Book Image

Sustainable IT Playbook for Technology Leaders

By : Niklas Sundberg
Book Image

Sustainable IT Playbook for Technology Leaders

By: Niklas Sundberg

Overview of this book

We are at a critical point in human history. Humanity is under threat, but all is not lost. We can take action! But how? Sustainable IT Playbook for Technology Leaders will show you how. It will walk you through the construction and implementation of a sustainable IT strategy and enable you to do your bit for the future of mankind. The book is split into three parts. Part I details the “why” and the clear and present danger that humanity faces today: the climate crisis. How did we get here, what are the immediate threats, what are the planetary boundaries that we need to peel back to safe levels, and what impact does IT have on society at large? Part II will focus on the "what.” It examines the nitty-gritty details of what we can do to unlock significant returns on sustainable investments toward a more sustainable future. Part III, the final part of the book, focuses on the “how.” How do you turn your ideas into action? What do you need to do to establish your baseline and your direction of travel towards your objective? This part provides tangible case studies and explains how you can start your journey today to begin delivering global and impactful objectives. By the end of this book, you’ll be able to plan, implement, and communicate a sustainable IT strategy and set yourself apart as a progressive technology leader.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
1
Part 1: Why Is Sustainable IT Important?
4
Part 2: What Are Sustainable IT Practices?
12
Part 3: How Do You Accelerate Sustainable IT?

Sustainable IT benefits from cloud computing

One way to help businesses reduce CO2 is by shifting inefficient workloads to the cloud. There are significant sustainability benefits that can be unlocked by moving from on-premises to the cloud, such as the following:

  • Reductions in energy consumption
  • Lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
  • Higher utilization of carbon-free energy (CFE)
  • Higher asset utilization
  • Preservation of water
  • Circular IT hardware management
  • Better scope-3 management

With meticulous planning and a focus on execution, it can be a critical contribution to environmental sustainability. The analyst organization International Data Corporation (IDC) expects that more than 1 billion metric tons of CO2 from 2021 to 2024 could be prevented by accelerating the shift to the cloud. IDC suggests that “aggregating compute resources generates higher efficiencies, resulting in a substantial reduction in CO2 emissions.” By shifting...