SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY CHAINS
The tendrils of artificial intelligence are creeping into every area of the economy. While the negatives are well documented, AI can also deliver significant benefits and help sectors build a more efficient future. Speaking during Climate Week NYC 2026, Saskia van Gendt, Chief Sustainability Officer at Blue Yonder, discusses how AI is changing supply chain management. She explains how AI helps evaluate the full lifecycle of data centre infrastructure, improve logistics, and support circular manufacturing.
Saskia also shares her thoughts on how the CSO role is changing and how corporate sustainability is moving from broad marketing goals to practical strategies that link cost savings with real environmental results.
Q. AI IS A MAJOR TALKING POINT THIS WEEK IN NEW YORK, AND PEOPLE ARE DISCUSSING THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF DATA CENTRES BEYOND BASIC POWER CONSUMPTION. HOW IMPORTANT IS IT THAT LEADERS EVALUATE THE FULL LIFECYCLE OF A DATA CENTRE AND AI INFRASTRUCTURE?
» We always take more of a systems view, not just looking at singular issues. Of course, there’ s a lot of focus on the current build-out and how much energy and water it uses. But Blue Yonder is also actively supporting the build-out from a supply chain management perspective and thinking about how all of the cement and concrete and steel and servers are going to get to those facilities.
Just like you can optimise the supply chains of a grocery store around your warehouse locations and your routing, the same can be applied for these huge build-outs that require so many different materials. We are actively supporting that and looking for efficiency within the data centre construction itself.
There are a lot of community and societal impacts to consider. And one of the things that I’ m hearing is that communities have a lot of leverage around what those build-outs look like. They can be asking for benefits that come back to their community, and that’ s becoming a little bit more frontand-centre in the build-out itself.
Another key narrative is really around the materials in the data centre. Servers and thinking about circular manufacturing for some of that equipment. We know there’ s a two- to seven-year lifespan for a lot of the equipment. How do we think about taking those materials back, the reverse logistics and reprocessing them, recycling them?
Q. HOW IS THE LOGISTICS SECTOR ADAPTING TO THE GROWING DEMAND FOR CIRCULARITY, TAKE-BACK PROGRAMMES AND EXTENDED PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY?
» It’ s relatively new for data centres themselves, but I have seen over my career a lot of standardisation around energy efficiency in electronics and
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