Digitalisation reduces emissions

In 2019, the Czech Republic reached all of its 2020-2029 emission targets. However, we are far from meeting the 2030 targets. Digitalisation can help, as it reduces emissions.

Prague, Czech Republic, 13 October 2021 – According to September DESA statistics, the Czech Republic met the emission targets in the categories of ammonia (NH3), non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOC), nitrous oxide (NOx), fine dust particles with an aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to 2.5 micrometres (PM25) and sulphur dioxide (SO2).

Some emissions need to be reduced by 50 %

By 2030, the Czech Republic will have to reduce emissions of:

• ammonia by 10 %,
• non-methane volatile organic compounds by 30 %-50 %,
• nitrous oxides by 30 %-50 %,
• fine dust particles with an aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to 2.5 micrometres by more than 50 %,
• and sulphur dioxide by 10 %-30 %. 

“Businesses also contribute to air pollution. Kiwi already has offices in 9 countries. By being fully digital, we have been able to significantly reduce the amount of emissions our company produces,” says Oliver Dlouhý, founder of Kiwi.com, on reducing emissions, adding: “Digitalisation has two levels for us. For us, the internal one means that we are able to manage all company processes remotely, online, without having to meet, and therefore without having to travel or fly between branches. The second level is the digitalisation of ticketing and our algorithms. We are working with carriers to maximise capacity utilisation so that planes do not fly unnecessarily empty and we are looking for ground alternatives.”

36 billion CZK to support digitalisation

Experts agreed that in order to meet these emission targets, it is important to convince not only companies but also the government to dive fully into digitising processes. “We believe the National Recovery Plan will also facilitate our efforts to achieve our goals. The National Recovery Plan provides for a sum of 180 billion CZK for the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. In addition, 20% of the funding is allocated to support digitalisation (36 billion CZK).” points out Jaromír Hanzal, CEO of Association for Applied Research in IT.

Jiří Ferenc, owner of the industrial company Fermat, adds: “To meet the emission targets, we need to proceed systematically and combine several factors. Digitisation is of course in order, but it is equally important to ensure that clean energy is available in sufficient supply. We are involved in a global and very promising project called Tokamak Compass, which, in simple terms, is designed to produce energy in the same way as the sun, i.e. by thermonuclear fusion. This would mean a safe and virtually unlimited source of energy for humanity.” 

How digitalisation can help to reduce emissions: 

• Reducing paper correspondence
• Reducing excessive mobility by digitising offices 
• Streamlining production processes and production itself
• Making the use of electricity more efficient

Another element for reducing emissions is also reducing excessive mobility. The digitisation of public administrations should help to achieve this. “The aim is that people should not have to go around various offices with printed forms and documents. What’s more important is to connect the different offices. Such forms of digitalisation will contribute to the comfort of the citizen and will also ensure that all necessary matters can be handled from home,” adds Jiří Horyna from eMan.