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Software developer and supplier Autodesk views sustainability as an opportunity to build a better firm – and built environment
As a developer and supplier of software for design of everything from buildings to facto- ries, cars to manufacturing plant, Autodesk is integrating green design principles across its product range, for example developing mod- ules within architecture software that allows the energy use of a building to be modelled before it is built.
Demand from customers for functionality that allows them to incorporate sustainability goals such as improved energy efficiency into product and building design is driving soft- ware development, with Autodesk making use of its own products both to demonstrate the results that can be achieved and improve the performance of its own operations. Sustainable business programme manager, Ben Thompson, says: “Sustainability rep- resents a unique opportunity for Autodesk considering the industries we operate
into account a company’s relative financial performance. Potential investments in sus- tainability are considered in terms of both sustainability outcomes and financial cost. Thompson says: “Before we can even implement a project we need to do a return on investment (ROI) calculation, which is typically pretty straightforward. But one thing we’re realising is as we’ve been doing this for a while a lot of the low hanging fruit isn’t there any more. “We’re developing a methodology right now that looks first at the financial payback and at what we’re calling environmental ROI – the GHGs that will be saved, the effects to brand and other areas that are typically very hard to quantify.
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creating software for architects, engineers and designers to use in creating the built environment. So from the car you’re driving to the bridge you’re driving it across, to the building you’re driving your car to, are all designed using our software. So the impact our products can have is quite substantial.” Autodesk’s clients are under pressure to make their designs more energy efficient and reduce environmental impacts from both their own clients and regulation, and Autodesk’s shareholders and investors are looking for improved performance from the company itself, which makes incorporating sustainability principles into the company’s software products doubly important. Thompson says: “We make sustainability
part of the products we sell – and part of our company as well, so we can demonstrate to our customers not only how they can use our software to meet their sustainability goals, but also that we are leading by example and walking the walk.”
When looking to the company’s carbon footprint, Autodesk considers five primary areas – energy use in its facilities, employee air travel, the energy consumed by its IT infrastructure, the large events it puts on,
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which means air travel for customers, and the firm’s supply chain. Thompson says: “These five priority areas are where we focus on car- bon reduction and sustainability initiatives, looking at how we can reduce energy use in our buildings, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across our supply chain. “We often use our own software when we’re fitting out a new office. We have what we call a living laboratory where we use our own products – sometimes new functionality that hasn’t yet come to market – and apply these tools to our operations to demonstrate how our software can be used to improve the energy efficiency of a building.” Autodesk’s sustainability initiatives are
informed by one overarching goal – its GHG reduction target, which is based on Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change guidelines aimed at stabilising global tem- perature change by 2050, but also takes
SNAPSHOT: AUTODESK
Sectors: 3D design, engineering and entertainment software serving custom- ers across the manufacturing, architec- ture, building, construction, and media and entertainment industries Turnover: Undisclosed Areas of focus: Sustainable design Amount invested: Undisclosed Sustainability report:
autodesk.com/sustainabilityreport
“We rank them and at the end we have a scorecard that helps us determine which ini- tiatives make sense to invest in, even though just looking at financial ROI they might have long, long payback.” With the importance of offering sustaina- bility-related modules in its software a key selling point, Autodesk is particularly con- scious of the reputation and brand-related impacts of its sustainability initiatives. Thompson says: “What we do is engage with first off our marketing and PR team, then I come in on sustainability and deter- mine how much energy we’re going to save, how that’s going to affect the ROI and our GHG target – often that’s enough to say yes we need to invest in this.
“We try to work out from a brand per- spective qualitatively how a project will rank against other types of initiatives. And of course we look at cost savings. Avoiding putting people on aeroplanes saves a lot of money as well as carbon dioxide.” Thompson has no doubt that acting on sustainability is of benefit to Autodesk from a number of perspectives.
“One thing Autodesk does now is embed sustainability into our tools – for example, in our flagship architecture product, we now have where you can take a design for a build- ing and run an analysis to understand how much energy it’s going to use and what you can do to reduce it to the point it becomes zero carbon. Sustainability has become core to Autodesk. And it has proven to be very good for business as well.”
www.autodesk.com
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