The whitepaper “Digital Sustainability: The Path to Net Zero for Design & Manufacturing and Architectural Engineering & Construction Industries” explores the growing importance of sustainability goals for companies in AEC and MFG markets across Europe. Frost & Sullivan in partnership with Autodesk published this whitepaper with results of a quantitative survey of 600 organizations and summaries of in-depth qualitative interviews.

The whitepaper points out how important it is to consider the carbon footprint already “baked in” during the development and design phase of products to facilitate a successful carbon reduction and a circular economy once it is actually produced. In several examples it describes how system thinking, connecting the dots, and looking at products and processes holistically will help reach new levels of sustainability. It addresses Product Lifecycle Management approaches like the usage of BIM or the realization of digital twins to support transparency across the supply chain. Other examples are focused on the usage of new technologies like robotics and 3D to achieve sustainability goals.

The survey results document that the importance of sustainability goals has increased at the C-level and that they are becoming more relevant company strategies Several reasons for this development are discussed as well as the regional nuances in different geo markets. The survey emphasizes the shift of focus from Scope 1 and 2 emission reporting to the reduction on Scope 3 emission that includes the supply chain challenge. The lack of trustworthy data, IT systems to collect and manage them, and the tracing transparency like Product Passports or track-and-trace solutions are only few of the analyzed issues.

Read more by downloading the paper from Autodesk HERE.