It's exponential: Our sustainability potential

This article is an extract from our latest u‑blox magazine on eHealth. Download your own copy of the magazine today!

Those of us working in IoT can most likely agree that there is no lack of imagination and potential across our industry. Innovation abounds when we think of what humans can accomplish with a challenge, a network, a microchip, a SiP, a satellite, an antenna, and a battery.

Along with the obvious potential energy savings and emission reductions IoT can bring, our industry is transforming human behavior and positively impacting societies; socially, environmentally, and in terms of economic development.

“We take our role as a contributor to the innovative global IoT community seriously as we all work together to further sustainability. As well, it is our responsibility to produce our products sustainably.”

u-blox customers around the world are using IoT to innovate environmental management, precision agriculture, education, social care, transportation, energy management, and building automation, among many other aspects of our daily lives. These innovations often create low-carbon business models or have the knock-on effect of carbon emission reduction due to efficiencies and other contributing factors. They also often overcome barriers to information, knowledge, or much needed human interaction, making a significant positive social impact.

One of the fastest-growing areas of IoT innovation is in the healthcare sector. With healthcare systems worldwide under more pressure than ever before, IoT is rapidly reshaping how patient care is delivered. Innovative connected care solutions are extending healthcare to the patient beyond the physician’s office or hospital setting, providing patient-centric care, and reducing the load on our stretched healthcare systems. Chronic care management, remote monitoring, and medication management, including AI for proactive healthcare strategies, are some of the areas leveraging IoT.

“For us, sustainability has always been about maximizing the positive effect that we as a business can have.”

As a UN Global Compact signatory, in 2020, we renewed our Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Materiality Analysis to identify and prioritize the areas where u-blox can make a significant economic, environmental and social impact - areas that are important to, and highly influence, the decision-making of u-blox and our stakeholders. Coupled with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the results are shaping how we want to organize ourselves, take action, report, and communicate on sustainability in the foreseeable future.

We have identified several topics, which we have grouped into five areas and aligned with the SDGs to form the basis of our sustainability strategy:

• Business ethics, privacy, and security
• Employees
• Environmental responsibility
• Supply chain responsibility
• Communities

Our specific sustainability goals, projects, and commitments are all designed to contribute towards one or more of the SDGs.

Sustainability is becoming an inherent part of our company culture with every decision we make – at all levels of the business. Our first Sustainability Report is now available. It documents our performance and achievements related to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors. We will be publishing it yearly to increase transparency and address areas for improvement.