The management of ICT resources can have an enormous
environmental impact, but many CIOs could be exposing their
organisations to foreseeable risks or missing out on opportunities
because they are insufficiently aware of the issues, says Dene
Burke, head of consultancy
Protiviti's internal audit
practice.
With ICT systems responsible for an estimated 2% of global
carbon emissions, it is important that CIOs play their part in
reducing power wastage and ensuring systems are as efficient as
possible, especially through initiatives such as power
management and server virtualisation. Most end-users are unaware of
PC power management features, such as hibernate mode, and CIOs need
to consider whether systems need to be on all the time?
One barrier to energy-efficient ICT is the separation of
facilities management (electricity) and ICT procurement. Energy
efficiency traditionally plays no part in ICT purchasing, but this
is set to change, and
companies such as Dell are starting to talk about their green
credentials and product efficiency.
CIOs will increasingly be asked to look at extending
traditionally short system lifecycles to reduce the need to produce
and dispose of systems. CIOs must also be aware of green ICT
options, such as
energy- and heat-efficient servers for datacentres,
virtualisation and
thin-client systems, to improve the efficiency of the ICT
architecture.
With a drive to provide more efficient office space using less
power, CIOs will be more involved in overseeing building management
systems to control the working environment, ensuring that the ideal
conditions are achieved with minimum waste.
Risk exposures
Other risk exposures include the failure to align IT practices
with environmental disclosures - leading to a company making
inaccurate statements about sustainability - and a CIO making
decisions that might make sense from a technology perspective but
which conflict with wider sustainability aims, such as locating a
new datacentre in an area that increases the organisation's carbon
footprint.
Green checklist
The sort of questions CIOs should consider when drafting
policies and procedures include:
- Are they aligned with the organisation's corporate social
responsibility (CSR) policies and environmental policies?
- What programmes are in place to ensure more efficient use of
resources?
- How can the efficiency programmes be improved?
- What environmental reporting procedures and controls are in
place?
- What efficiency targets should be in place relating to power
usage?
- How effectively are end-users managing power consumption?
- Is energy efficiency a consideration in ICT procurement?
- Do we comply with existing environmental legislation or product
efficiency standards?
- Are we ready for future legislation?
- Are we communicating with the supply chain and partners to
improve energy efficiency collectively and share ideas?
- How do our practices compare with our competitors' and other
industries'?
- Will ICT initiatives help us meet our responsibilities and
goals?
CIOs need to be aware, not only of their organisation's
environmental position, but also of the shifting legislative and
political landscape, and ask themselves at least these three
questions: Are we operating as efficiently as we could be? Can we
reduce power consumption. And can we be a greener, more effective
organisation?
Dene Burke is head of Protiviti's internal audit
practice.
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