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Environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) is a reporting framework which companies are increasingly adopting to ensure they are acting ethically and sustainably. It is an unavoidable trend for large corporations all the way to SMEs. In Macau, the government has yet to formulate a concrete policy on corporate compliance, but because it is such an important global trend, many companies, including the top 6 gaming operators, have already committed to following HKEX ESG reporting guidelines. Though the social and corporate governance side of ESG can be difficult to measure, it is much easier to measure the KPIs of the environmental side. Much of the environment side concerns sustainability in energy usage, waste reduction and reducing the overall carbon footprint to meet climate change targets set out by the Paris Agreement to hit carbon zero by 2050. Thankfully, by leveraging advances in technology this goal is more achievable than ever. In this blog, we will look at ways to reduce your carbon footprint and meet ESG targets using technology.

Four main focuses to meet environmental ESG targets

To help meet environmental ESG targets, organisations should focus on the reducing and managing the following aspects:

1. GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions

2. Waste

3. Water usage

4. Energy usage

Technology to help reduce and manage GHG emissions, waste, water and energy usage

There are a number of technologies now available which can help reduce and manage a company’s carbon footprint to meet ESG targets. Lighting, heating and air conditioning usage, for instance, can be better controlled by using technologies such as smart lighting, where IoT sensors automatically turn lighting on and off when needed.

With regard to waste management, there is a limit to how much it can be reduced, however there are smart bins available which make recycling more effective and provide clear measurement of the disposal weights for reporting or even charging.

The smart waste bin in action below, for instance, was developed by Guardforce Macau. It uses IoT sensors to activate a compressor to increase the capacity of the bin by up to 5 times and helps to reduce GHG emissions on the road by only notifying the collector when it is full and ready to be emptied. All the inbuilt technology is powered by a solar panel so it can run sustainably itself.

Another great waste management device also developed by Guardforce Macau is their auto-sorting recycling bin. This smart bin uses AI and image processing technology to identify objects being deposited and drops them into the correct recycling section automatically. The current accuracy of a standard 4 colour recycling bin is around 20-30%, however with the auto-sorting recycling bin this can be over 93%. See it in action here:

Learn more about Guardforce Macau’s smart bin solutions

Using smart bins to help with waste management is an effective way to improve recycling rates, and make collections more efficient. These can significantly help companies meet ESG targets concerning waste reduction. To learn more about Guardforce Macau’s smart bin solutions, click here.