Businesses need to focus less on how IT contributes to their environmental impact and more on how IT can help lessen the environmental impact of business operations and the supply chain or that of enterprise products and services, according to Gartner Inc,. Speaking ahead of Gartner’s Symposium/ITxpo in Cannes next month, analysts warned that although making IT more green must remain a concern, there are areas where deploying more IT can significantly contribute to making an organisation more environmentally sustainable.
"Until now, most of the focus of green IT has been on IT as a liability for the environment," said Simon Mingay, research vice-president at Gartner. "However, IT is only one of many contributors to the environmental footprint of an organisation alongside many other factors such as product design, supply chain, production, logistics, travel and procurement. The fact is that IT has the potential to have a positive environmental impact on many of these other factors and in turn reduce an organisation’s overall environmental footprint."
According to Mr Mingay, chief information officers (CIOs) need to be aware of what constitutes the environmental impact of the whole organisation and to what extent IT can be a liability or an asset in this respect. In order to do so they should consider the three degrees of IT’s environmental impact.
First Degree Impact - Gartner defines this as the impact of IT itself which includes electronic waste and asset disposition; consumption of non-renewable resources such as energy in the data centre for desktop computers, printers and networking gear; the energy embodied in the full life cycle of each asset; and user behaviour.
Second Degree Impact – This is the impact of IT on business operations and the supply chain, regardless of whether the end result is a product, service or combination of the two. This includes the environmental effects of material and energy consumption; emissions or waste from manufacturing and all operational processes; paper consumption for administrative purposes; lighting, heating, and cooling for buildings; workforce commuting and mobility; vehicle fleets; supply chain impact; waste disposal and so forth. The energy component of this becomes part of the ‘embodied energy’ in a product or service – that is the total energy used in its manufacture and distribution.
Third Degree Impact – This is the environmental impact in the ‘in use’ phase or delivery phase of the enterprise’s products and services - that is, the direct impacts of procurement and use of products and services
Different industries will experience the degrees of impact in different ways and this will impact how an organisation defines the environmental value of IT. For a car manufacturer, the energy that goes into assembling cars, manufacturing components by its supply chain and having them shipped, performing R&D and testing is all part of the second degree of impact. The fuel used for the cars and their carbon dioxide emissions are part of the third degree of impact and the IT that runs the factory, as well as all other processes constitutes the first degree of impact.
"Although we must be careful not to over generalise, once you start looking at the relative weight of each degree on a company's overall environmental impact, the differences across industry sectors are quite striking," said Mr Mingay. "In most manufacturing industries where there is a significant processing of materials or where the process is particularly energy-intensive, IT's proportionate first degree contribution to the environment is tiny, which suggests that the best approach would be to use IT to minimise the second and third degree effects." Conversely, he said that IT's proportionate contribution to the organisation's environmental footprint becomes more relevant in sectors such as financial services and government where processing and transformations are mostly related to information rather than materials and where transportation and travel do not play a great role.
"Understanding where an organisation's operations have the greatest effect on the environment - as well as the influence of product or service life cycles - is critical when determining where the most impact can be realised through IT innovation and investment," Mr Mingay added. "IT and the internet have transformed society and the commercial world. IT has a vital role to play in improving the environmental sustainability of our society, economies, businesses and public services."
Mr Mingay said the role of IT can and must move swiftly forward from being a liability to becoming an asset for an organisation’s environmental footprint, through reducing the carbon footprint of traditional production and consumption processes. "Environmental concerns are unlikely to yet be a primary driver for IT-intensive investments but these concerns will become increasingly important to support the business case and defining the environmental value of IT will become a crucial business skill," he concluded.
Green IT at Symposium/ITxpo 2007, Cannes
Mr Mingay will take part in a panel discussion entitled ‘Green IT: Good for Business?’ on Monday 5 November 2007 in Cannes, France. He will also present a number of presentations on the subject of Green IT at the event.
"Until now, most of the focus of green IT has been on IT as a liability for the environment," said Simon Mingay, research vice-president at Gartner. "However, IT is only one of many contributors to the environmental footprint of an organisation alongside many other factors such as product design, supply chain, production, logistics, travel and procurement. The fact is that IT has the potential to have a positive environmental impact on many of these other factors and in turn reduce an organisation’s overall environmental footprint."
According to Mr Mingay, chief information officers (CIOs) need to be aware of what constitutes the environmental impact of the whole organisation and to what extent IT can be a liability or an asset in this respect. In order to do so they should consider the three degrees of IT’s environmental impact.
First Degree Impact - Gartner defines this as the impact of IT itself which includes electronic waste and asset disposition; consumption of non-renewable resources such as energy in the data centre for desktop computers, printers and networking gear; the energy embodied in the full life cycle of each asset; and user behaviour.
Second Degree Impact – This is the impact of IT on business operations and the supply chain, regardless of whether the end result is a product, service or combination of the two. This includes the environmental effects of material and energy consumption; emissions or waste from manufacturing and all operational processes; paper consumption for administrative purposes; lighting, heating, and cooling for buildings; workforce commuting and mobility; vehicle fleets; supply chain impact; waste disposal and so forth. The energy component of this becomes part of the ‘embodied energy’ in a product or service – that is the total energy used in its manufacture and distribution.
Third Degree Impact – This is the environmental impact in the ‘in use’ phase or delivery phase of the enterprise’s products and services - that is, the direct impacts of procurement and use of products and services
Different industries will experience the degrees of impact in different ways and this will impact how an organisation defines the environmental value of IT. For a car manufacturer, the energy that goes into assembling cars, manufacturing components by its supply chain and having them shipped, performing R&D and testing is all part of the second degree of impact. The fuel used for the cars and their carbon dioxide emissions are part of the third degree of impact and the IT that runs the factory, as well as all other processes constitutes the first degree of impact.
"Although we must be careful not to over generalise, once you start looking at the relative weight of each degree on a company's overall environmental impact, the differences across industry sectors are quite striking," said Mr Mingay. "In most manufacturing industries where there is a significant processing of materials or where the process is particularly energy-intensive, IT's proportionate first degree contribution to the environment is tiny, which suggests that the best approach would be to use IT to minimise the second and third degree effects." Conversely, he said that IT's proportionate contribution to the organisation's environmental footprint becomes more relevant in sectors such as financial services and government where processing and transformations are mostly related to information rather than materials and where transportation and travel do not play a great role.
"Understanding where an organisation's operations have the greatest effect on the environment - as well as the influence of product or service life cycles - is critical when determining where the most impact can be realised through IT innovation and investment," Mr Mingay added. "IT and the internet have transformed society and the commercial world. IT has a vital role to play in improving the environmental sustainability of our society, economies, businesses and public services."
Mr Mingay said the role of IT can and must move swiftly forward from being a liability to becoming an asset for an organisation’s environmental footprint, through reducing the carbon footprint of traditional production and consumption processes. "Environmental concerns are unlikely to yet be a primary driver for IT-intensive investments but these concerns will become increasingly important to support the business case and defining the environmental value of IT will become a crucial business skill," he concluded.
Green IT at Symposium/ITxpo 2007, Cannes
Mr Mingay will take part in a panel discussion entitled ‘Green IT: Good for Business?’ on Monday 5 November 2007 in Cannes, France. He will also present a number of presentations on the subject of Green IT at the event.
