Despite all the focus in recent years on the need for organizations to be more eco-friendly, an area that could use improvement is the data center and other IT infrastructure.
The environmental impact of IT has been largely overlooked, said Matt Warburton, principal consultant and sustainability lead at IT advisory firm ISG.
"It's a complex subject, requiring new knowledge and investments," he said. Enhancing the energy efficiency of systems "can be difficult to articulate and justify in the context of other, more traditional investment decisions, given the multi-faceted nature of the benefits."
The biggest areas being overlooked are the emissions, water and waste from workplace devices, Warburton said. "While data centers, applications and architectures are often targeted — and rightly so, given they usually represent the largest portion of IT's impact — devices are also a very significant contributor," he said.
Looking ahead, IT's impact is less likely to be overlooked, Warburton said. "CIOs are beginning to see that the same levers used to increase sustainability can also reduce cost, without impacting the quality of experiences and business agility," he said.
In addition, CIOs are increasingly being required by their C-suite peers and broader stakeholder groups to offer new technology solutions for sustainability challenges within business operations, Warburton said. This is driving a slow but steady increase in the IT department's knowledge and capability, he added.
"IT's environmental impact, as a proportion of the overall business impact, is increasing," Warburton said. "As key business processes — such as construction, manufacturing and transportation — are decarbonized and made more circular while use of IT accelerates exponentially, IT will represent a much larger portion of the pie chart."
IT's impact on the environment by sector
IT's impact on the environment varies by sector. The carbon footprint of IT will be more material for higher IT intensity industries than lower IT intensity industries, according to Kristin Moyer, research vice president and distinguished analyst at research firm Gartner.
"This means the sustainability of IT is lower hanging fruit in an industry like retail banking than industrial manufacturing," Moyer said. "In other words, the IT department in retail banking may be one of the first to arrive to the party while industrial manufacturing IT may arrive later."
The strategic ambition of sustainability within an organization can also play a role in when IT sustainability is prioritized, Moyer said. "Enterprises that are mainly focused on sustainability compliance, like meeting regulations, or optimization, like brand impact, may ask IT to contribute later in the process," she said. "This can sometimes be five or more years after a sustainability journey has begun. But if the strategic ambition is sustainability transformation and disrupting through new products and services, IT may be asked to contribute right away."
ESG, energy usage and net zero IT
Technology leaders can take steps to help reduce the environmental impact of IT in their organizations. Here are a few of the key ones to get started.
Create an environmental, social, and governance data strategy and foundation.
"More than half of executives use spreadsheets for some ESG data," Moyer said. "This is low cost, but it's also low quality and largely limits ESG data to hindsight reporting."
But the value of ESG goes well beyond reporting, Moyer said. "ESG data can drive financial performance, mitigate risk and accelerate sustainability progress," she said. "CIOs should develop an ESG data strategy that goes beyond hindsight to also support insight and foresight."
Create a baseline of energy usage.
"Start with collating all available data for emissions, waste and water from the technology estate," Warburton said. "You'll need to request much of this information from your technology solution providers, so your procurement and supplier management teams will need to be supported."
Then, prioritize getting this baseline data from all data centers, networking, cloud and workplace devices, and managed services, Warburton said. The baseline enables IT to prioritize initiatives to reduce the impact of systems on the environment.
Educate and incentivize staff to make sustainable decisions based on the data.
Make the baseline visible and use it to educate teams. "This data will enable your people to engage and feel empowered to make a difference, leading to new and creative ways to become more sustainable without increasing cost," Warburton said.
It's also wise to incentivize or mandate the consideration of the baseline data in decision making, Warburton said. "For example, overlay the data on existing transformation programs, such as cloud migration or hybrid working, to bring a sustainability lens," he said. "What changes could be made to reduce, reuse or repair IT assets? What cost/benefit could be achieved? Taking this approach can identify quick wins with minimal impact to existing priorities."
Set a net zero IT goal and collaborate with technology providers.
"They are generally among the most 'sustainably-savvy' organizations, with ambitious commitments for their own operations and deep expertise in minimizing IT's environmental impact," Warburton said.
Companies should develop a net zero roadmap for sustainable IT, Moyer said. "More than 40% of Fortune 500 companies have a net zero goal," she said. "If an enterprise has a net zero goal, IT should also have its own net zero goal. Assume that IT-related [greenhouse gas] emissions will increase at about 30% per year. Include renewable energy, data centers and cloud, digital workplace, data and software in the net zero roadmap for IT."
