Hardly any company balances the CO2 equivalent of its IT

Supplementary to the topic

What is sustainable IT?

Sustainable IT is a collective term that encompasses an environmentally-oriented approach to the development, use and disposal of computer hardware and software applications as well as to the design of related business processes. The term includes other aspects, including the responsible mining of rare metals required for the development of IT hardware, water protection and the principles of the circular economy for the entire life cycle of technologies.

Capgemini’s research focuses on four key areas of corporate IT: user hardware and devices, networks and communication systems, applications and data, and cloud computing.

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Technologies can help solve the climate crisis, but IT also causes its own CO₂-Footprint, which is currently worsening. Ralph Schneider-Maul, Head of the Center of Excellence Digital Manufacturing at Capgemini in Germany, states: “Due to the accelerated digitization in the wake of the pandemic, the emissions of our digital world are increasing rapidly.”

Nevertheless, sustainable IT has not yet been a priority for most companies and only a few include it in their sustainability agenda to reduce CO2 emissions. According to the study, only 22 percent of companies plan to reduce their CO in the next three years₂– Reduce the footprint by more than a quarter through sustainable IT.

This could also be due to the fact that companies are hardly aware of the carbon footprint of their IT. 57 percent of those surveyed do not know how big the CO₂– Your company’s IT footprint is.

In an industry comparison (see: Figure 2), banks (52 percent) and consumer goods manufacturers (51 percent) know this value most frequently, and the least common are companies in the manufacturing industry (28 percent) with CO₂-Emissions trusts their IT. Furthermore, across all industries, only 34 percent of those surveyed are aware that the production of a cell phone or laptop generates more CO₂Emissions occur over the entire period of use.

No plan, no know-how, no results

So it’s no wonder that, compared to other sustainability initiatives, measures for sustainable IT are currently receiving less attention and fewer resources. Half of the companies have a company-wide sustainability concept, but less than every fifth company (18 percent) has a comprehensive strategy for sustainable IT, including a schedule and clearly defined goals. Sustainable IT is on the agenda at board level for every third company (34 percent).

Today, only a minority of companies use appropriate means and uniform standards to record the environmental impact of their IT. 29 percent of the organizations surveyed determine their CO₂-Footprint using appropriate tools; 23 percent use key performance indicators (KPIs) to track their greenhouse gas emissions and their progress towards sustainable IT.

Overall, only 1 percent of the companies achieved their goals. Furthermore, a quarter of the companies (27 percent) have set emission costs for their IT operations so that the ecological footprint of IT can be identified across departments. Schneider-Maul’s demand: “Companies have to deal with the CO₂-Measure your IT footprint and minimize it through sustainable practices. “

Expectations towards technology companies when decarbonising IT

The leading technology companies (“big tech”), however, are pressing ahead with the decarbonization of IT operations, services and products and could thus influence the global perception of sustainable IT. According to Schneider-Maul, in addition to a sustainable software architecture, success will require all stakeholders in the company to be involved. He says: “Apart from the ecological necessity, the economic advantages of sustainable IT are also convincing – both in terms of business results and in terms of social reputation and customer satisfaction.”

The companies surveyed in the study, across all industries, expect the technology industry to help them introduce sustainable IT practices. Correspondingly, 52 percent of those surveyed are of the opinion that sustainability should be a dimension of the products and services of technology companies. About half (45 percent) of them are also willing to pay a premium of up to five percent for sustainable IT products and services. 61 percent would like to be supported by tech companies in recording the environmental impact of their own IT.

Recommendations for action to implement sustainable IT

For the rapid implementation of sustainable IT, the study authors recommend a three-stage approach with the following steps (see Figure 5):

• The development of a strategy for sustainable IT that is in line with the company’s overarching sustainability strategy

• The establishment of a governance process that includes dedicated teams for sustainable IT and is supported by the management

• The implementation of initiatives for sustainable IT, in which sustainability is a cornerstone of the software architecture