Digital Transformation and the Journey to Net Zero

June 10, 2025

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By

Eve

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min read

In 1950 the world emitted 6 billion tonnes of CO2, fast forward just over 70 years and the figures have been released for 2022 … and they’re pretty startling. Globally we released 36.8 billion tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere, the highest ever levels recorded; something of a contradiction to the backdrop of carbon reduction that we’re aiming for. As business leaders we’re all aware of our responsibility to help reduce these figures. Most of us are trying, but let’s be honest it can be difficult to know where to begin, and even fully understand the situation … particularly when it comes to technology.

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Let’s start with a quick overview of the terminology around climate targets:

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Green House Gases (GHG): are gases which allow sunlight and heat into the Earth's atmosphere, but don’t let it then escape. Much like a greenhouse, hence the name!

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Scope 1 Emissions: the emissions that a company makes directly, for example running its vehicles, or production of heat from a boiler on site.

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Scope 2 Emissions: these are the emissions that are released as a result of business operations, but not directly by the business, in most instances from the purchase of energy. This tends to be in four main areas; electricity, steam, heating and cooling.

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Scope 3 Emissions: essentially these are all the other emissions that are related to business operations but don’t fall into 1 and 2. Examples include everything from staff commutes and business travel, right through to emissions generated by suppliers and waste disposal.

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Net Zero: when the amount of emissions going into the atmosphere is matched by the amount being taken out of it.

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Paris Agreement: a legally binding international treaty signed by 194 parties in 2016, which includes increasing commitments to reduce emissions and help in the fight against climate change. 2023 will see the first global assessment of how countries are progressing inline with their commitments.

At Yopla we specialise in digital transformation and we're committed to achieving this for us and our clients with a firm focus on being green. That means looking at where technology, or often a consolidation of it, can help the environment and your businesses scope 3 emissions.

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What is Digital Transformation?

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The internet and digital technology generally have brought about considerable changes in how people behave. Simply put, digital transformation is the reorganisation of business, process and strategy to reflect these new behaviours in a digital age … it’s the journey from where a business currently is, to where it needs to be to succeed digitally and meet customer demands.

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Globally the spend on digital transformation is expected to reach $6.8 trillion by the end of 2023, with 56% of CEO’s already reporting an increase in profits because of their focus on digital change. Improved productivity, higher quality customer interactions and feedback, and better resource management are all part of a successful digital transformation. With the right advice, these changes can also help to significantly reduce your carbon footprint too … good for business and good for the planet!

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Government estimates suggest that this decade needs to see five times more carbon reduction than the previous two decades combined if we stand any chance of hitting the targets of the Paris Agreement commitments, and they’re aware that digital transformation is a major player in achieving this. Take the NHS as an example. In their race to net zero they’re estimating that using remote monitoring technologies will save around 6000 tonnes of carbon over 3 years. To put that into perspective, that’s around 28 million miles of combined patient travel that’s no longer needed, or the equivalent of taking 1283 cars off the road for a whole year. Combine that with the 4000 tonnes of carbon NHS Digital has saved by moving to more efficient cloud hosting solutions, and it’s a hefty reduction across the board.

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a huge consideration in the future of the NHS too. While it’s still an emerging technology so needs more research into its climate impact, there’s a real hope that its introduction could lead to further environmental savings. For any readers interested in AI and the medical world, the Surgeons Hall Museum in Edinburgh has a fantastic exhibition dedicated to understanding its place in the future of medicine.

What can Businesses Do?

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The first step in any endeavours to introduce digital transformation to a business is to have a thorough, company specific, evaluation to establish its digital maturity. Preferably this should be done by a third party who can be truly impartial and it should give you a comprehensive understanding of where your business currently is, where it would like to be, with a focus on the journey needed to get to that goal. Check out our Digital Evaluation page for a more detailed description of what a digital evaluation looks like.

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Environmentally, digital audits have a significant part to play in helping businesses identify the best routes forward for them. DEFRA research suggests that each user of a company IT system has the same environmental impact as travelling almost 2000 miles in a car, having 428 showers, or charging 100,540 smart phones. With the advent of scope 3 emissions policies, these figures will be critical for businesses in lowering their climate impact. Once you know where your focus should be though, there’s a whole host of things you can do with ease to make a real difference to your digital carbon footprint, while catapulting your business into the future.

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80% of the carbon footprint from ICT (information, communication and technology) could be reduced if there was a switch made to renewable energy sources. While a business aware of its scope 2 emissions may choose a green energy supplier for its office-based requirements, it’s just as important to look at the supply chain to see if their choices align with yours. For example, does your IT or cybersecurity provider use green energy, or is the software you choose hosted in an environmentally positive way? Many businesses still fall foul of software hoarding … do you have 3 programmes to do a job where 1 well chosen application would be better suited for the task at hand? The more data you’re storing, in more places, the worse your carbon contribution.

