Decarbonisation

While emerging technologies provide the opportunities to drive decarbonisation, the environmental impact of these technologies can be substantial. For example, AI datacentres use enormous amounts of energy and create pressures on local water availability and land use.   

• 5-15% of datacentre power currently used by AI 
• 35-50% expected AI power use by 2030 

Many barriers still remain to achieving sustainable AI, including knowledge and data gaps, and cross-sector collaboration. Whilst business leaders recognise the need for deep tech innovation, they don’t yet know how to do this in a way that also cuts emissions and improves energy efficiency effectively. Existing frameworks and legislation often fall short in guiding companies on AI-related sustainability, making appropriate intervention essential. 

Moreover, there are significant barriers faced by new innovations which drive decarbonisation including implementation costs, fragmented policy, and the difficulties of scaling these solutions. While innovation is happening, it’s not always happening fast enough or in the right places. 

We recognise that as deep tech innovation often depends on energy-intensive infrastructure that can create new pressures elsewhere, we need to empower businesses to understand the emissions cost and opportunities of emerging technologies. 

That is why we are working to support businesses, both directly in the decarbonisation ecosystem, but also more broadly across our technology areas to consider the range of impacts of their interventions. With our support, businesses are better able to consider the wider risks and opportunities of innovation so that responsible innovation can flourish.  

This will ultimately empower businesses to apply more sustainable and long-lasting deep tech solutions to their operations, which may include AI that can increase efficiency while processing vast datasets at a fraction of today’s energy.  

Digital Catapult is actively supporting UK industry in their decarbonisation journey, providing pathways to optimise industrial processes, reduce waste and be future ready. We create scalable, sustainable products, platforms and tools to monitor, evaluate and action solutions to reduce carbon emissions in industry, such as the Ecometer and our Green Hydrogen Certifier. We also work with startups and large businesses to develop deep tech solutions to improve environmental performance. 

Deep tech alone will not deliver sustainable change, but when embedded in robust, cross-sector frameworks, it can provide the transparency, accountability, and adaptability businesses need. 

By continuing to convene capabilities, accelerate practical adoption, and empower businesses with the tools and understanding they need, we can ensure progress doesn’t stall. We’ve already seen a 10% waste reduction and 8% reduction in CO2 as we help organisations take the next step in their decarbonisation journey. Going forward, we aim to focus on connecting up the ecosystem to accelerate AI solutions to decarbonisation challenges and enable these to be deployed at scale. With the right interventions and partnerships, the UK is well-positioned to lead the way in building trust, resilience, and a greener industrial future.