By Mike Mustapha, Division President of ABB Smart Buildings
As the world’s leaders prepare to gather for COP29 in the Azerbaijan capital, Baku, this week, it is a timely reminder to us all of the power of collaboration and working together to achieve our goals.
It should also remind us that there is no silver bullet to the threat of climate change. It is a global issue that is bigger than any single person or institution. The path to net zero is not, and has never been, a one-brand race – partnerships and collaboration will be the themes of our future success.
Fittingly, the theme of this year’s UN conference is ‘In Solidarity for a Green World’ – a message that has deep roots in many sectors and industries. We are seeing more encouraging signs that the sustainable transition is accelerating. In a recent McKinsey report, ‘Electrification and Renewables’ and ‘Climate technologies’ were cited as two of the top 15 technology trends1, with electrification and renewables posting the highest investment and interest scores among all the trends evaluated.
More than 40 percent of respondents reported that they are already piloting, scaling or have fully scaled their electrification and renewable energy technologies2. These figures are a cause for optimism.
However, we still have a long way to go to reduce global emissions by 45 percent by 2030 and reach Net Zero by 2050 (UNEP). In fact, total investment in physical assets for energy and land-use systems is still well below the $9.2 trillion annually that is needed to hit our 2050 targets3. Clearly, there is a need to invest today to save tomorrow, and the only way we will get there is by working together.
Enhancing ambition to enable action
At ABB, we talk a lot about being ‘ambitious but realistic’ with our approach to the energy transition. This means always pushing the boundaries to do better by developing new and innovative technologies to meet the needs of our customers, while at the same time making meaningful progress with the technologies that exist today.
COP29 in Azerbaijan is structured around two key pillars – ‘enhancing ambition’ and ‘enabling action’ – a blueprint that resonates closely with me, and one that I believe can be played out across many industries and sectors; particularly in the built environment, which accounts for roughly 40 percent of global combustion-related emissions, 28 percent of which comes from building operations4.
The Institute of Economic Affairs estimates that direct building emissions (such as those from on-site gas or oil boilers) will need to be reduced by 50 percent and indirect emissions by 60 percent – for example, through energy efficiency measures and grid decarbonization – by the end of this decade5.
These are sobering statistics, and the world’s buildings are currently not on track to achieve these ambitious goals. Our priority, then, as an industry, must be to enhance ambition and enable action.
The power of together
In my opening to this blog, I stated that the journey to net zero is not a one-brand race. When it comes to the smart buildings industry, this means working with our partners to achieve ambitious technology and sustainability goals, inspiring us all to do better and making real progress possible.
In June of this year, ABB and software solutions provider Cleanwatts entered into a partnership to accelerate intelligent energy management in communities and buildings. Using an energy-sharing platform driven by AI and integrated with ABB’s energy management technology, the two partners aim to empower local consumers to generate and manage their own energy.
In Samsung’s UK’s Smart Home Buyers Index, 71 percent of respondents stated that energy efficiency is a key factor when considering a smart home, while a quarter of potential movers cited smart tech as a ‘must-have’6. Responding to demand for integrated, easy-to-use and flexible solutions, ABB and Samsung Electronics have joined forces to make smart building devices available on a single user interface.
This joint solution will be deployed in the homes of the energy-smart community in Brobyholm in Sweden, where many companies are combining their technologies, including ABB, Samsung, Cleanwatts, SMA and other partners. Future residents will enjoy an enhanced level of comfort, programmed to suit their lifestyle, with a focus on energy efficiency and reducing energy consumption, thanks to the combined power of the smart technologies installed.
These projects are what I mean by ‘enabling action’; in other words, breaking boundaries and making adopting sustainable technologies and electrifying processes easy, plus celebrating the hard work we, as an industry, have done to listen, evolve and develop products and solutions fit for a global market.
Invest today to save tomorrow
We have talked about how collaboration between innovators is critical to give us the technological means to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but of equal importance are the partnerships we develop with our customers. We must ‘walk the walk’ when it comes to reducing our own carbon footprint, leading by example and helping to change mindsets – from heavy industry to high-end hospitality.
At REMI Residences, an apartment complex on Australia’s Gold Coast, ABB is helping the owners future-proof their business with smart solutions that blend luxury with energy-efficient, sustainable living. Here, WE Wumbo’s ‘digital concierge’ platform is integrated with ABB-free@home®, allowing guests to control everything from lights, heating, and air conditioning to electric vehicle charging.
In Bromley, south-east London residents in a new housing development will experience sustainable living at the touch of a button. Thanks to ABB, Samsung and London Land Group, the 122 apartment inhabitants will enjoy a heightened living experience via features such as geofencing, allowing lights, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) to adjust automatically based on their proximity.
The technology we need to achieve the world’s climate goals exists. As the world’s attention turns to Azerbaijan and COP29, it is now about helping our customers develop a strategy and roadmap to their own low-carbon future, and ensuring we do all we can to build a safer, more sustainable world.
[1] McKinsey technology trends outlook 2024 | McKinsey
[2] McKinsey technology trends outlook 2024 | McKinsey
[3] Infrastructure for a net-zero economy: Transformation ahead | McKinsey
[4] Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction | UNEP - UN Environment Programme
[5] UNEP 2020 Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction | GlobalABC
[6] https://stg-images.samsung.com/is/content/samsung/assets/uk/business/appliance-solutions/construction/Samsung_SmartHomeBuyersIndex.pdf?trk=article-ssr-frontend-pulse_little-text-block
About the author
Mike is the Division President of ABB Smart Buildings and was appointed in February 2022. In this position he has full accountability for the performance of the global Smart Buildings business in ABB, which includes a broad portfolio of market leading home and building automation solutions as well as the portfolio for energy distribution systems and products. After starting his career in the U.S. in 1990 as an Application Engineer with Rotoflow Corp. Inc., a leading supplier of high-speed rotary and cryogenic machinery for process industries, Mike built global leadership experience with Altas CopCo, a multinational industrial company, where he held various leadership positions. In January 2009, Mike founded the new Pre-Engineered Buildings and Hot Rolled Structured Steel Group, headquartered in Jeddah, KSA with its own independent Board. Mike assumed overall accountability for the company, overseeing the Middle East. Mike joined ABB in August 2011 as Low Voltage Division Regional Manager for India, Middle East & Africa. In June 2014, he was promoted to Global Managing Director for the Building Products Business Unit prior to his 2018 appointment as Head of Global Markets for the Electrification business. Mike currently resides in Dubai and holds a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Southern California (USC), U.S.
