5 Eki 2022
8 dk okuma süresi
Governments and businesses are using technology to fight climate change. Several promising tech-driven business models, new technologies, and artificial intelligence have fuelled expectations for rapid improvements in the fight against climate change. Although the climate goals of many organizations are high, enterprise technology leaders, such as chief information officers (CIOs), chief digital innovation officers (CDIOs), and chief technology officers (CTOs), among others, have not always been successful in bringing climate ambitions to fruition. One of the main causes is the dearth of verifiable data and obvious courses of action. Misconceptions and false information have blurred the picture of what CIOs and tech leaders should accomplish.
Technology can be used both as an offensive and a defensive tool for the green IT revolution. Utilizing technology and analytics, the offensive strategy reduces emissions by increasing operational effectiveness, substituting (moving emission-generating activities to cleaner alternatives), and offsetting emissions (purchasing carbon credits to compensate for unabated emissions). The defensive approach requires IT efforts to decrease emissions from the enterprise's technology estate.
The CIO's ability to respond swiftly and independently as the head of IT is greatest during defense operations. In particular, the IT components that a CIO has direct authority over are the subject of this article's discussion of defense. CIOs need to look at indirect emissions from technological equipment they purchase and discard as well as direct emissions from electricity use for IT operations, such as the operation of on-premises data centers and devices.
According to an analysis by McKinsey, some facts contradict several frequently held beliefs regarding corporate IT emissions. These facts include the sizeable quantity of emissions associated with technology, the proportion of emissions from end-user devices, the range of potential mitigation solutions, and the beneficial effects of switching to cloud computing.
Enterprise technology accounts for 1 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. About 350 to 400 megatons of carbon dioxide equivalent gases (CO2e) are produced by enterprise technology every year, which amounts to about 1% of all GHG emissions worldwide. This might not seem like a lot, but it is equal to the total amount of carbon dioxide emitted by the United Kingdom and nearly half of the emissions from shipping or aviation.
Communications, media, and services are the industry sectors that contribute most of the technology-related GHG emissions. The contribution of enterprise technology to overall emissions is particularly substantial for banking and investment services and insurance.
The biggest carbon culprits are end-user devices
Global carbon emissions from end-user devices, including laptops, tablets, cellphones, and printers, are 1.5 to 2.0 times more than data centers. Companies have many more end-user devices than servers in on-premises data centers, which is one factor. Additionally, the equipment is often updated considerably more frequently: the average refresh cycle for cellphones is two years, for laptops, it is four, and for printers, it is five. The industry standard for replacing servers is every five years; however, 19% of companies wait longer.
Even more concerning, emissions from end-user devices are projected to grow at a CAGR of 12.8% annually. The main reasons for these devices' emissions could be the focus of efforts to solve this. The manufacturing, upstream transportation and disposal sources account for around three-fourths of the emissions. The semiconductors that power the devices are a substantial contributor to these emissions.
Many CIOs consider the financial outlays required to modernize buildings or replace equipment. However, research shows that CIOs can effectively reduce carbon emissions without making a big investment—and in some circumstances, even make a profit.
In general, sourcing adjustments can reduce emissions from end-user devices by 50 to 60 percent or more, mostly by purchasing fewer devices per person and prolonging the lifespan of each device through recycling. These alternatives won't cost anything and will cut costs, but businesses want to consider how they will affect employee satisfaction.
Additionally, businesses can recycle their equipment more aggressively; currently, less than 10% of hardware is recycled by 89 percent of businesses. 6 CIOs can exert pressure on vendors to employ environmentally friendly technology, especially since businesses in the semiconductor industry have already stepped up their commitment to reducing emissions. Optimizing business travel and data center computing requirements and boosting the cloud users to manage workloads are other low-cost, high-impact activities.
Cloud to the rescue
Power use effectiveness (PUE) optimization for on-site data centers is expensive and has a limited impact on carbon emissions. To minimize PUE, a corporation could quadruple its infrastructure and cloud spending, but that would only result in a 15–20% reduction in carbon emissions. The impact of structural upgrades to data centers and optimal layouts are limited, and many businesses have already adopted them. More drastic remedies, like relocating data centers to cooler areas or buying new cooling equipment, are unaffordable.
Migrating workloads to the cloud is a more effective option. The average PUE for an on-premises data center is 1.57, so hyperscalers (also known as cloud service providers) and co-locators are investing significantly to become greener through actions like their own green energy purchases and investments in ultra-efficient data centers with a PUE equal to or less than 1.10. According to McKinsey, if businesses invested approximately 250 percent more on average than they do now for their data centers and cloud presence, they could only attain a 1.3 PUE score for their data center.
