Industrial enterprises stand at the forefront of the global decarbonization challenge. The sector's environmental footprint is significant, accounting for 25 percent of global CO2 emissions and 37 percent of energy use¹. Stakeholders demand action and progress, regulators are tightening requirements, and organizations are under pressure to develop net zero roadmaps and reduce their energy cost burden. Rightly so.

Against this backdrop, digitalization offers a path to both sustainability and enhanced operational and commercial performance. Industry 4.0 technologies are proving to be powerful allies in this transformation. By adopting advanced digital solutions, industries can significantly improve operational efficiency while reducing environmental impact. We have developed a model that equips enterprises in the mining, chemical manufacturing and ports sectors with clear digitalization paths and provides robust estimates to reduce their emissions and improve worker safety. To explore this topic further and introduce our innovative Private Wireless Sustainability Calculator, we spoke with two of our leading experts:

Subho Mukherjee is Nokia's Vice President of Sustainability. With his background in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues, Subho leads Nokia's efforts to integrate sustainability into all aspects of the company's operations and solutions.

David de Lancellotti serves as Nokia's Vice President of Enterprise Campus Edge Sales. David brings a wealth of experience in helping businesses leverage cutting-edge technologies to drive operational efficiency and innovation.

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Q: What are some of the top digitalization use cases currently driving sustainability gains in industry?

David: Excellent question. There’s a wealth of Industry 4.0 use cases out there, but let’s focus on four key applications that really demonstrate the benefits of digitalization:

• Critical worker communication: Enhanced systems, including Push-to-Talk and Push-to-Video, improve communication and collaboration across industrial sites. This reduces the need for physical travel and enables quick responses to potential safety issues or machine malfunctions. In ports, for instance, reliable communication is crucial across vast areas where numerous third-party suppliers and contractors operate.

• Environmental monitoring: Real-time monitoring of air and water quality allows for prompt detection and addressing of environmental concerns. In chemical manufacturing, this capability helps maintain safe levels of potentially hazardous chemicals and supports tracking of greenhouse gases to monitor progress against sustainability goals.

• Automated and remote-controlled operations: From autonomous mining trucks to remote-controlled cranes in ports, automation significantly reduces fuel consumption while enhancing safety. In mining operations, autonomous haulage trucks and remote-controlled drills maximize operational efficiency, reducing idle time and lowering fuel consumption.

• Predictive maintenance: Using sensors and analytics to monitor real-time equipment condition helps prevent failures, reduce downtime, and extend asset lifetime. In a chemical plant, technology monitors critical equipment like pumps, pipeline systems, and chemical reactors, optimizing energy consumption and preventing potentially hazardous accidents before they occur.

These and other Industry 4.0 use cases require a robust, high-performance digital foundation to ensure seamless operation. Private wireless networks and mission-critical edge computing provide the high bandwidth and low latency needed to run these applications efficiently, unlocking their potential for more sustainable and optimized operations.

Q: How can enterprises quantify the impact of these technologies on their sustainability targets?

Subho: We understand it's a challenge for industrial enterprises to quantify their impact. Which is why we have developed the Private Wireless Sustainability Calculator. It is a first-of-its-kind tool that empowers enterprises to estimate their industrial operations' environmental and social impact when transitioning from a Wi-Fi-only setup and add private wireless networks to their operation.

Our new tool currently focuses on three key verticals - mining, ports and chemical manufacturing – and we have plans to expand to more sectors in the future.

Q: What key features does the Private Wireless Sustainability Calculator offer?

Subho: The calculator offers many benefits to industrial enterprises who want to lower their environmental and social footprint. The main benefits include:

• Estimating environmental impact: The calculator quantifies potential cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. Our research shows four in five enterprises achieve 10 percent or greater emissions savings after deploying private wireless solutions and associated use cases.² Some can cut emissions by up to a quarter. ³

• Assessing social benefits: It evaluates improvements in worker health and safety. For example, medium-sized chemical manufacturing plants deploying the four key Industry 4.0 use cases with private wireless networks can potentially achieve a 35 percent reduction in health and safety incidents.³

David: Building on Subho’s insights, there are several further business-oriented benefits that we have integrated into the calculator, which will also benefit enterprises.

• Monetizing benefits: The calculator translates environmental and social impacts into dollars and cents, allowing for easy comparison with other business metrics. For example, medium-sized chemical manufacturing plants can save $1.4 million in costs to society from combined reductions in health and safety incidents and CO2 emissions.  ³

• Benchmarking: The calculator provides enterprises that operate in a Wi-Fi-only setting with a baseline for their environmental and social impact and measures the improvements that can be achieved from deploying new technologies and use cases.

• Comprehensive use case analysis: The calculator considers the four key use cases (worker communication, environmental monitoring, automated operations, and predictive maintenance) and provides insights into their combined sustainability impact when implemented through private wireless networks and mission-critical industrial edge.

It's really important to note that both Wi-Fi and private wireless have crucial roles in industrial operations. Private wireless adds another important layer of connectivity, enabling additional use cases that weren't previously possible with Wi-Fi alone.

Q: How does the calculator support digital transformation and ESG reporting?

Subho: We know that comprehensive sustainability strategies require long-term transformation. Digitalization provides the foundation to enable this, allowing enterprises to gain comprehensive visibility and real-time insights into operations.

By collecting, centralizing and harmonizing data across the operation, enterprises can bridge data silos, create a holistic 'single pane of glass' view, and drive informed decision-making crucial for Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) compliance and long-term sustainable business growth. 

David: The Private Wireless Sustainability Calculator is an important step on the journey to long-term sustainable business growth. It articulates the monetary value of environmental and social impacts for economy and society. We believe this is particularly valuable for financially minded stakeholders, enabling comparison with traditional financial metrics.

The calculator's estimations are robust and use data from multiple sources, including previous quantifications in other projects and network models to provide a comprehensive understanding. It provides concrete, quantifiable data on the benefits of digital transformation for sustainability and operational efficiencies that can positively impact the bottom line. This makes the calculator a powerful tool to build compelling business cases for senior decision-makers, accelerating the adoption of Industry 4.0 solutions at a time when they're needed most.

Q: A lot of work has clearly gone into developing this calculator. What are your hopes for how customers will engage with it?

David: We're excited by the value, visibility and business cases the calculator can deliver. It represents a significant step forward in helping industrial enterprises quantify and improve their sustainability efforts. Whether you want to reduce your carbon footprint, improve worker safety, or optimize resource use, this tool can provide valuable insights to guide your sustainability journey.

Subho: By providing concrete, data-driven insights, it bridges the gap between sustainability goals and measurable outcomes. We’re really enthusiastic about enterprises putting the Private Wireless Sustainability Calculator through its paces, getting to know its features and finding out how the calculator can support their sustainability strategies, while bolstering operational performance.

A lightweight version of the Private Wireless Sustainability Calculator is available for self-assessment online, and enterprises interested in an in-depth analysis based on their own data can book a workshop with us. Click here to access the online calculator and book a full custom analysis.

Sources: 

1: International Energy Agency

2: GlobalData and Nokia, 2024 Industrial digitalization report

3: Nokia Private Wireless Sustainability Calculator