Climate transformation urges industrial energy companies all over the world to invent new technologies and implement them at record speed. But when creating a new product, it is important to build security into its foundation. Most green technologies are tied to the Internet in some way or another. In order to reduce the carbon footprint, systems must be modernised and digitalised. This makes them more efficient but also vulnerable to attacks.
On the surface, climate transformation has nothing to do with security. But dig a little deeper and you discover that it has profound implications indeed. The new technologies required for climate transformation will change both how businesses work and how they use technology. Security by design must be applied in order to prevent climate transformation becoming an excuse for greater vulnerability.
Rapid growth in environmental, social, and governance (ESG)-driven investment, combined with the ongoing availability of financial credits, continues to fuel consumer demand for renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind, rain, tides and geothermal heat. As a result, the renewables sector has seen consistent growth in recent years, and in 2020, renewables were the only energy source to experience increased demand. Renewables now account for 90% of new power capacity expansion globally.
While everything from wind and solar projects to more nascent tech like green hydrogen production, carbon capture storage, and software-defined electricity address critical energy challenges like efficiency and climate change, these solutions also come with new digital and physical vulnerabilities. Organizations like https://www2.deloitte.com/ must not only develop cutting-edge technology; they must also integrate cybersecurity into the very foundation of these investments—it’s an opportunity to drive meaningful and socially responsible change, according to the research given in Forbes.
Securing renewable energy tech has another challenge that traditional energy companies don’t face: rapid development, divestiture, and acquisition cycles. The nascent and innovative nature of the renewables business creates a rapidly changing ecosystem that is inherently difficult to secure.
The theme of interconnectedness across this extended ecosystem is crucial to secure the future of alternative energy. It’s both an opportunity and a mandate for all of these different entities to come together, collaborate, and figure out improved ways to secure the renewables industry.
And as the renewables industry matures and transforms its underlying operations, customers and regulators will come to expect that alternative energy companies will have also subsequently evolved their cybersecurity capabilities to drive performance and economic results, one way of achieving this would be through ExpressVPN list of eco-friendly gadgets. Those companies that begin weaving security into the fabric of their operations and product development processes today will be in a more competitive and resilient position— reinventing their approach towards tomorrow.
The situation of Costa Rica in this regard
In Costa Rica, while large and medium-sized companies long ago began to consider information security a strategic asset and an opportunity to protect their business, the authorities and the general public are unaware of or neglect the risks to which everything is exposed, as stated in Reuters. One that is connected to a network, be it through a smartphone, a personal computer or a digital factory.
Tico organizations should always have the answers to the following questions: what information do I have? Where do I have it? and who has access to it? Another aspect to consider is internal threats, for which companies are generally not prepared.
In the same way, Costa Rica’s leading role in environmental protection technologies, renewable energy and efficient use of resources has positive effects for the economy and the labor market. The environmental sector makes a significant contribution to sustained growth and contributes to the development of new technologies, both in the energy sector and in information, communication and materials technologies.
More and more people work in the energy economy; almost half of these, in the area of renewable energies. Costa Rica is among the leading countries in the American continent in terms of employment in this area.
Meanwhile, several careers in the area of renewable energy and energy efficiency have sprung up at Costa Rica’s universities and technical schools, attracting numerous students from across the region.
However, technology as a tool for the development of renewable energy, electric vehicles, efficient buildings, green infrastructure and geoengineering is only half of this fight. The other half must be provided by us, the citizens of Costa Rica, being more practical and the way is to “reduce, reuse and recycle”.