Alibaba's Net Zero Cloud initiative is designed to "drive its own carbon reduction, provide digital carbon reduction capabilities and support green technology innovation."

The collaboration between Johnson Controls and Alibaba is inspired by the businesses' shared vision on sustainability. Buildings account for some 40% of global emissions and Johnson Controls is uniquely positioned to help customers around the world pursue their net zero carbon goals.

Helping reduce energy consumption

Through the Openblue platform, OBEM serves as the unified interface for building systems, even those that are aging and outdated. The suite of cloud-based apps available through OBEM pulls data from OT and IT systems — and from external sources such as weather forecasts and utilities – to help building owners and operators reduce energy consumption and carbon footprint; optimise asset performance and operational efficiency; and improve occupant health and experience. OBEM has been successfully deployed in more than 4,000 buildings, enabling facilities teams to make data-driven operations choices whether they are operating healthcare, education, commercial real estate, industrial or other facilities.

Anu Rathninde, president, Asia Pacific, Johnson Controls, said: "The launch of OBEM on Alibaba Cloud represents a new milestone in expanding the leading open platform for smart, healthy and sustainable buildings to new and important markets. It also demonstrates the drive of Johnson Controls to expand our presence in the Chinese market and seek closer collaboration with partners to respond faster to the needs of local Chinese customers."

"We are excited to announce our first Openblue solution landing in the Alibaba Cloud in China. At Johnson Controls, we have always been challenging ourselves to stay abreast of the latest trends in innovation, technology development and demands from the industries that we serve," said Vijay Sankaran, vice president and chief technology officer, Johnson Controls. "Launching OBEM on Alibaba Cloud is a big step to expand our digital solutions portfolio and enhance our capabilities to tailor it for the needs of different markets and industries."

Digitalisation is key

Haiqing Huang, president, Alibaba Cloud China, said, "Alibaba Cloud, as a leading global cloud computing and AI technology company, has been focusing on helping enterprises on digital transformation and developing low-carbon technology. Digitalisation is an important foundation to enable the 'dual-carbon' goal and will definitely become an important source of power for high-quality and sustainable development. Johnson Controls selected Alibaba Cloud as a key cloud service provider in China for the Ope#blue digital platform, showing the two parties will further collaborate in technology, open up in resources and ecosystem, and make joint efforts to support the development of low-carbon technology in the Chinese market."

Understanding that data security is a top priority for customers, Johnson Controls adheres to the Alibaba Cloud Landing Zone cloud management framework and develops a tailor-made cloud security system for OBEM.

Broader geographical scope

In addition to the Chinese market, in the future the two parties also plan to work together to promote digital solutions in other Asia Pacific markets. This includes Southeast Asian countries, in which the companies will extend the application of the customised digital management platform for building and space management to more markets and to enable a net zero future through digital technologies and services solutions.