Regulators have played their part. Most notably, the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSDR) regulations took effect in January 2023. These require large European-based enterprises to report greenhouse gas emissions and climate risks.
Meanwhile, other international governing bodies have made similar moves. For instance, California passed State Bills 253 and SB 261, regulating corporate emissions and financial risks related to climate change.
Yet, sustainability is not only a matter of compliance; there is a business and CX case as well.
As Gurpreet Kohli, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Telecom & Networks at HCLTech, notes:
“Proactive and ambitious ESG objectives are a vehicle to greater customer acquisition, cost optimization, and bottom-line improvement.”
Some organizations have taken this guidance and run with it. Consider Walmart. It has introduced its Gigaton Project, which sets science-based targets for lower greenhouse gas emission reductions, collaborating with suppliers to achieve their objectives.
Meanwhile, Dell has set a Net Zero Goal, which includes a pledge to use 75 percent renewable source electricity by 2030 and 100 percent by 2040.
Reaching such targets requires significant innovation, and many technologies a business may wish to leverage are still in development.
Indeed, cloud sustainability technology will take two to five years to reach a “plateau of productivity”, according to the 2023 Gartner Hype Cycle for Cloud Computing.
Nevertheless, there are stepping stones an enterprise can take to lay the foundations for rapid, systematic progress in meeting ESG plans. Here are three excellent examples.
1. Implement “Circular Economy Practices” In Data Centers
Kohli recommends that large enterprises consider “circular economy practices” to offset greenhouse gasses in their data centers. He says:
“Think of recycling and refurbishing practices that will extend the lifespan of IT assets and effectively minimize emissions.”
In noting this, Kohli also suggests infrastructure and operations (I&O) leaders must consider more than lowering their company’s carbon footprint.
Effective resource utilization, water consumption, and e-waste management are additional pillars supporting a sustainable, consolidated data center.
Circular economy practices will aid in the reduction of e-waste generation. However, more innovation is necessary when it comes to water usage effectiveness (WUE).
Kohli proposes that transitioning to recycled or rainwater cooling systems can work well. Some immersive solutions may even deliver varying compute capacity levels to strategic locations.
2. Embrace Network Virtualization
Virtualization decouples various network resources – such as routers, switches, and links – from the underlying physical infrastructure.