The question
I am a newly appointed IT director, and my new company makes
much of its good record on corporate social responsibility, one
aspect of which is the reduction in its carbon footprint. Should I
be proactive on the issue of
green IT, and if so, how? I want to keep green IT in a proper
business perspective, and not overemphasise it. I'm not convinced
it is a strategic opportunity for senior IT professionals.
The solution
Lead the way towards a low-carbon economy
James Elworthy, senior manager, technology, security and
risk services, Ernst & Young
Corporate social responsibility is on the strategic agenda for
good reason: the issues of climate change, opportunities to enhance
your company's reputation, and opportunities to reduce cost make a
convincing case for action. And IT organisations are expected to
play their part, both by improving their IT carbon footprint and
helping businesses tackle the challenges involved.
Green IT involves applying IT to improve a company's
environmental sustainability. This ranges from improving the
efficiency of the IT infrastructure to driving operational
efficiencies in the production of goods and services. And despite
cynicism towards the apparent "greenwashing" of aspects of the IT
industry, the increasingly compelling evidence of global warming
points to significant changes for businesses.
As governments and global bodies set higher targets for carbon
dioxide reductions, and given the lack of major progress in
reducing emissions, a number of new financial and regulatory
targets can be expected. In the future low-carbon economy, formal
carbon footprint reduction policies and targets will be the norm,
both for companies and their IT organisations.
Energy-efficiency gains in IT operations are one area where
significant reductions can be made, with initiatives including
reduced power consumption and cooling in datacentres. Improved
architectures and server virtualisation also offer significant
scope for energy reductions by using fewer IT resources for the
same output.
The real opportunity for IT executives is to lead companies in
the transition to a low-carbon economy. By truly understanding the
corporate agenda, you can ensure IT has a leading role. See how you
can set measurable targets so you can demonstrate what IT is doing
for the overall green corporate objectives.
To be truly proactive, get educated. IT can offer many
solutions, such as improving supply-chain efficiencies, providing
management information for "carbon reporting" and regulatory
compliance, and supplying improved communication systems to reduce
company travel.
Green IT is more than just a strategic opportunity - it's an
imperative.
Help your organisation do the "right thing"
Chris Potts, director, Dominic Barrow
A key responsibility of a company's senior IT professionals is
to provide leadership on any IT-related developments that may
impact the company's strategies, investments and operating results.
Therefore your desire to put
green IT in its proper business context is well founded.
However, it has been estimated that IT accounts for just 2% of
global energy consumption. So, overall, IT may not be a huge source
of reductions in emissions, although that will vary between
companies. We will exploit the scope we have in IT, but the major
opportunities will frequently lie elsewhere.
Your strategic opportunity is to ensure your company applies all
the hard-learned lessons from investing in IT as it considers its
"clean technologies" strategy.
We can assume that regulatory, financial and reputational
pressures will continue to build on companies to address their
carbon footprints. Meanwhile, as Al Gore said in An Inconvenient
Truth, "If we do the right thing, then we're gonna create a lot of
wealth."
So here are three factors to bear in mind. First, your executive
colleagues will want to make the company more
energy-efficient. Second, your company may be one that can
create new value by doing Al Gore's "right thing". Thirdly, as more
clean technologies emerge, your colleagues will want to invest in
them to cut energy consumption or create new value, while avoiding
the kind of frenzy we have sometimes seen with IT.
Your tactics? Make sure people have the information systems to
show where the company can make the best energy savings. Keep a
close eye, with everyone else, on developments in the regulatory,
legal and financial regimes and on emerging clean technologies. And
use everything we have learned about wisely investing in and
exploiting IT to provide leadership in the selection and use of
clean technologies - whether or not these are classed as "IT".
Cut power consumption in datacentres
Ben Booth, global chief technology officer, Ipsos
You are correct that there is a lot of hype about green IT at
the moment, and you will not be thanked in these times of economic
uncertainty for proposing ideas that add to costs or endanger the
bottom line. There is one area where reducing your carbon footprint
makes good business sense - in datacentres. Low-power-consumption
hardware and virtualised configurations are reducing both costs and
environmental impact, so if you pursue this policy, you will be
cutting costs and helping the environment.
Support corporate social responsibility
goals
Sharm Manwani, Henley Management College
It makes sense to take your lead from the company’s position on
corporate social responsibility. Organisations have many reasons
for increasing their focus on green IT. Drivers include responding
to regulations, enhanced stakeholder perceptions and cost
reduction. Together, these may offer a strategic business
opportunity. This is a matter for the board to judge and you will
want to be sensitive to the executive view on this topic.
There are two main streams of activity in which you may be able to
contribute. The first is to explore the green IT opportunities
through external benchmarking and via internal analysis of the
potential benefits. The second is for you and your team to assess
to what extent you can support the company's corporate social
responsibility (CSR) goals.
You could start by evaluating the potential of environmental
initiatives in the IT area. At a practical level, how much can you
reduce energy requirements, perhaps by consolidating the number of
computers or using new technologies? Are you in a position to
support or expand home working to reduce your carbon footprint? Of
course it will be important to quantify the impact of these
initiatives both in environmental and cost terms.
A further step is to ask your team to review the current company
CSR goals and progress. Perhaps you can identify specific support
you can give to these, for example in the areas of product
development or in reporting of strategic environmental initiatives.
This will enable you to understand more clearly the appropriate
level of organisational investment and commitment. You can then
test your findings with senior business colleagues and perhaps the
chief executive. This will help you determine where the identified
opportunities fit into the overall set of priorities.
More advice from the strategy clinic >>