Information Advantage

Building sustainable IT

How is your IT department doing? Learn how to elevate your sustainability outcomes with OpenText™ IT Operations Cloud.

75%
Across companies, IT has a higher rate of sustainability adoption (75%) than other departments[1]

Sustainable development

Green sprout growing out of a circuit board

Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

UN World Commission on Environment and Development

Why sustainable IT matters

  • Climate change—reduce the impact now

    Financial institutions, business partners, customers, employees, and regulators are paying close attention to the environmental initiatives and related reporting of global enterprises.

    What’s driving enterprise initiatives?

    • United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (Goal 13 Climate Action)
    • European Union: Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) for publicly listed companies
    • European Union: Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)
    • United States: SEC proposes rules to enhance and standardize climate-related disclosures for investors
    • Asia Pacific and United Kingdom: TCFD is guiding ESG reporting legislation across APAC and for UK

  • Companies are prioritizing ESG

    Environmental sustainability is no longer a theoretical topic for CIOs:

    • 97% of companies have implemented sustainability initiatives or plan to do so.[2]
    • Companies recognize that pursuing sustainability can enhance their brand image and save money. 
    • 50% of companies are in planning or early-implementation mode.[2]

  • Possible impacts of inadequate action

    Financial risks:

    • Additional taxes
    • Loss of government or EU funding
    • Loss of revenue
    • Investor reluctance

    Reputational risk:

    • Brand damage

  • Environmental side effects of digital transformation

    Energy consumption is expected to escalate due to the exponential growth in data, compute-intensive applications, IoT devices, and multicloud infrastructures. By 2030, this trend could lead to a staggering 20% rise in global electricity consumption.[3]

Solutions for IT sustainability

  • Drive responsible cloud usage—and improve IT efficiency

    What’s the quickest path to cloud cost and carbon optimization? Use FinOps and GreenOps to find and remove sources of cloud waste.

  • Account for on-premises IT assets

    By maintaining an accurate inventory, you can estimate the carbon produced to manufacture and maintain your IT assets. Only then can you assess their environmental impact when it’s time to dispose of them.

  • Gain insight into IT energy consumption

    Active servers and processes generate carbon at different rates, depending on CPU usage, energy sources, and more. Knowing how you are using energy is critical for better IT sustainability.

  • Discover your changing IT environment

    Gaining true IT visibility in your constantly changing environment is a must for IT sustainability, starting with accurate configuration items and management.

  • Unite and analyze your IT carbon data

    When carbon data is siloed across many teams, you can’t easily or accurately track your IT sustainability progress.

Resources and news

Get carbon insights for IT

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Reduce paper and supply chain waste

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Read the sustainability blogs

Read the blogs

Footnotes

Footnotes

  1. [1] OpenText, 2023 State of IT Sustainability Report, 2023.
  2. [2] OpenText, 2023 State of IT Sustainability Report, 2023.
  3. [3] Enerdata, Executive Brief: Between 10 and 20% of electricity consumption from the ICT sector in 2030?, 2018.