- Urgent need to meet climate targets through smart building
technologies shared among nearly 3,500 building owners and
operators in landmark survey spanning 25 countries and 18
industries.
CORK,
Ireland, Nov. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As the
world races to meet critical climate targets, new research from
Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI), the global leader in smart, healthy
and sustainable buildings, and Forrester Consulting reveals some of
the biggest opportunities and immediate needs for business leaders
looking to advance sustainability commitments. With buildings
representing some 40% of global emissions1,
decarbonizing the built environment is one of the fastest paths to
meeting net zero targets globally, and essential for many
businesses with 2030 carbon reduction goals. The landmark survey
shows widespread acceptance that sustainability is a business
priority and a firm recognition that partners are essential to
realizing 2030 sustainability commitments.
"For leaders looking to quickly advance their net zero journey
and make a real impact on global carbon reduction, buildings are
the key enabler," said Johnson Controls Chairman and CEO
George Oliver. "This new research
shows decisionmakers around the world understand sustainable
buildings are better for the balance sheet and external partners
are invaluable in optimizing buildings and measuring environmental
impact. Solutions exist today that can remove the need for upfront
capital, digitalize a building's systems to provide actionable
data, electrify systems to accelerate the energy transition, and
create positive cash flow. These are immediate solutions we can all
adopt now as we respond to a changing climate and work to reduce
carbon emissions."
The survey of nearly 3,500 respondents representing 25 countries
and 18 industries shows that sustainability is one of their three
top business priorities. Among decisionmakers on sustainability
initiatives specifically – a subset of 1,500 respondents – two
thirds report they are fully on track to meet their carbon
reduction goals while one third realize they need to accelerate
their efforts to meet 2030 net zero goals. Respondents report that
smart buildings are important in helping their organizations
accelerate sustainability initiatives (69%) and that adding or
upgrading building automation (56%) and digital technologies to
optimize energy use (42%) are among the most impactful
sustainability investment areas.
Technologies exist that can digitalize a building's systems
multiply energy, emissions, and cost savings, and can even create
net-energy-positive solutions. Some 10% of respondents have already
fully integrated their buildings systems and equipment to realize
these benefits. Vast majorities of leaders seek partners who can
provide a digital platform across sites and use cases (74%) that is
easy to use for cross-departmental teams (67%) and is integrated
into all building systems (70%). These partnerships solve two key
problems for these leaders – 73% percent of sustainability leaders
say their organizations lack the technical expertise to optimize
building systems from insights collected while 40% lack the
internal skills to measure their environmental impact.
"We cannot decarbonize the planet without decarbonizing
buildings. This research shows that we're at a tipping point where
sustainability is a top business priority and companies are
aggressively pursuing their net zero targets but are also actively
seeking partners to help accelerate those efforts," said
Katie McGinty, vice president and
chief sustainability and external relations officer at Johnson
Controls. "Working with partners to rapidly deploy smart building
technology not only cuts waste but strengthens the bottom line.
It's also increasingly becoming a regulatory imperative, an
expectation of stakeholders, and a differentiator for attracting
talent. Smarter, more sustainable building solutions are immediate
steps leaders can implement to make a difference on climate
change."
Other key findings include:
- Sustainability is increasingly a core consideration across
business functions. When comparing findings from security,
sustainability, and building environment systems decision-makers,
all were focused on improving efficiency in operations and doing so
sustainably.
- Customer-required reporting, public reporting, and supply chain
compliance reporting have significantly increased over the past two
years since Forrester first conducted this study in 2021.
Reporting is among respondents' top challenges. Among 53%, the
ability to only measure and report on carbon emissions once a year
or quarter is limiting incremental progress.
- Roughly a third of respondents say they expect AI will have a
significant impact on improving sustainability in company-owned
spaces by providing them actionable recommendations to prevent
downtime and optimize efficiencies before losses occur.
- A third of leaders note their organization would be able to
keep their sustainability goals on track if faced with a minor
budget cut, while another two-thirds would need help maintaining
resiliency of their sustainability strategies. To account for
factors outside their control, organizations need strategic
partners and technology solution providers to identify
opportunities for short and mid-term savings like energy efficiency
solutions and water and waste reduction.
Additional insights are available in a new thought leadership
paper, The Race to Zero Carbon Requires Smart Buildings. The
study is the first in a new series of studies capturing key
findings from the survey, planned for release in the coming months
at https://www.johnsoncontrols.com/smart-buildings/forrester-2023.
Johnson Controls has developed a three-step process to transform
buildings into strategic assets – design, digitalize, deploy. The
journey starts when we design and roadmap solutions that
achieve efficiency, sustainability, decarbonization, resiliency and
energy transition in accordance with our customer's goals. Next, we
digitalize to make buildings smarter through solutions like
our OpenBlue Net Zero Advisor, connecting infrastructure,
distributed generation and the grid so we can access data that is
critical to making informed decisions to solve for cost and carbon.
We then deploy our solutions through a one-source, turnkey
delivery model that leverages best-in-class efficiency,
electrification, and renewables solutions. Operations, service and
maintenance underpin our "as-a-service" offerings to maintain peak
operating conditions, protect customer's investment and achieve the
lowest lifecycle costs.
The cornerstone of this smart building strategy is Johnson
Controls OpenBlue, an industry-leading ecosystem of connected
technologies, expertise and services. OpenBlue reads the live
activity of a building and continuously adapts to optimize
performance. Combining data from across the building's systems and
using advanced digital tools like AI, we can provide insights that
save more energy and emissions than possible with isolated
systems.
To learn more about how Johnson Controls OpenBlue is
transforming smart buildings, please visit:
http://www.johnsoncontrols.com/OpenBlue.
Methodology
In August
2023, Johnson Controls commissioned Forrester
Consulting to evaluate the state of smart buildings.
Forrester conducted an online survey with 3,445 respondents
responsible for smart building strategy to explore this topic. All
respondents were asked high-level smart building strategy questions
and then more granular questions depending on their level of
responsibility for sustainability, security, and/or building
environmental systems. Respondents represented organizations in 18
industries and 25 countries. The study was conducted in a
double-blind fashion.
About Johnson Controls:
At Johnson Controls
(NYSE:JCI), we transform the environments where people
live, work, learn and play. As the global leader in smart, healthy
and sustainable buildings, our mission is to reimagine
the performance of buildings to serve people, places and the
planet.
Building on a proud history of nearly 140 years of innovation,
we deliver the blueprint of the future for industries such as
healthcare, schools, data centers, airports, stadiums,
manufacturing and beyond through OpenBlue, our comprehensive
digital offering.
Today, with a global team of 100,000 experts in more than 150
countries, Johnson Controls offers the world`s largest portfolio of
building technology and software as well as service solutions from
some of the most trusted names in the industry. Visit
www.johnsoncontrols.com for more information and follow @Johnson
Controls on social platforms.
Media Contact:
Trent Perrotto, vice president,
External Communications
Phone: 414-524-8687
Email: media@jci.com
1 Source:
"The Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment," World Green Building
Council
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SOURCE Johnson Controls International plc