Another big player is now on stage with a solid tool to calculate the carbon footprint of IT. Under the slogan ‘Use IT as a tool towards a more sustainable carbon-neutral future’, Google is now making a new CO2e calculator available to Devoteam customers. The calculator has been developed based on Google’s own sustainability requirements, regarded as best in class. You can read more and register here.
According to the BBC, our IT equipment, the Internet and supporting systems account for 3.7% of total global CO2 emissions. The amount of emissions is predicted to double by 2025. Our electricity spend is increasingly coming from so-called renewable sources. But the reality is that, according to Gartner, between 70% and 80% of emissions from IT equipment come from manufacturing. So it’s not enough to switch to renewable energy in super-efficient hyper-scale data centres. We also need to reduce our consumption by working smarter. For many businesses and organisations, migrating to a cloud solution where data storage and supporting systems are more efficient will save them a significant amount of CO2e emissions and contribute to their journey towards net-zero emissions. Read more here about Google’s work and goal to match the total electricity consumption by Google Cloud with renewable energy by 2030.
How can Devoteam help?
At Devoteam, we are experienced in helping clients, locally and globally, to gain an overview of their carbon footprint from IT, and then provide tangible recommendations on how to reduce CO2e emissions while increasing business growth. We find that many of our clients are on track in making the transition to a sustainable use of IT, but we also see that there are a number of challenges and bumps along the way that will turn into bad business if not handled correctly..
It remains a major challenge that standards, certifications and measurements for sustainable use of IT are not aligned globally and in many cases not even nationally or within a sector. However, all this is changing as the EU rolls out a new so-called taxonomy for sustainable investment and activities. This taxonomy must be used by all companies with more than 500 employees for financial reporting purposes at the end of each year. Several national governments have similar demands put in place, including Denmark and other European countries.
We are seeing a significant increase in demand for Google’s advanced cloud solutions for infrastructure, data analytics and application development. We are delighted that Google is also ambitiously sharing their best practices and inspiring more companies and organisations to take their carbon reduction further.
Thomas Thejn
G Cloud Business Director, Devoteam Technology Consulting.
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