IT Sustainability Think Tank: Distinguishing the green washers from the green winners

A cross-sector decarbonisation framework 

With global energy demand projected to rival Japan’s total consumption by 2030, power is part of a bigger story. Datacentres drive water consumption, land competition, electronic waste, and noise pollution. Without a standard framework, innovators often struggle to identify what a solution might look like, driving some to fall victim to unreliable partners, as they commence their journey towards net-zero.  

The UK policy to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 has accelerated innovation in the commercial space, prompting technology providers to explore new solutions at an unprecedented speed.

The risk here, however, is that many businesses misunderstand carbon accounting or the environmental impact of their operations, prompting some to look for a quick-fix or a partnership with a company guilty of greenwashing.  

In the UK, large companies must disclose Scope 1 and 2, but Scope 3 reporting is largely voluntary. This loophole matters. Much of the tech sector’s footprint lies in Scope 3, which come from outsourced datacentres, cloud services, and supply chains.

For companies reliant on global datacentres and sprawling supply chains, this creates a convenient blind spot, and risks companies falling short of their decarbonisation targets and stalling the environmental progress of entire sectors and markets. 

As such, an intervention is key to mitigate greenwashing in supply chains, and bolster supply chain resilience, which can be achieved when deep tech innovation is practically applied to industry, like we’ve achieved with some of our interventions.   

Using deep tech to solve its own sustainability challenges 

At Digital Catapult we recognise that while deep tech innovation often depends on energy-intensive infrastructure that can create new pressures elsewhere, we need a framework grounded in systems thinking.

This should be adaptive, holistic, and connected, and is why we are working on a framework that is flexible to change, can account for a range of impacts, and will recognise unintended consequences. This will ultimately empower businesses to apply better deep tech solutions to their operations, equipping them with the tools necessary to be future-ready. 

The resulting offerings may include artificial intelligence (AI) that can optimise industrial processes, reduce waste, and increase efficiency or quantum computing, which may one day process vast datasets at a fraction of today’s energy. Meanwhile, the Internet of Things is already making supply chains more transparent and energy efficient.

At Digital Catapult, we enable deep tech startups to scale successfully, and we have first-hand knowledge of how deep tech innovation could be used to drive industrial decarbonisation and mitigate greenwashing, particularly when it’s used within a valid framework.   

Meeting the demand for decarbonisation  

Digital Catapult’s AI innovation programme, which considers how AI can be used for decarbonisation, is developing a framework that could be used across industries and will solve some of the challenges that come with carbon accounting and deep tech’s environmental impact.

It will also enable businesses across sectors to identify where deep tech innovation like AI can deliver the greatest decarbonisation benefits, understand potential trade-offs, and make more informed decisions about deep tech adoption that mitigates the risk of green washing.  

Similarly, our supply chain work focuses on strengthening industrial resilience in the UK while creating greater transparency around Scope 3 emissions, which remain a critical blind spot in carbon accounting.

Through the Logistics Living Lab, we are applying deep tech innovations such as AI and distributed ledger technology to reduce inefficiencies like empty lorry journeys.

By cutting unnecessary miles on the road, this approach not only lowers emissions across logistics and haulage but also demonstrates how targeted deep tech solutions, when embedded within a wider framework, can deliver measurable decarbonisation while reducing the risks of greenwashing, as well as making supply chains more resilient.   

If the UK is to reach its net-zero targets, it must look beyond surface-level commitments and tackle the structural challenges that allow greenwashing to persist.

Deep tech alone will not deliver sustainable change, but when embedded in robust, cross-sector frameworks it can provide the transparency, accountability, and adaptability businesses need.  

By applying systems thinking, addressing Scope 3 blind spots, and deploying innovation responsibly, we can ensure deep tech becomes a force for genuine decarbonisation, and that industrial supply chain resilience can be achieved across industries. 

The winners will be those who embrace this approach, building trust, resilience, and a greener industrial future.