Getting meta about the metaverse.

The metaverse is about much more than entertainment - there are some very real 'enterprise metaverse' applications that could affect corporate sustainability strategies, according to PwC.

These include virtual meetings, which can reduce the need for business travel, and digital twins of real-world developments, which can forecast their environmental impact.

The metaverse could also show the potential effects of climate change in a much more impactful way, by showing people flooded areas or deforestation.

It's been about 18 months since Mark Zuckerberg deep-sixed the Facebook corporate moniker to rebrand the company as Meta, an homage to its development work on the "metaverse" and a move that sent many diving down the internet search rabbit hole for definitions - searches on the term spiked 7,200 percent.

For those who haven't taken that plunge, I'll keep it simple: Metaverse is the umbrella term describing a virtual world made possible by technologies such as 3-D software, artificial intelligence, sensors, goggles and headsets that immerse us humans in an alternate, virtual reality. Sci-fi buffs will know the word was dreamed up by author Neal Stephenson in his novel "Snow Crash," published in 1992. So this isn't something completely new. Consulting firm McKinsey estimates the amount of money invested in these capabilities during 2022 at more than $120 billion (that figure includes MandA activity among gaming companies, which technically falls into this space).

But the metaverse is about much more than entertainment. There are some very real "enterprise metaverse" applications that could affect corporate ESG and sustainability strategies, several of which are laid out in this recent report from services firm PwC. Here are three of the more obvious ones:

Virtual meetings that feel real. These platforms could enable new approaches for corporate meetings, especially those related to training, that were previously conducted face to face. This could reduce business travel (reducing carbon emissions) and also allow more individuals including those with disabilities to participate (inspiring more inclusion).

What would happen if ... ? Ever hear of "digital twins"? These systems can model real-world assets and use artificial intelligence and analytics to forecast the impact of materials, product development or process changes. Conceptually, this helps identify opportunities for efficiency or for replacing approaches or ingredients that stand in the...