GE Digital collaborates with Microsoft and Teradata

GE Digital has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Microsoft and Teradata to develop a solution designed to reduce carbon emissions. The three companies expect to begin to work together to develop an offering designed to help empower aircraft operators with the tools they need to record, report, and reduce emissions – today.

The collaboration brings the software solutions of three leading companies together to target the challenge of reducing aviation emissions. GE Digital provides high fidelity flight data and fuel efficiency analytics to identify specific opportunities to reduce fuel and emissions. Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability enables reporting across aircraft operation stakeholders through its common data model and  streamlined data capture via Microsoft Sustainability Manager and a broad array of calculation services. The Teradata Vantage multi-cloud data and analytics platform via Flight Data Link™, a solution developed with GE Digital, allows for the integration of additional operational and financial data sources via the airline industry’s data model, as well as powerful analytics to understand root cause of non-adherence to fuel saving opportunities. Bringing these capabilities together can help close the feedback loop with front-line personas outside the direct sphere of influence of the fuel team.

“Sustainability is core to the future of the aviation industry; our ambition is net zero by 2050,” said Andrew Coleman, General Manager of GE Digital’s Aviation Software. “While new technologies are key to achieving that in the long term, we need to make progress now. We have the data and solutions that can help the industry make strides by leveraging data airlines already have.”

The goal of the future solution will be to support recording, reporting, and reducing emissions by breaking down silos with an integrated data model using actual data, not estimates. The new solution is intended to allow users to access a sustainability dashboard for accurate measurement of emissions and savings for Scope 1, 2, and 3 reporting. In addition, the companies intend to deliver self-service analytics to help users leverage predictive, prescriptive, and actionable recommendations to make changes within the operation that reduce emissions and influence across the value chain.

“Working with GE Digital will help us lead the pathway to enable sustainability solutions on Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability,” said Elisabeth Brinton, CVP of Sustainability for Microsoft. “Combining GE’s deep aviation expertise with the security, scale and resilience of the Microsoft Cloud will yield powerful insights for airlines to report, record and reduce emissions.”

The three companies are prioritizing the following features and functionalities in the new solution:

Record & Report: Develop auditable carbon accounting and reporting capabilities geared towards airlines who need to view emissions data, trends, and opportunities to prioritize efforts, set targets for reduction, and meet compliance expectations with flight data.

Reduce: Develop an integrated platform using GE Digital’s Fuel Insight™ software for actionable analysis of fuel optimization opportunities within an airline to reduce carbon emissions. In addition, the aim is to enable airlines to ingest data to provide weight reduction monitoring and optimization as well as potable water consumption.

Standardize: Develop a standard data model specific to airlines so sustainability initiatives can scale in a cost effective manner  and extend mechanisms of flight data for Scope 3 reporting (i.e. companies beyond airlines who must report business travel emissions).

“The aviation industry is working hard to reduce its impact on the environment and encouraging new technologies in their effort to reach net zero by 2050,” said Lisa Stewart, SVP, Worldwide Alliances and Partners at Teradata.  “Data has always been a cornerstone of aviation and now airlines are looking for ways to leverage data to improve efficiencies. Teradata is proud to join GE Digital and Microsoft in building capabilities to measure the industry’s sustainability efforts and accelerate the elimination of carbon emissions.”

“Collaborations like this one with Teradata and Microsoft improve product capabilities and deepen relationships within the industry,” continued Coleman. “This work accelerates the impact of sustainability allowing airlines to make strides toward peak efficiency today.”