Q&A: Sophie Graham, Chief Sustainability Officer at IFS
IFS is the world’s leading provider of Industrial AI and enterprise software, supporting industries that power the modern world.
Sophie Graham is IFS’ Chief Sustainability Officer, in charge of a multi-year sustainability strategy for the company, its customers and its community.
She has been with the company since 2021 and previously worked with Santander and FUJITSU.
Sophie took part in a panel on AI in Sustainability at Sustainability LIVE London 2024 alongside executives from other leading software companies.
Sophie spoke with Sustainability Magazine as she left the stage.
What inspired you to get involved in sustainability?
I've always been passionate about sustainability and I studied law with specialism in environmental law.
Back then there weren't too many jobs in sustainability. I've been privileged to work in the tech and the finance sector and my perspective has really evolved in how those two sectors in particular can be great enablers of change, sweeping sustainable movements across whole other industries.
What innovations or trends in the field of sustainability are you most excited about?
One that's been talked about a lot here at Sustainability LIVE is the role of AI in sustainability. I think there are some really exciting use cases when it comes to the application of AI.
With IFS, we work with heavy industries, so there are some real sustainability benefits on an industrial scale that can be realised through applying AI to business optimisation, resource allocation and capital allocation decisions.
I think one other part of Sustainability LIVE that touched me was the role of quick wins, which has also been a theme throughout. There's so much to say for optimising the energy efficiency of existing assets like engines and how far that can go to get us towards net zero goals.
With those quick wins, that's how you can get organisational support to help you tackle the longer term or tricky issues.
What is your biggest takeaway from Sustainability LIVE London 2024 so far?
For me, sustainability is the ultimate team sport and collaboration is absolutely key. It's been echoed in just about every talk that I've been to here.
When I arrived yesterday, the queue was stretching into the street to get in. It's a really positive sign that not only sustainability professionals, but also people outside of sustainability across different companies and government NGOs are really leaning in and taking advantage of the momentum that we see now in sustainability.
For me, it's such an important event to bring together those experts, peers and different voices to see how we can work together for positive change.
How do you anticipate that sustainability practices will evolve?
Our customers are many heavy industry customers and we're certainly seeing a big pull from them in terms of how the role of technology can help support them meet and accelerate progress towards their sustainability goals.
In IFS, we're seeing all different departments get involved. We're seeing R&D in particular really lean into this in terms of how we can develop products to help our customers. As s that becomes more mainstream and we involve the whole organisation in IFS, we'll get even more momentum behind sustainability.
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