Massive storms, extensive flooding, forests burning for months, melting glaziers… there will be fewer people in 2021 who can deny the activities of a growing world population is a major cause.
The ITC industry itself accounts for as much as 5% of carbon emissions (including manufacturing and distribution of hardware and the operation of IT and communication data centers, and other devices), but it has the ability to influence 95% of it.
2021 will not be the first year in which we address the issue of course, but there has never been a time when it has been more important. I’ve argued for years that the environment is a stakeholder in corporate and social responsibility strategies and it is positive that reporting and reducing carbon emissions is being legislated for. My hope for the year is that our industry can take the lead in going further to address the issues and make a difference. We need to think holistically. For instance:
- We should move product manufacturing to country less dependent on fossil fuels for factories, as these processes account for as much as 50% of a device’s lifetime emissions
- We should think about water as well as electricity usage in manufacturing processes
We should reduce activity as well as shift to renewable energy - We should improve the efficiency of necessary activities, which may mean sharing a data center, rather than building a new one
- We should learn to reuse existing products rather than always purchasing new ones
- We should choose cloud and collocation suppliers partially on their environmental credentials
One of the few positives of the pandemic has been a short pause in the constant pollution of modern society. When it’s finally overcome we shouldn’t aspire for things to return to normal, but use it as an opportunity to adopt cleaner activities. I will be involved in projects around this issue in the year – so please connect with me if you plan to as well.
Happy New Year!
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