This article is authored by Mauro Atalla, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology and Sustainability Officer, Trane Technologies and Chris Kuehn, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Trane Technologies
As a global business community, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to lead. Technology is transforming the economy to be defined by data and energy, and it’s up to us to keep sustainability at the center. To help our community meet this moment, we’ve collaborated with leaders from global brands and industry-leading companies to create the ROI of Sustainability Playbook, a project that highlights the many ways that sustainability creates business value.
Contributors to the playbook include sustainability and technology leaders from Colgate-Palmolive, McDonald’s, Prologis, Turner Construction, BrainBox AI and Clever Carbon. In the playbook, you’ll find a series of insights from these leaders, each with real-world examples that inspire action. The innovators who contributed to this piece are redefining what “business as usual” looks like to build what comes next, and we are grateful for their insights and perspectives.
A pivotal moment in the energy transition
At the center of this shift, sustainability and technology leaders are redefining how businesses grow and compete, leveraging sustainability as a core business strategy that drives growth, with returns that include cost reduction, reduced energy waste, better risk mitigation, increased revenues and strengthened resilience.
The winners in this landscape will leverage sustainability as a performance advantage, generating returns holistically across the value chain. Leaders in diverse industries are already aligning finance, operations and supply chains around sustainability outcomes. In parallel, companies are harnessing digital technology as a growth engine, while AI and connected systems are supercharging climate-smart strategies across sectors and functions.
At its core, sustainability is about making things last while building organizations, systems and communities that can thrive in the future. It’s about developing technologies that reduce energy use and waste, lower costs and power performance. It encompasses designing for the long term, using resources wisely, reducing risk and increasing resilience while creating business value — setting the stage for continued growth.
“The winners in this landscape will leverage sustainability as a performance advantage, generating returns holistically across the value chain.”
Mauro J. Atalla
Senior Vice President and Chief Technology and Sustainability Officer, Trane Technologies
Climate innovation and business performance
At Trane Technologies, we have been demonstrating the ROI of sustainability since we were launched as a pure play climate innovator in 2020, and we’re proud to lead through this transformation. At the heart of it is our relentless investment in technology and our purpose to challenge what’s possible for a sustainable world. Another important piece is partnerships — working with our customers, our suppliers, our industry community — to find new ways to reduce energy and cost across the value chain.
The stories highlighted in this playbook demonstrate that sustainability is not a side project or a trade-off. It is a practical strategy for sustained business success, helping companies perform better both today and for generations to come. Thank you to our contributors – for their leadership, innovation and collaboration. As you explore the insights and perspectives in the playbook, we hope they spark new ideas for how sustainability can create value across your own organization. We invite you to join us as we shape a more sustainable future together.
“We’re proud to lead through this transformation. At the heart of it is our relentless investment in technology and our purpose to challenge what’s possible for a sustainable world.”
Chris Kuehn
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Trane Technologies
