10 Ways IT Leaders Can Encourage Employees to Be Greener
No matter how big or small the effort, any steps that reduce emissions help the environment and help a company reach its climate impact goals. Here are some ideas to encourage employees to become more sustainable.
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A World Economic Forum (WEF) study found that data centers use between 1% and 2% of all electrical power generated in the world. However, if brought to scale, WEF confirms that digital technologies could reduce emissions by 20% by 2050.
“Despite sustainability being a top priority, most investments in technology fail to address environmental inefficiencies. A recent survey we commissioned found that even as tech’s carbon footprint grows, 59% of sustainability managers say sustainability is likely to be overlooked during the technology vendor selection process,” says Pure Storage’s Rosemarin.
“This could be allayed by getting sustainability managers’ input earlier, but nearly 2 in 3 (64%) say they only become involved after the purchasing process has already begun. The truth is, while digital transformation has spurred IT professionals to prioritize reducing their carbon footprint, they often miss opportunities to identify solutions that support productivity while minimizing impact,” Rosemarin adds.
The European Commission estimates that 80% of a product’s carbon emissions are determined during the design phase.
“That is why IT and sustainability leaders must empower those who create the products we use every day with accessible data. These engineers can make more sustainable design decisions and enact meaningful change, we just need to provide them with the tools to do so,” says Neil D’Souza, Founder and CEO of Makersite, and who is a sustainability expert with 25+ years of experience guiding companies to reduce their carbon impact with technology.
Invest the money necessary to help design teams find more sustainable paths in their designs.
“Currently, manufacturers, engineers, and product designers struggle to make informed decisions during the design phase due to outdated data systems and data silos. They simply don’t have access to the right data, and enough of that data to confidently and efficiently see where progress can be made. To do the research manually would take weeks or even months that design teams don’t have to spare,” Makersite’s D’Souza says.
Redundancy is a serial climate killer.
“Datacenter footprint is high. Imagine HR sending a PDF to all employees in a company that employs 10,000 people. That's 10,000 redundant copies processed and sitting on a server. If we use a link to a folder in Dropbox or Google Drive, for example, we’re greatly reducing the carbon footprint,” says Michelle Li, founder at Clever Carbon.
IT should reduce data center climate impact in every way possible, including websites and other items that make large data center and energy demands.
Take steps to make websites “more sustainable such as reducing image sizes, optimizing data center traffic, avoiding the use of videos, etc,” says Clever Carbon’s Li.
The Environmental Protection Agency reports that “transportation is the largest contributor of US greenhouse gas emissions (28%)” in terms of direct emissions. Driving is the top way that employees and residents contribute to poor air quality.
“Working from home whenever possible is the clearest way to lessen these impacts. However, if teleworking isn’t an option for your company, we recommend encouraging and embracing greener alternatives for commutes like biking, walking, or taking public transit,” says Ashley Jordan, corporate campaign advocate at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a non-profit environmental advocacy organization. Check out the NRDC’s report for more information and ideas.
Expand your company’s recycled paper purchases program to more than just printer paper and packaging. Choose recycled single-use tissue products such as toilet paper, paper towels, and facial tissues to save on carbon emissions and water usage.
“Recycled content tissue has just one-third of the carbon emissions and uses half as much water compared to tissue products made from forest fiber. Similarly, choosing recycled content office paper, as well as avoiding any unnecessary printing, are more climate- and forest-friendly options for your office,” says NRDC’s Jordan.
Food options can vary significantly in terms of carbon footprint. Making different choices for the cafeteria menu, food deliveries, and event catering can go far in protecting the environment.
“When placing catering orders for meetings or events, providing plant-based protein options is far more sustainable than options like beef, which is about 34 times more climate pollution-intensive than beans and lentils, pound for pound. Ordering drinks and other food items in bulk containers will also help cut down on packaging waste,” says NRDC’s Jordan.
Too often, IT teams and corporate sustainability managers work separately and with little to no communication before decisions are made by either of them.
“By making sustainability initiatives a priority in tech procurement, operations, and development processes, IT can become a trailblazer in reducing environmental impact. Ultimately, encouraging the collaboration of IT teams and corporate sustainability managers can address common obstacles and drive environmental efficiencies across the organization,” says Pure Storage’s Rosemarin.
Don’t assume that everyone knows the options. Share hard data to facilitate good decision-making and spur new sustainability ideas.
“Even in IT, many professionals have no idea how energy-intensive certain computing tasks, such as tracking cryptocurrency are, or that lower-energy-consumption methods have been developed,” says Shel Horowitz, a green/social transformation expert and award-winning author of 10 books including “Guerrilla Marketing to Heal the World.”
“Don't just collect the ideas but evaluate them, bring the better ones to meetings, crediting the person who suggested them, and figure out implementation for the best ones. If an idea saves significant money, consider a bonus for the employee and perhaps for all the team members. This will leave employees feeling that their voices matter and empower them to do more,” Horowitz says.
Don’t assume that everyone knows the options. Share hard data to facilitate good decision-making and spur new sustainability ideas.
“Even in IT, many professionals have no idea how energy-intensive certain computing tasks, such as tracking cryptocurrency are, or that lower-energy-consumption methods have been developed,” says Shel Horowitz, a green/social transformation expert and award-winning author of 10 books including “Guerrilla Marketing to Heal the World.”
“Don't just collect the ideas but evaluate them, bring the better ones to meetings, crediting the person who suggested them, and figure out implementation for the best ones. If an idea saves significant money, consider a bonus for the employee and perhaps for all the team members. This will leave employees feeling that their voices matter and empower them to do more,” Horowitz says.
Pressure from consumers, competitors, legislators, investors, and activists continues to build and shape corporate climate strategies. Companies worldwide are seeking ways to meet carbon-neutrality goals but “net-zero approaches are generally out of reach for most businesses at present,” according to a study by Giving Green, a climate advisory and evaluator organization.
“We found that many businesses, especially SMEs, are finding it difficult to reduce all or even much of their emissions at present -- due, for example, to reliance on the grid, complex supply chain factors, or lack of resources for a dedicated team, hired consultants, or paid platforms,” says Dan Stein, founder at Giving Green.
Even so, all steps that reduce emissions help the environment and help a company reach its climate impact goals. This slideshow points to ideas and efforts that your IT department can use to encourage employees to help with the overall green effort.
“Encouraging green practices within IT teams and across all employees is not just about reducing costs or meeting regulatory requirements -- it's about recognizing the pivotal role IT plays in sustainability and leveraging it to drive positive change,” says Shawn Rosemarin, vice-president R&D, customer engineering, at Pure Storage.
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