‘Prioritize retrofitting’ to accelerate Decarbonization, ABB states following COP27 pressure

With the recent COP27 climate summit focusing on industrial decarbonization, ABB Electrification has stated that prioritizing retrofitting measures such as replacing outdated circuit breakers, upgrading defective low-voltage breakers and installing AI energy-monitoring tools are some of the simplest ways supply chain executives can achieve carbon savings.

Taking place in Egypt earlier this month, the COP27 climate talks focused on practical solutions for delivering COP26 commitments made by governments in Glasgow last year. These include the decarbonization of key industries - including manufacturing, food, cloud computing and energy - by investing in new technologies, making older equipment more energy efficient and changing management practices.

With this in mind, ABB Electrification’s servicing unit is urging supply chain executives to make better use of widely available retrofitting solutions - not only to become more sustainable but also to address safety concerns, rising inflation and potential supply chain disruption currently facing the sector.

Stuart Thompson, ABB Electrification’s Service Division President, comments: “One of the greatest untapped opportunities for carbon and cost savings in the logistics and supply chain sector is upgrading existing electrical equipment so that it lasts much longer, uses minimal energy in production and prevents downtime from breakdowns with real-time monitoring.

“In our work, we know the top concerns of supply chain and logistics managers is safety, optimizing performance of existing assets and the need to have absolute uptime on their services.There are a number of sustainable ways to do this.

“For instance, early adopters replacing non-digital, older circuit breakers with more intelligent, sensor enabled breakers linked to cloud-computing platforms. These can provide real-time data & analysis on asset condition, performance and potential safety issues - helping operators prevent potential hazards before they arise, while extending the lifecycle of an asset by as much as 30 years.”

“At a time when the industry is being compelled to raise safety standards and take tangible action on climate change, the question isn’t how can we afford to prioritize retrofitting but rather how can we afford not to?”