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Be careful of panic buying too. We often see businesses who’ve rushed out to buy custom software, or been told off the shelf solutions will fix all their problems, only to realise it’s not right for them. Not only is this costly, but also hugely problematic environmentally … computer programmes all use considerable amounts of storage – anything that’s unused is taking up valuable resource. People often forget that the data centres hosting their software are massive environmental drains. Make sure your digital evaluation suggests the right products for your business considering all the factors that are important to you.

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Hardware choices are key to good decision making and often impact more than the obvious areas. To negate the emissions outputted in manufacturing the average smartphone or tablet it needs to be in use for at least 10 years. With current trends seeing average ownership of tech being around 2.5 years, businesses need to lead the way in changing the mentality around device ownership. We can’t ignore the supply chain issues around technology either, it’s controversial to say the least, particularly when it comes to sourcing raw materials. PWC have a great article here outlining the major climate issues around smartphone manufacture, and highlighting why it’s so important to be aware of where technology comes from.

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There are so many choices available when selecting hardware that it’s really important to get the very best advice for what’s right for your business. Buying items that aren’t fit for purpose means that you’ll need to change them and considering the 10 year carbon zero period on most of these, making them redundant shouldn’t be an option. Think about buying second hand where possible; older laptops particularly are often more climate friendly as they’ll not have energy hungry components. Look at how repairable and upgradeable items are too; being able to replace parts if and when required is much more sustainable than buying new. Pick products that are TCO Certified ensuring that you’re investing in tech manufacturers that are being held to the highest standards. The TCO website is a fantastic resource too for all things related to technology and sustainability!

What Next?

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There’s no hiding from the reality of climate change, or the reality that businesses are going to be held accountable for their contribution. Scope 3 emissions and government policies are all incoming and they’re demanding significant change, fast.

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Businesses are recognising the need for urgent action, and digital transformation is a massive tool in the arsenal for future thinking leaders. Jeff Bezos (Amazon founder) is quoted as saying:

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“There is no alternative to digital transformation. Visionary companies will carve out new strategic options for themselves — those that don’t adapt, will fail.”

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and John Chambers from Cisco as:

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“At least 40% of all businesses will die in the next 10 years… if they don’t figure out how to change their entire company to accommodate new technologies.”.

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With the right guidance and people on side though, business can thrive while doing its part to save the planet. Business can set the stage and lead the way for the future, being the example of how success, the planet, and people can coexist in harmony with one another. It may seem like a huge task, but lots of businesses, making steps in the right direction today makes all the difference to the world of tomorrow.

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Back in 2013, as archaeologists were digging up Richard III from a car park in Leicester, and the words ‘twerk’ and ‘selfie’ were added to the dictionary, global media gathered as a selection of food critics sat down to sample the culinary delights of the world's first lab grown burger. Success! They liked it! But, there were two pretty major problems.

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Firstly, it had taken over 2 years to make (not really conducive to satisfying the hungry lunchtime customer) and secondly it cost around the $300,000 mark (given you’d waited 2 years for your burger this seemed a tad expensive). Rather than be disheartened, scientists saw it as the first step in paving the way to the future of how we eat. They were right … fast forward almost a decade and things are starting to look pretty interesting.

In November of 2022 history was made by a company called Upside Foods; they became the first company in the world to receive a green light from the FDA in America for their cultivated chicken. While there are still some hoops to jump through before their chicken flies onto supermarket shelves (pun intended), the ‘no questions ’letter of approval from the FDA puts them firmly on the tracks to imminent retail sales. The FDA aren’t their only supporters either. Investment from the likes of Bill Gates and food giants Cargill and Tyson Foods, has propelled the company to unicorn status with them already worth over a billion dollars.

Why do we need it?

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For two main reasons. First up the world’s population is projected to exceed 9.1 billion by2050. This presents a very real issue if agriculture and food production continue as is; there simply won’t be enough to feed everybody. Second, the agricultural and food industry’s contribution to climate change is vast, coming in second behind burning fossil fuels – this needs to change if we stand any hope of meeting global targets.

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The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation estimate livestock account for around 14.5% of global greenhouse emissions, if you factor in the output from food production as a whole, that number rises to huge 25%. Land usage is even more extreme. According to Our World in Data, 106km2 of the earth’s landmass is habitable, however we’ve turned almost 50% of it over to agriculture and that figure’s growing. The University of Oxford estimate that over 80% of agricultural land is used for rearing beef cattle, but here’s the problem … this livestock only produces enough calorific value to account for 18% of the world’s calorie requirements – those figures simply aren’t sustainable as the population grows.

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Water’s a similar issue and we’re all becoming increasingly aware of its scarcity, particularly in the summer months, thanks to ever changing weather systems and climate impact. The amount of water we have on Earth is finite – we can’t make any more, so we’ve got what we’ve got and that’s it. That’s a big problem when you realise that the livestock and food production industry use 70% of the planets available freshwater. With a growing population we need that water for humanity so things to need to change, and they need to change fast.

