Climate change: Telenor Research releases its top 5 ‘Tech Trends’

ISLAMABAD: Telenor Research released its top 5 Tech Trends for the year 2022, which focus on how technology and digitalisation will come to aid climate change and environmental degradation.

To share these Tech Trends, an event was held at Telenor Pakistan Headquarter 345 where Bjorn Taale Sandberg, Head of Telenor Research and Kristian Hall, Vice President Climate and Environment took a deep dive into the trends that will evolve through the year globally and in Pakistan.

The event was attended by Zartaj Gul, Minister of State for Climate Change, ecosystem players, members of the media and Telenor Pakistan management.

In the seventh edition of Telenor’s Tech Trends report, Bjorn Taale Sandberg and his team of researchers have forecasted how technological progress in 2022 can enable green transformation. Speaking virtually at the event, Bjorn Taale Sandberg, Head of Telenor Research, said “People everywhere are waking up to the need to act on climate change and environmental degradation. For us in Telenor, it is key to understand how technology can both avoid being part of the problem and help in the transition.”

Telenor Research predicts that the immense growth in data usage is driving the demand for energy and this year, energy efficient Edge data centres reachable from mobile devices over 5G networks will start popping up globally. With an increasing number of electronic devices and solutions enabling humans to lead more convenient lives, the global need for greater energy efficiency will trigger an optimisation battle between consumer electronics manufacturers.

This year will also see an increasing awareness amongst social media influencers to be more climate-conscious; hence, followers will flock towards Greenfluencers. Employees are predicted to become more eager to contribute towards the environment on an individual scale and this interest will be reflected in opting for micro-degrees on online learning platforms. With the changes in the work environment since the onset of the pandemic, organisations that fail to take into account the evolving needs to the future workforce may risk facing higher employee turnover.

Speaking at the event, Zartaj Gul said, “Pakistan ranks in the top ten most vulnerable countries prone to high climate risk. There is a lot being done and that can further be done to reverse the impact of climate change. I am happy to see that the technological trends presented today point towards a much welcome direction to reduce the impact of environmental impact and appreciate the efforts by Telenor Pakistan to reduce the carbon footprint while enabling green technology as an energy alternate. Our vision of Digital Pakistan is only complete through green and sustainable initiatives and we are determined to control the impacts of climate change.”

Commenting at the event, Irfan Wahab Khan, CEO Telenor Pakistan said, “As the world of technology evolves at the speed of light, there is an increased awareness amongst individuals to demand green solutions and for companies worldwide to become more environment-friendly. We at Telenor Pakistan are making headway towards adopting sustainable energy solutions through initiatives like Thunderbolt which uses solar energy to power telecom towers. We are also providing our employees with avenues for green learning while evolving our way of work to be more aligned with the needs and demands of the workforce of future. Telenor Research has laid out the major trends that will be prevalent globally and it provides a good benchmark for local organisations to establish sustainable practices.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022