IT’s double role in sustainability

This is blog 1 in the blog series about Green IT

For many organisations in the Netherlands, sustainability as part of corporate social responsibility is a priority issue. Many efforts are made in terms of energy saving and climate transition. We are switching to electric cars, our bicycle or public transport, use green energy, serve only vegetarian lunches, recycle our waste, and so on. But did you know that IT contributes substantially to environmental damage through the intensive use of energy and non-renewable resources?

How to define Green IT

All around the world, researchers, suppliers, users and IT experts are working together and sharing knowledge to reduce the environmental impact of the IT sector while in the meantime we are looking at ways to increase the positive contribution of digitalisation. This movement is referred to as Green IT. According to Wikipedia (1), this entails a smart approach to designing, producing, using and disposing of computer equipment, in order to keep the impact on nature as small as possible.

Although this definition stresses computer equipment, it is just as important to consider the software programs we run on computers and how people use this technology, both at work and at home. Climate activists actually prefer to talk about Greener IT, since IT inevitably implies the use of raw materials and the production of emissions, and for that reason can never be or become fully green.

ICT lifecycle

One way of determining how ICT affects the environment is to examine the ICT lifecycle. That is, all the steps involved from the design and production to how the ICT is used and what happens to it when it is no longer used. Scientist Saida Helali has captured this lifecycle in the diagram below.

Figure 1 – Lifecycle of ICT equipment (2)

When you apply the lifecycle to environmental damage, you can sum up this damage in four points:

1. The environment is polluted by the production of equipment;

2. Non-renewable resources are used, for instance raw materials for ICT equipment;

3. A lot of energy is consumed, both during the production and the use of the equipment;

4. When the equipment is disposed of, it causes pollution. This is also referred to as electronic waste, or e-waste.

Research by the University of Lancaster shows that the production and use of IT is currently responsible for 2.1 to 3.9 per cent of the global greenhouse emissions (including carbon emission). The researchers estimate that this percentage will reach between 6 and 14 per cent in 2024 (3). Clearly, we are facing a growing problem.

Two faces

So far in this blog, we have looked at IT’s negative impact on the environment. It is however important to note that digitalisation can also have a positive impact on environmental matters. Accordingly, the above-named scientist Saida Helali distinguishes between two forms of Green IT (4):

● Green IT 1.0, also known as 'Green for IT', is about the ICT industry’s responsibility to become more eco-friendly. In this case, companies try to reduce the environmental impact of computer infrastructure, hardware and software;

● Green IT 2.0, or 'IT for Green', focuses on IT use in other sectors such as agriculture and the energy sector, in order to reduce environmental damage and the associated costs.

Positive impact of IT

In other words, Green IT has two faces. If we look at the production of hardware such as network equipment, and the energy required to store and view data, then the ICT sector produces as much CO2 emission as commercial aviation. On the other hand, we see that ICT also plays a positive role in gaining a better understanding of the climate problem and that it helps to find solutions. For example, thanks to ICT we can work from home, doing away with the need for daily commuting. That means less travelling and therefore less CO2 emission.

Another example: by using smart meters we can take much more targeted steps. Smart thermostat allow us to regulate the indoor temperature per room, so we no longer need to heat up the whole office building but only the rooms where people are actually at work.

We can see comparable developments in the world of artificial intelligence. Thanks to faster data analyses, we gain a better understanding of which measures do and which do not work, and how we can adapt our course most effectively. You can analyse energy data in real-time and use this information to forecast energy peaks, to optimise energy sources, and to dynamically adjust the energy supply. This helps organisations to work more energy efficiently and to waste less energy.

Balance between positive and negative impact

Despite ICT’s positive contribution, French research commissioned by the European Parliament’s Green faction has shown that the ICT sector currently adds more to global warming then that it actually provides structural solutions. This result is in line with the study 'Digitalization and energy consumption. Does ICT reduce energy demand?' (6). Important to note that this study only focused on only focused on energy consumption, so not on the complete lifecycle of ICT products, including the use of raw materials and the disposal of e-waste. Which means that the negative impact is even bigger in reality.

A responsibility for everyone

The good news is that there are steps we can personally take to reduce ICT’s negative impact on the environment. In his 2008 article, ‘Harnessing Green IT: Principles and Practices’, scientist San Murugusan wrote that we all have the task of reducing or even eliminating the impact of ICT on the environment, and in that way to promote a greener world. The call is therefore not limited to companies in the ICT sector, such as the makers of software and hardware, but addresses everyone who uses ICT. Murugusan lists four ways how we can each take action (7):

1. Green use – reduce the energy consumption of ICT and make sure to use ICT responsibly;

2. Green disposal – refurbish and reuse old ICT equipment or recycle the equipment;

3. Green design – design energy-efficient and environmentally sound ICT;

4. Green manufacturing – manufacture ICT with minimal or no impact on the environment.

It is high time, therefore, to put this important topic on the agenda and to take action.

Sources

(1) Green computing. Wikipedia. Last edited on 8 September 2023.(2) Diagram obtained from: www.iste.co.uk/helali/systems.zip.
(3) Freitag, C. et al., ‘The Climate Impact of ICT: A review of estimates, trends and regulations’, December 2020.
(4) Helali, Saida, ‘Systems and Network Infrastructure Integration: Design, Implementation, Safety and Supervision’, published on 16 October 2020.
(5) Bordage, Frederique, ‘Le numérique en Europe: une approche des impacts environnementaux par l’analyse du cycle de vie: Etude mandatée par le groupe parlementaire européen des Verts/ALE’. Version of December 2021.
(6) Lange, Steffen et al., ‘Digitalization and energy consumption. Does ICT reduce energy demand?’, In: Ecological Economics, volume 176, October 2020.
(7) Murugesan, San, ‘Harnessing Green IT: Principles and Practices’, In: IT Pro, January/February 2008.