Corporations don't prioritize environmental, social and governance (ESG) programs or investments based solely on a genuine desire to limit their impact on the environment, according to Intel executives.

Investments in network technologies that address climate change used to be considered optional, or only in addition to existing core investment areas. But sustainable investments have recently become essential to those core investments, Intel VP and GM of Network and Edge Compute Jeni Panhorst told SDxCentral.

That shift was driven in part by the uncertainty of today's economic environment, where technology providers and enterprise end users need to "improve their bottom line" in the face of rising energy prices and power consumption. "It's not purely [or] just an altruistic objective. It is absolutely a commercial objective," Panhorst noted.

The tightening of IT budgets and ESG's commercialization, however, don't seem to have diluted the topic's relevance. In nearly every partner and customer conversation at Mobile World Congress Barcelona earlier this year, Panhorst noted sustainability was top of mind.

"They see this as essential not just because it's a good idea for the planet, but it's essential for their business and their bottom line," she said. "As they focus on improving their overall operations to drive down energy consumption and really drive down that very expensive power bill, they're looking to companies like Intel to deliver the technology solutions that help them do that."

Economic uncertainty has also led to an extra push toward automation, which is integral to addressing climate issues. "The push for more technology is helping create solutions that can actually drive more sustainable outcomes," Intel  corporate VP and GM of Network and Edge Pallavi Mahajan told SDxCentral.

"Purely from an edge side of things, we are seeing more and more thrust toward automation. And the expected growth of what was supposed to be in edge in the last two years is double the size of what was actually expected," Mahajan pointed out. But when automated technology is brought into the equation, it "bring[s] in so much of sustainability," she said.

While the mention of ESG typically surfaces issues like power efficiency and carbon emissions, sustainability touches a host of other applications. Sustainability-focused automation is particularly useful in issues like crop disease monitoring and food waste.

For example, an artificial intelligence (AI) toolkit developed by Intel was used to build a solution that detects diseases in corn and potato plants with 90% accuracy, according to Mahajan. This automated technology helps reduce the need for harmful chemical use and can increase crop yields.

While these issues aren't "directly related to power efficiency or carbon footprint, if you look into it, these are small things that add to sustainability," she noted.

In terms of its own operations and impact on the environment, Intel committed last year to reach net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2040, which is "pretty aggressive for a semiconductor manufacturer," Panhorst said.

According to the executive, a majority of the green chemistry and associated technological innovations needed for Intel to fulfill its net-zero commitment don't actually exist yet. Therefore, Intel essentially committed to "lead the industry in creation of these technologies and new green chemistry ... to achieve that outcome," she explained.

A significant piece of that leadership focuses on renewable energy use. Intel last December reported it used 90% renewable energy to power its global operations – a "significant improvement" compared to the company's claim of 80% renewable energy in April of 2022.

"And this is true renewable energy usage," Panhorst said. That means 90% of the energy Intel uses is from clean energy sources directly tied to its global locations – soon including its new fabrication sites in Ohio, Ireland and Germany – or from the purchase of renewable energy.

"This is not through carbon credits. This is actually through direct usage of renewable energy," she said. "Part of it is is really walking the talk and ensuring that we serve as a role model for the industry in order to achieve the outcomes that we know are necessary to reach our global goals."

Panhorst also highlighted the chipmaker's leadership within industry standards groups that address climate change. She said Intel "is focused on the formation of and participation in new consortia," like the Semiconductor Climate Consortium and MIT's Product Attribute to Impact Algorithm, which is working to standardize carbon footprint measurements for electronics. "These are areas where we are driving influence," she said.