A more sustainable future starts with understanding the current landscape of your organization\u2019s emissions today. That means data, tracking, and metrics must be available to create clear, achievable goals.<\/p>\n

Alex Bazin, CTO at Lewis Silkin, began a project to measure their emissions impact and found that the majority came from their supply chain. Alex said they also discovered that some of their supply chain partners had a deep understanding of their individual emissions output. Taken altogether, they were able to create a complete picture of their Scope 3 emissions. Bazin now says he asks suppliers about their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) capabilities before engaging with them.<\/p>\n

Carolyn Brown, CIO at the British Medical Association, said ESG initiatives are no longer a \u201ctake it or leave it proposition,\u201d they\u2019ve become a required expectation. In fact, Laura Kendrick, CIO of IPG Mediabrands, said that with \u201cbig clients,\u201d tech leaders who would\u2019ve otherwise received a pass would now be dropped at the first phase of the pitch process without clearly outlined ESG values. She also noted, \u201c18 months ago, that probably wouldn\u2019t have been that critical.\u201d<\/p>\n

The impact of creating clear sustainability goals and actions isn\u2019t just about material concerns for our ecosystem anymore. When it comes to decision making on sustainability, it\u2019s about defining and balancing both the hard and soft goals.<\/p>\n

Similarly, the type of initiatives that James Maunder, CIO at the London Clinic, calls \u201cquick wins\u201d\u2014such as turning off PCs and switching lights to LEDs\u2014can help accelerate short-term goals. In the long-term view, the clinic is pushing to digitalize hospital paperwork to reduce waste.<\/p>\n

Maunder suggested that the London Clinic needs thought leadership from organizations like Cisco to not only challenge their sustainability goals, but to inspire them toward meeting those goals. This is how technology leaders can affect real change across organizations.<\/p>\n

Change starts with leadership<\/h2>\n

Action and thought leadership need to be in place from the top down. As Clare Ward, Amazon\u2019s Worldwide Technology Leader, Travel & Hospitality Solutions, explained, \u201cleaders create more than they consume.\u201d This mindset is precisely the kind that can go on to support more concrete goals and realize action plans.<\/p>\n

Benjamin Jones, CTO at GFK, suggested that while it might not be the case that everyone is well-versed in all things sustainability, big impacts can be made by \u201cindividuals who will champion elements of it and promote those for colleagues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Promoting sustainability from the inside means understanding the wider sustainability ecosystem\u2014who\u2019s talking about it and how. Jon Townsend, Director of Technology and Information Security at National Trust, said he feels that everyone has a role to play in promoting sustainability. That means shifting the conversation to focus on the reality that no one person is responsible for achieving sustainability. Rather, it\u2019s a holistic principle that everyone must consider at every turn.<\/p>\n

Educating from the top down<\/h2>\n

Not all roles influence sustainability equally. If a CIO isn\u2019t thinking about sustainability as part of their function, they\u2019re \u201cdoing something wrong,\u201d Townsend argued. C-suite leaders, unsurprisingly, are in the best position to influence sustainability initiatives.<\/p>\n

More than that, they can make sure that the entire IT department is acting with sustainability in mind. Going even further, they can help customers understand the path to net-zero emissions.<\/p>\n

The responsibility to monitor, plan, and educate both team members and customers starts at the top. This should be shared by senior leaders, who can then ensure the team at large is aware and aligned at every turn.<\/p>\n

With more and more organizations requiring ESG initiative visibility as part of their partnership pitch process, ongoing education on sustainability has become another crucial piece of the puzzle. Education programs, like the one being rolled out by IPG Mediabrands, promote sustainability goals internally and demonstrate to clients and the industry at large that an organization has something relevant and impactful to add to global sustainability efforts.<\/p>\n

In practice, internal education is the scaffolding that makes achieving sustainability goals possible. As Paul Coby, CIO of Persimmon Homes, pointed out, energy consumption by global data centers needs to be considered as organizations shift to cloud-based management models.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not an infinite resource you\u2019re consuming,\u201d Coby warned. Storing data unnecessarily creates waste. \u201cIn the same way that you wouldn\u2019t waste food, don\u2019t waste data,\u201d Townsend said\u2014a brilliant example of the kind of critical piece of education that technology leaders must embrace.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow\u2019s leaders are today\u2019s action-takers<\/h2>\n

Just as technologies are ever changing, ESG initiatives will be forever ongoing. This means that understanding our role now as action-takers and educators has ripple effects that will continue into the next quarter, year, and decade.<\/p>\n

Having visible and realistic ESG goals, robust internal education, accessible emissions metrics, and leadership with a passion for sustainability are ways we can make progress now. It\u2019s not just about protecting the planet for the next generation of IT leaders\u2014it\u2019s about doing business better.<\/p>\n