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The outlook can feel a bit grim … but it doesn’t have to be. Technological advancements are really changing the landscape and being able to cultivate cells to become meat is a massive leap forward in ensuring we can sustainably feed the planet.

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So what exactly is lab grown meat, and what can we expect the future to look like?

‍A Solution

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By taking animal cells and providing the optimal environment for growth, scientists expect them to roughly double every 24 hours. If we skip back to chicken and Upside Foods, their research and tech allows for the cells from a single animal to grow the equivalent meat output of hundreds of thousands of farm reared chickens. Equally impressive is the speed they say they can do it in … 3 weeks from cultivation to ready to coat in your favourite spices and breadcrumbs. They can keep cultivating from the original cells too, they believe that one set of cells should be able to be grown from for years, if not decades. While our aesthetic expectations of what meat looks like might need to change, for example there’s no skin or bone, we can rest assured that it should taste exactly the same.

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There are other benefits too. As the worlds requirements have increased so has the need for larger animals less prone to illness. This in turn means they’re fed greater quantities of non-natural food often grown with pesticides and other chemicals and they’re treated with antibiotics and drugs to prevent infection and disease. These seep through the food chain so when we eat meat, we’re ingesting everything the animal has. Cultivated meat doesn’t have any of these extra needs so is arguably ‘cleaner’ and as The Academy of Nutrition and Dietics discusses it also has the potential to be enhanced, for example reducing harmful fats, lowering cholesterol and adding extra vitamins and minerals.

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While it’s not the only solution needed, the reality is that the widespread adoption of cultivated meat would have a huge impact on the problems we’ve already discussed. Upside Foods forecasts project that moving to lab grown solutions would use 77% less water and 62% less land than current conventional meat production. That’s huge. Combine that with the renewable energy used at manufacturing plants which would see a sizeable reduction in CO2 emissions, and you’ve a recipe for something with the potential to be revolutionary.

The Future

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It’s all well and good tackling where our beef comes from but let’s be honest … it’s not a proper burger without the cheese. So, what about other animal derived products? Well, solutions are all in the pipeline.

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Perfect Day are a US based company already selling its products in over 5000 American stores. They make everything from ice cream to cream cheese by taking animal protein blueprints and programming a genetically modified fungus to recreate them. It’s a new way of using a technology that already exists … it’s the method that was developed to manufacture insulin.

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Every Company are using precision fermentation from DNA sequencing to manufacture animal proteins and have successfully pioneered the first cultivated egg white. They’ve also created a soluble, tasteless protein which can be added to other products with no impact on the taste or texture.

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For those among us with a more eclectic palate and desire to sample the unusual, meet the UK based company Primeval Foods, launched this year. They believe that the reason we eat the meat we do is simply because of circumstance, not preference. Domesticating and rearing a pig would have been easier for our ancestors than doing the same thing with a lot of other animals. Subsequently they’re working away on cultivating a whole host of lab grown meat, with a focus on establishing which is the tastiest and most nutritious. If you fancy sampling some of their offerings, they’re planning imminent tasting sessions in New York and London.

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While a lot of the big players in the lab grown industry call the US home, there are more and more popping up in the UK. In addition to Primeval Foods, there are some great examples such as Ivy Farm based out of Oxford University. They’re aiming to have cultivated sausages in supermarkets in 2023 with plans to produce 12,000tonnes of lab grown pork products by 2025. Put in perspective, this would save an incredible 170,000 pigs from slaughter. That’s impressive. Check out Newcastle University spin off, CellulaREvolution, too. In case the name doesn’t give it away, they’re looking to revolutionise how lab grown cells are grown, aiming to generate higher yield at much lower cost.

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And to finish, we can’t forget our environmentally conscious pets. Agronomics who are a London based leader in cellular agriculture have partnered with Roslin Technologies (famous for Dolly the sheep…) to begin exploring cultivated dog food. 20% of the world’s livestock is currently used for pet food production, Good Dog Food aim not only to remove the need for reared meat in the process but to do so in a way that is clean, ethical and sustainable. We’re pretty certain the YOPLA dogs would give three woofs to that.

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While we can’t grow meat for you, we’re very inspired by how technology is shaping the future and what that can do for all businesses, big and small. Ten years ago a lab grown burger cost $300,000 dollars and took 2 years to make, yet here we are a decade later talking about it becoming a real alternative to reared meat. The right investments in technology and infrastructure can make phenomenal differences toa company. If you’d like to have a chat about how YOPLA can help your business build the perfect software solution … or even just debate what toppings you'd like on your lab grown burger, get in touch today – we’d love to hear from you!

Sustainable Operations

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Small Steps, Big Difference: The Easy Tech Changes You Can Make to Be Greener.

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