A town in British Columbia can’t seem to muster the business case to purchase electric vehicles. What lessons does this hold for business leaders facing similar technology upgrade decisions?

After the usual fiscal deliberations, Administration has recommended to Council that the town stick with the status quo gasoline models for now, rather than plunking down for newer more expensive electric vehicles, based on the acquisition cost of the vehicles. It’s not a big purchase, just two trucks, but the saga illustrates the challenges that await all businesses, not just small municipalities, about facing up to the pressures of decarbonization and digitalization.

The CFO, and their organization define the swim lanes, set the rules, dictate the parameters (such as interest rates and carbon prices), and manage the overall process.

At what point do you make jump from dirty to clean and from dumb to smart? For businesses, that decision is clearly hard to make. It’s going to be up to the CFOs to change the way capital decisions are taken so that we accelerate our way to a digital energy future.