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?

Understanding the impact of IT hardware equipment

IT hardware from servers, network equipment, computers, monitors, tablets, and smartphones that an enterprise or organization uses significantly impacts your Scope 2 (energy consumption) and Scope 3 (material use) greenhouse gas emissions throughout the whole life cycle, especially during production and disposal. The extraction of raw materials, such as rare-earth metals and other materials needed in the manufacturing process when creating this equipment, can result in loss of biodiversity, depletion of finite resources, and generates enormous volumes of toxic waste. This also generates social inequalities related to using forced labor in some countries to obtain such rare metals. In many cases, finite resources such as lithium are used to manufacture smartphones and batteries (ISWA 2020). Overall, estimates indicate that producing these nearly equals or exceeds the carbon cost of using them (European Environmental Bureau 2019). The...