New research shows critical impact of IT on global sustainability initiatives
Report identifies the critical impact of IT on environmental sustainability and a misalignment of technology and sustainability objectives.
Reseach published yesterday, examines the opportunities for closer collaboration between tech professionals and those responsible for enterprise sustainability to reduce the environmental footprint of their organisations.
Computing has written before about the need for enterprise technology to work towards better quantifying and reducing its digital carbon footprint, partly to allow customers to do likewise. Complex technology supply chains mean that GHG emissions are usually undercounted and digital activity has a much larger impact on overall emissions than we might like to think.
The good news is that if brought to scale, digital technologies could reduce emissions by 20% by 2050.
Misalignment of goals
This research, fielded among 1,000 sustainability programme directors, saw consistent results in all global markets surveyed, including the US (400), UK (200), France (200) and Germany (200).
Some of the findings are particularly eye catching, such as the gap between aspiration for greater sustainability and the reality. For example, 73% of UK sustainability managers say their company's leadership is treating sustainability initiatives as a priority, with the majority planning to meet sustainability goals within three to seven years (55%). However, only about half (51%) of those surveyed in the UK say they are on track with their goals.
There is also a strong understanding that technology will have a critical part to play in determining whether sustainability goals are met. 90% of sustainability programme managers in the UK agree that companies cannot reach their sustainability goals without significantly reducing their technology infrastructure energy usage, and 76% predict the impact of technology infrastructure on a company's carbon footprint will increase in the next 12 months.
Even as technology's carbon footprint grows, 63% of respondents in the UK say vendors' sustainability is likely to be overlooked during the vendor selection process. An almost identical proportion (64%) of sustainability leads say they only become involved after the technology purchasing process has already begun.
Furthermore, more than any other function (such as finance, leadership or operations), IT was identified as not taking the necessary steps to support their company's sustainability goals. Fewer than half of those surveyed in the UK (46%) say their IT team is taking sustainability into proper consideration when making decisions about technology purchases.
Data storage decisions are some of the most important
The gathering, storage, analysis and monetisation of data is a challenge for enterprises when viewed from any angle, but it poses some very specific challenges to those trying to make their business more sustainable.
The datasphere is now so enormous that the General Conference of Weights and Measures has had to produce new units of measurement, and all that data needs to be stored. Decisions about how and where to store that data have a substantial impact on overall sustainability and will grow in importance in line with data volumes.
The true environmental footprint of data centres, whether on premise or cloud, are undoubtedly difficult to determine, but enterprises serious about sustainability are going to have to give it some thought. Data centre GHG emissions, particularly those related to energy consumption, have been a newsworthy topic of late, but there are other factors to consider: materials impact, water use, waste management and the impact on biodiversity.
This research shows that tech teams have the potential to make a significant and immediate impact on their employers' sustainability via enhanced collaboration and by recommending more sustainable infrastructure.
Wes Van Den Berg, Regional Vice President, UK & Ireland, Pure Storage commented:
"Businesses can drive the green transition by leveraging the right technology and partners to support sustainability initiatives. This inaugural report on the central role that IT can play in overall sustainability can be an important tool for IT leaders to improve their data storage strategies. Modern sustainable infrastructure that requires less power, less cooling, and generates far less waste can have a significant and immediate impact on reducing an organisation's carbon footprint."