Motivations & Factors Driving and Inhibiting Green IS

Reference:
Thomas SPILLER (SAS, Belgium), Charting a Path to Sustainability – How data, metrics and analytics can increase energy efficiency and help fight climate change
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/events/cf/ee09/document.cfm?doc_id=10483

(download)

The ICT Industry Carbon Footprint (The 2% Figure)

From Ormala, E, 2009 of Nokia Corp

from http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/events/cf/ee09/document.cfm?doc_id=10530

Gartner Estimates ICT Industry Accounts for 2 Percent of Global CO2 Emissions

from: http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=503867

STAMFORD, Conn., April 26, 2007 — The global information and communications technology (ICT) industry accounts for approximately 2 percent of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, a figure equivalent to aviation, according to a new estimate by Gartner, Inc. Despite the overall environmental value of IT, Gartner believes this is unsustainable.(ICT INDUSTRY AS CO2 EMITTER)

At the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2007: Emerging Trends, taking place here today, Gartner analysts examined the impact the ICT industry is having on the environment, as well as the steps the industry should take to become greener. (THE TWO-SIDES OF ICT INDUSTRY: AS PROBLEM CONTRIBUTOR & AS ENABLER-CUM-THE SOLUTION ITSELF)

Gartner’s estimate of the 2 percent of global CO2 emissions that ICT is responsible for includes the in-use phase of PCs, servers, cooling, fixed and mobile telephony, local area network (LAN), office telecommunications and printers. Gartner has also included an estimate of the embodied (that used in design, manufacture and distribution) energy in large-volume devices, namely PCs and cell phones. It also included all commercial and governmental IT and telecommunications infrastructure worldwide, but not consumer electronics other than cell phones and PCs. (ICT INDUSTRY & IT ARTEFACTS AS PROBLEM CONTRIBUTOR)

Until now, few organizations were concerned about power costs and CO2 emissions. Although there is still a significant range of views and levels of awareness around the world and across industries, there is no doubt about the increased awareness of climate change. Intense media coverage has contributed to making “environmentalists” out of millions of people worldwide, which is beginning to affect consumer and business buying decisions. The issue is no longer about whether the enterprise needs to care, and more about the risk associated with doing nothing.(STATUS/LEVEL OF AWARENESS BY THE ICT INDUSTRY & ORGANIZATIONS)

“During the next five years, increasing financial, environmental, legislative and risk-related pressures will force IT organizations to get ‘greener’ (DRIVING FACTORS); that is to say, more environmentally sustainable,” said Simon Mingay, research vice president, Gartner. “When enough buyers start demanding it and we get beyond the superficial, being ‘less bad’ will no longer be anywhere near acceptable enough. That point will be reached in 2007 and 2008 for some geographies, particularly Europe, with other countries and regions taking longer.”

According to Gartner, the ICT industry needs to gain a better understanding of the full life cycle of ICT products and services, and innovate to reduce environmental impact. This does not currently happen because of the lack of a commercial or legislative need to do so. However, Gartner anticipates that buyers will ask more detailed questions about life cycle assessments during the next three years. (1. THE ROLES OF IT IN ECO-SUSTAINABILITY; 2. THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF IT MANAGERS REGARDING ECO-SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES; 3. GROWING CUSTOMER DEMAND FOR COMPANIES (VENDORS) TO BE GREEN ESP. IN IT SOURCING ASPECTS)

Vendors are being forced to gain a better understanding of the life cycle due to new legislation and directives in countries and regions worldwide, as well as an increasing interest from clients in life cycle assessment,” said Mr. Mingay. “The areas for innovation to reduce CO2 emissions are in the reduction of the materiality, energy consumption and use of hazardous substances throughout the life cycle, in addition to increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of recycling and the use of recycled materials.(THIS IS WHERE MY "GREEN IS" CONSTRUCT FITS IN. AS PER MY HOME BUTTON, "GREEN IS" REFERS TO THE PRACTICE OF USING IS FOR ECO-SUSTAINABILITY (Ijab, Molla & Teoh, 2010). THUS, THIS IS WHERE THE INTERSECTION BETWEEN IS & ECO-SUSTAINABILITY TAKES CENTRE STAGE --> THE ROLES OF IS IN ECO-SUSTAINABILITY SPACE)

IT organizations, on the other hand, need to start by familiarizing themselves with existing enterprise environmental objectives and corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies. “Few IT management teams are aware of their enterprise’s CSR and environmental policies, and they have not mapped out the implications for their own activities,” said Mr. Mingay. “They need to decide whether to take a proactive response, a measured response following the market and legislation, or a passive approach that just meets legal requirements. The roles, responsibilities and programs will be very different for each.” (STRATEGIES/OPTIONS AVAILABLE TO BE ADOPTED BY IT ORGANIZATIONS IN RESPONSE TO THE ISSUE. IF PROACTIVE STRATEGY ENTAILS XXX ROLES, XXX RESPONSIBILITIES, XXX PROGRAMS/INITIATIVES; IF MEASURED STRATEGY ENTAILS YYY ROLES .... AND IF PASSIVE APPROACH ENTAILS ZZZ ROLES, ZZZ RESPONSIBILITIES, ZZZ INITIATIVES --> MATRIX OF OPTIONS)

Gartner recommends IT organizations develop a strategy to address the current negative effects of using ICT. The growth in power requirements and levels of waste that it produces renders the current state unsustainable. Such a strategy would include:

  • Start measuring power consumption
  • Consume fewer servers and printers by increasing utilization – virtualize servers
  • Stop over-provisioning; improve capacity planning
  • Improve the efficiency of cooling
  • Turn power management on, use a low power state or turn equipment off after hours
  • Extend the life of assets by reusing within the enterprise and externally
  • Ensure and validate the correct disposition of all electronic equipment
  • Analyze all waste

(MORE LIKE INTERVENTION AND PREVENTION STRATEGIES: SHORT TERM SOLUTIONS. BUT GREEN IS MAY ENTAIL LONG TERM SOLUTIONS INVOLVING CHANGE IN BEHAVIORS)

Once initiatives are in place to reduce the negative effect of using ICT, Gartner recommends IT leaders develop initiatives that leverage ICT to reduce the enterprise’s overall environmental presence. Examples would include implementing travel-substitution applications or CSR compliance information management. (THIS IS MORE LIKE "GREEN IS". ALSO TACKLING THE TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE DIMENSIONS FOR LONGER TERM SOLUTIONS)

This will lead to 50 percent of IT organizations declaring an environmental imperative by 2010, and more than one third of IT organizations having one or more environmental criteria in their top six buying criteria.

“’Going green’ is no longer the reserve of a minority ‘doing the right thing’; it’s becoming an essential activity for all IT leaders,” said Mr. Mingay.