A new report from Alibaba Cloud, the cloud unit of Alibaba Group, shows the Philippines’ strong interest in using digital technologies for sustainability, with 91% of businesses in the country “intrigued” by artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing to support environmental goals.
The “Tech-Driven Sustainability Trends and Index 2024” survey, conducted by Yonder Consulting with support from The Purpose Business, gathered insights from 1,300 decision-makers across 13 markets in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. The findings indicate that while many companies see the potential of AI and cloud computing in driving sustainable practices, concerns about energy consumption remain a challenge.
Across Asia, businesses expressed high interest in using technology for sustainability, with Singapore at 84%, Indonesia and Thailand both at 81%, and emerging Asian markets leading overall at 83%. However, 61% of respondents worry about the high energy consumption of these technologies, with concerns particularly strong in Singapore (85%), the Philippines (77%), and Hong Kong SAR (75%).
Despite this enthusiasm, a knowledge gap remains. The report found that 59% of businesses are unsure how to use digital technologies to meet their sustainability goals, with the challenge most pronounced in Asia (63%). Also, 62% of executives feel their companies are not adopting AI and cloud computing quickly enough to improve sustainability efforts, with Singapore (80%), the Philippines (77%), and Japan and Hong Kong SAR (both at 75%) expressing the most concern.
Clean energy
Alibaba Cloud emphasized the role of responsible technology use in addressing these challenges.
“By pledging to use 100% clean energy by 2030 and improving the energy efficiency at our global data centers, as well as optimizing Generative AI capabilities such as large language models (LLMs) performance, AI can be a powerful tool to improve efficiency and optimize energy consumption,” said Selina Yuan, president of international business, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence.
The report also noted that businesses are becoming more selective in choosing technology providers, with many prioritizing renewable energy use (51%), energy-efficient data centers (46%), and carbon footprint reduction initiatives (42%).
Alibaba Cloud reported progress in its sustainability efforts, improving the power usage effectiveness (PUE) of its self-built data centers to 1.200 from 1.215 the previous year. Additionally, 56% of the electricity used by these centers came from clean sources, contributing to a reduction of 9.884 million tons of carbon emissions, an increase of 44% year-on-year.