Businesses could cut the carbon emissions from their data centers by more than 55 percent—or around 40 megatons of CO2e globally, or the total carbon emissions of Switzerland—with careful cloud migration and effective cloud utilization.
How to reduce IT's carbon footprint?
CIOs will be on the front lines as pressure on businesses and governments to reduce carbon emissions grows, with technology playing a crucial role in achieving those goals. The challenge will be to lower IT's carbon footprint while providing consumers and employees with high-quality, affordable technology offerings.
The defensive measures might take three to four years to complete on average. However, CIOs who take prompt, precise action can reduce carbon emissions by 15 to 20 percent in the first year with little cost.
CIOs have various options, especially working with the CEO and the board. However, three actions they can take today will prepare the company for longer-term initiatives. These measures include a performance management system, important metrics, and sourcing strategies.
Sourcing strategies
The quickest and most effective defensive tactic for lowering IT carbon emissions is to alter the technology sourcing policy. The quantity of carbon emitted by Hong Kong might be reduced by roughly 30% by optimizing the number of devices to the best-performing organizations' standards. For instance, the average company has one printer per eight persons, but top-quartile businesses have one printer for every 16 employees.
Because of the development of 5G and ever-improving processing and computational capability, this sourcing change does not always worsen the user experience. Instead, the primary processing function can now be performed on the server. Devices can be less powerful and use a lot less energy as a result. This is essentially a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model in which deluxe and user-friendly experiences take place on the server rather than the device. Stable networks, less resource-intensive device coding, edge computing capabilities, and a move in product offerings to more effective platforms will all be necessary for this strategy (for example, the cloud).
The CIO and the business's head of procurement will need to work together on this initiative to examine and alter the foundation for purchase decisions as well as device refresh timetables and device-to-person ratios. Cost-benefit analyses are frequently used in procurement, and for a good reason. To take carbon dioxide emissions into account, that strategy will need to be expanded. Suppliers should be included in the collaborative effort, and all stakeholders should cooperate to create plans that will benefit everyone to the greatest extent possible.
A more strategic sourcing approach goes beyond end-user hardware. CIOs should, for instance, seek green sources of the electricity IT consumes. CIOs can instruct procurement to use power purchase agreements to offset carbon use if these sources are not accessible. Additionally, CIOs can establish green requirements for their suppliers and contractors by requiring GHG emissions declarations and incorporating them into their selection criteria.
Green ROI metric for technology costs
Only when firms measure their "green returns" will significant development in green technology be made. However, most green measures today ignore cost and savings, ultimately rendering them useless. An improved statistic emphasizes the cost per tonne of carbon avoided (accounting for costs saved as well). Emissions are calculated using sophisticated models for the entire life cycle, including manufacture, transportation, and disposal.
Further criteria CIOs can evaluate suppliers, manufacturers, and service providers include how advanced they are at recycling and refurbishing electronics, designing circular components, extending product life cycles through better design, higher-quality manufacturing, and more durable materials, providing repair services, and reselling to customers.
Technical debt reduction and business strategy are just two of the many considerations that should be considered when making IT investment decisions. In addition to these variables, businesses should institutionalize a transparent green ROI statistic for use in all IT decision-making processes, including requests for proposals (RFPs). By doing this, businesses will be able to see more fully how their technology affects carbon emissions.
Green measurement systems
Creating a green ROI metric is just the beginning. Similar to how businesses monitor real-time computer and network usage for cloud-based apps, CIOs must create a performance baseline, measure progress against the baseline, and track the effect in real-time. CIOs can make quick adjustments because this type of measuring system ensures they know what is working and what isn't.
Putting green measurements into action can be challenging. Some businesses calculate their carbon footprint yearly, but the results are outdated. This frequently occurs when businesses are adamant about measuring every single carbon emission—a commendable but time-consuming endeavor. Instead, CIOs should focus on metrics that have the most impact, such as keeping track of the number of end-user devices that have been acquired and are currently in use, the average time spent using each device, and the ratio of devices to users. Another quick-win strategy for CIOs is integrating power and emissions monitoring into major technological assets while collaborating with outside providers, such as electricity companies, to track usage in real time.
One or two big victories won't be enough to tackle climate change because those aren't available yet effectively. Companies and governments will need to intervene in numerous areas if they want to make a genuine difference. Many areas have a significant technological role, but CIOs and tech leaders must act swiftly.
İlgili Postlar
Technical Support
444 5 INV
444 5 468
info@innova.com.tr