Behind the numbers: How AVEVA helps industry decarbonize
Posted: December 17, 2025
At AVEVA, the most powerful climate action we can take is helping our customers decarbonize. That’s why we’re digging deeper into the emissions our software helps reduce. In a recent conversation, Ann Whipple spoke with members of the global sustainability team, Audrey Phua and Wenting Zhu, about AVEVA’s newest effort to measure—and ultimately amplify—our impact on industrial emissions.
What is the purpose of AVEVA's saved and avoided emissions project?
As part of our aspiration to be leaders in sustainability and better understand the extent to which we are helping our customers decarbonize, we’re developing a baseline to measure both emissions reductions and avoided emissions enabled by our products. To achieve decarbonization, we need radical collaboration. An emissions baseline is a critical step for AVEVA, as it enables us to set credible targets and guide strategic investment in our software. This ensures that we continue to empower customers in their decarbonization journeys.
What are saved and avoided emissions, and why are we measuring them?
Saved and avoided emissions represent the greenhouse gases (GHG) that are not emitted. “Saved” emissions refer to emissions that have been reduced through process optimization or efficiency gains, while “avoided” emissions signify the greenhouse gases that never materialized in a project thanks to innovative solutions that improve and optimize performance.
We’re tracking how AVEVA software has helped customers cut back emissions and adopt innovations for sustainable growth. Because of our investment in this project, we can now see exactly how AVEVA products have helped customers achieve their emission targets.
How does AVEVA calculate emissions?
Since there are no existing standards for calculating saved and avoided emissions through software applications, we have developed our own methodology, building on the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) guidance, to estimate them. Over the course of five years, we worked with internal experts and external consultants to help us combine our industrial expertise, customer data, and public references to measure the emissions we have helped prevent.
The foundational concept is straightforward: Saved emissions are equal to material or energy savings multiplied by their emissions factor. For example, a certain amount of electricity sourced from fossil fuels is correlated with a specific amount of emissions. When we help improve a customer’s energy efficiency and reduce their electricity usage, we also diminish their emissions.
Have there been any particularly surprising or interesting results?
Because we worked closely with industry and product experts, we didn’t get any true “surprises.” Going into the project, we knew that energy-consumptive products and material-intensive industries are emissions-intensive. So we knew that when we helped improve the energy efficiency of an energy-intensive process, or swapped power generated by fossil fuels for renewables, that was going to have a big impact, and we saw that reflected in the numbers. We also knew that it would be a challenge to quantify the full impact of our portfolio. The exercise confirmed that taking a pilot approach was a more efficient solution. It allowed us to understand better where we had the biggest data gaps, so we could build out a robust methodology. The pilot measures the emission reduction and avoidance opportunities of 20% of our products, which we think is a significant step forward.
How is AVEVA helping its customers meet their emissions goals?
Emissions fall under three categories, called scopes. Scope 1 emissions are created directly from on-site fuel combustion or process emissions. Scope 2 refers to indirect emissions, like electricity usage when power is generated with fossil fuels. Scope 3 emissions are even more removed, generated further up or down the value chain, but still traceable in some way or other to the customer.
Our software portfolio helps customers address scope 1 and 2 emissions directly. Specifically, we can improve customers’ energy efficiency by addressing processes that have untapped energy-saving potential throughout the life cycle of an asset. This begins with implementing software like AVEVA™ Process Simulation, AVEVA™ PI System™, AVEVA™ Manufacturing Execution System, and AVEVA™ Production Management. These products improve plant designs and harmonize operation decisions, which in turn reduces emissions and increases efficiency.
GHG emissions are interconnected across the value chain. When customers use our software, it helps them reduce their emissions, but it also contributes to their footprint due to the energy required to run it. To address this, we are aligning our software with green design principles to ensure that our products are optimized for energy efficiency and support both our customers’ and our own decarbonization goals.
What kinds of customers has AVEVA been able to help most?
We believe that all of our customers can reduce emissions with AVEVA products. Because different industries have different needs and different energy usage, some have the potential to cut more emissions than others. We have products tailored to different industrial processes to serve each customer. In general, we’ve seen that AVEVA products have had a more profound impact on emissions in heavy industries—mining, metals, and minerals; chemicals; and discrete manufacturing, for instance.
What is the principle of downtime reduction in power generation, and how does it relate to saved and avoided emissions?
We’re keeping renewable power generation up and running, or, in other words, reducing the time that these plants aren’t operational. Downtime can happen for lots of reasons—operational failure, standard maintenance procedures, or an overloaded grid can all cause a plant to produce less power. When we can help renewable energy plants increase uptime, we displace power generation that would otherwise be from fossil fuels.
What have been the successes of this initiative? How has it informed AVEVA's goals for 2030?
We’ve been helping our customers reduce their emissions for some time, but this initiative has helped us quantify and recognize the critical role our software has in decarbonizing industry. We have moved from standalone case study examples to developing a scalable methodology that measures the positive impact of digital solutions in reducing industrial emissions. We now have clear evidence that demonstrates the impact of our software on emission reduction: Our latest analysis estimates a total impact of up to 102 million tons of CO₂ avoided from 2023 to August 2025. To date, 10.8 million tons have been independently verified through our pilot, and we are working with third-party auditors to validate results from later versions of the methodology.
This work has provided an important baseline for us, and reflects our dedication to sustainable industry practices and the success of our customers. Next year, we hope to build on this foundation as we plan our 2030 sustainability targets.
Want to see how this methodology translates into real-world results across industries?
