Sustainability and the rise of “green IT”
As environmental issues such as global warming and climate change become more serious, the pursuit of “sustainability” in corporate activities has changed from a social responsibility to an essential management issue. The IT industry is no exception, and there are growing concerns about environmental impact, such as increased power consumption in data centers due to the advancement of digitalization and the issue of electronic waste (e-waste).
This is why the concept of “green IT” is attracting attention. This includes both efforts to save energy and reduce the environmental impact of IT infrastructure and equipment itself (IT of Green), and efforts to utilize IT to reduce the environmental impact of society as a whole (IT by Green). As investors and consumers become increasingly strict, the implementation of green IT strategies has become an important element that is directly linked to a company’s brand value and ability to raise funds.
Specific measures and future prospects for realizing Green IT
The first concrete approach companies can take to promote green IT is “migration to the cloud.” Rather than running your own inefficient servers, you can significantly reduce your overall carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by using data centers from mega cloud providers that utilize advanced energy-saving technology and renewable energy. Cloud vendors are also strongly promoting the carbon neutralization of their data centers.
On the hardware side, optimization of equipment lifecycle management is required. It is important to operate with a circular economy in mind, such as selecting servers and PCs with excellent power efficiency, improving operating rates by consolidating servers using virtualization technology, and appropriately recycling and refurbishing used equipment.
Furthermore, using IT technology to improve the energy efficiency of office spaces and reduce CO2 emissions associated with transportation, such as promoting smart buildings and remote work, is also an important initiative of “IT by Green.” In the future, all companies will be required to accurately visualize CO2 emissions from their IT infrastructure and appropriately disclose information on progress toward reduction targets.