“ HOUSING IT
INFRASTRUCTURE AND DATA IN A SPECIALISED DATA CENTRE AND IN THE CLOUD IS MORE EFFICIENT , AND THUS MORE SUSTAINABLE THAN HAVING THEM ON-PREMISES . lifespan and reduce electronic waste , and so on . A company that is serious about its sustainability goals will expect its suppliers to be sustainable too . The IT department can also contribute to this field , by choosing sustainable partners to work with and by including sustainability in the selection criteria for their IT product sourcing . The IT department , and thus the CIO , also have an important role to play in measuring sustainability efforts and in enabling reporting .
E D I T O R ' S Q U E S T I O N
LAURENS VAN REIJEN , MANAGING DIRECTOR , LCL DATA CENTERS
With the growth of digitisation , the role of IT – and therefore the role of the CIO – has become ever more important to achieve the sustainability goals .
The importance of IT in sustainability
In practice , we see that IT alone is not reported to have a big impact on a company ’ s overall ESG scores . Possibly because the sustainability manager does not always have a clear view of the concrete role played by the IT department .
Today the focus is mainly on hardware – to reduce energy consumption , extend
“ HOUSING IT
INFRASTRUCTURE AND DATA IN A SPECIALISED DATA CENTRE AND IN THE CLOUD IS MORE EFFICIENT , AND THUS MORE SUSTAINABLE THAN HAVING THEM ON-PREMISES . lifespan and reduce electronic waste , and so on . A company that is serious about its sustainability goals will expect its suppliers to be sustainable too . The IT department can also contribute to this field , by choosing sustainable partners to work with and by including sustainability in the selection criteria for their IT product sourcing . The IT department , and thus the CIO , also have an important role to play in measuring sustainability efforts and in enabling reporting .
The CIO can identify opportunities for improving sustainability across various business processes and take initiatives to digitise processes , for example reduce reliance on paper-based workflows . By analysing data on energy consumption , resource usage and environmental impact , the CIO can see which areas need optimisation and implement targeted initiatives .
The role of the data centre
The data centre services sector can also play its part in a sustainability drive . Some 64 % of all data is located in companies ’ on-premises IT infrastructure . Housing IT infrastructure and data in a specialised data centre and in the cloud is more efficient , and thus more sustainable than having them on-premises . The EU Green Deal calls for European data centres to be CO 2 neutral by 2030 . Investments made by your data centre will also
contribute positively to your company ’ s sustainability score .
Mindset shift
To keep growing as a business , it is very important to shift mindsets at all levels concerning sustainability , including at the CIO level .
CIOs should open their kingdom to sustainability managers , who often don ’ t understand the role of IT and software in driving sustainability across the organisation .
This might involve launching innovation challenges focused on sustainability , fostering collaboration between IT and sustainability teams and exploring emerging technologies with the potential to address sustainability challenges .
In the future , customers will ask more and more questions about the origin of raw materials , energy consumption , or reuse of materials . As a company you will have no choice but to address these issues and tackle them with a specific strategy . As a CIO , it ’ s important to be part of that strategy .
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