operations.

How can we leverage technology to accelerate the transition to a more sustainable future? Join Eco-Business, in partnership with Google, as we convene leaders and decision-makers across the government, tech companies and civic society to discuss how companies can pave the way towards a sustainable future.

To learn more about the Summit, contact ximinl@google.com