PwC Webinar: How to Drive Sustainable Value with Tech & AI
Join Kevin O’Connell and Sammy Lakshmanan in PwC’s webinar, “Using AI and technology to drive business value,” where they will explore how forward-thinking companies are using automation and advanced analytics to overcome data challenges, embed sustainability across operations and deliver measurable value.
Emerging technologies like AI offer powerful opportunities to accelerate sustainability efforts such as decarbonization, but their rapid evolution can make implementation complex—and businesses that don’t stay ahead could risk missing out on significant value.
The discussion is set to draw from PwC’s on-the-ground insights and address why many targets set just a few years ago may feel unachievable and how businesses can get back on track.
Keeping up with changing sustainability demands
“Many US companies have spent the last year focused on fast moving regulatory demands, like the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and regulations in California,” Kevin explains.
“With some of those timelines shifting and clarity emerging, this has been a really critical moment for companies to step back, take a breather and really assess where they are.”
Sammy says: “If you go back years ago, a lot of these companies set really ambitious goals. Back then, 2030 seemed a long way off.
“Now, for a lot of companies, it's only one long-range planning cycle away.”
A major challenge now is converting visions into execution.
Businesses now need to focus on building the right processes, data systems and governance to support their longer-term strategy.
Could data be the key to sustainability?
Data is fundamental to driving, measuring and communicating corporate sustainability.
As businesses face mounting regulatory, consumer and investor expectations for sustainable practices, leveraging accurate and timely data has become important for both compliance and value creation.
This, Kevin says, can be a key barrier for many businesses.
“It's not just the availability of getting the data right, but it's also the ability to use it confidently,” he says.
Without systems in place to support complete, accurate and comparable data, it becomes difficult to make business decisions.
AI and automation can help with this through reducing the amount of work needed and the cost of compliance.
However, they are not often simple to implement.
Sammy explains: “We get the impression that let me just install some kit and off we go, everything will work.“
“At the end of the day, you still need people. You still need the processes - like data governance - behind the AI and the automation to make them truly effective in a business context.”
Who is sharing their expertise?
In this webinar, Neil Perry, Broadcast Editor at Sustainability Magazine, is joined by Kevin O’Connell and Sammy Lakshmanan.
Kevin is the US Sustainability Assurance Services Leader at PwC, helping clients design sustainability strategies that deliver business value and meaningful impact.
He has more than 30 years of experience in assurance, governance, and internal controls and is passionate about connecting sustainability initiatives to financial performance.
Sammy is Sustainability Principal at PwC US, supporting companies to embed sustainability into their organizations to create value through an effective combination of strategy, transformation and digital innovation.
He helps his clients by making it easier for them to do the right thing at the right time.
This webinar marks the second installment in PwC’s series, expanding on a prior discussion of decarbonisation’s role in driving value and growth.
Sign up for this webinar to learn how the best are making the most of technology and AI.
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