Widening the Scope | The Opportunities and Importance of Sustainability

Energy and the environment are amongst the major concerns dominating conversation among businesses aiming to become more sustainable. 

Energy consumption and the resulting carbon production have been the central focus of sustainability programmes being undertaken by businesses globally. But as Techbuyer’s Sustainability Lead and Chartered Environmentalist Astrid Wynne states, “This is the decade where we begin to look at the wider picture.”  

In a recent article published by Digitalisation World, Astrid, and other members of the Data Centre Alliance (DCA) Special Interest Group (SIG), members discuss the importance of sustainability for an organisation’s triple bottom line: people, planet, profit.  

Astrid draws attention to the extensive work that the DCA is doing to promote sustainability in business and highlights how organisations can create a positive change whilst supporting the people and profit commitments of their company.  

As Astrid states: “From the Harvard Business Review to Black Rock, more and more capitalists are pointing to the advantages of sustainable business practice. These include sales revenue increase; staff attraction and retention (particularly interesting for data centres at the moment); investment; legislative compliance and resilience during hard times (topical again).”  

The DCA has released five accessible steps to creating a positive change that can be adopted by all organisations to advance their sustainability goals:  

• Make a Net Zero Pledge. 
• Address Environmental Impacts through Circular Economy Practice.  
• Create a code of conduct for your company and the supply chain.  

• Carry out an impact assessment.  
• Announce support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.  

The SIG also provides monthly workshops and advice to help businesses adopt their business to a more sustainable model.  

Key Points:  

• Sustainability practices not only support the planet aspect of your business's triple bottom line, but they also protect the people and profit areas of your organisation.  

• By actioning the five points outlined above your company can take steps towards meaningful change.  
• The DCA aims to aid the development of new technologies, services and methods for measuring environmental impact to help businesses trying to make a positive change.  

The DCA is a non-profit UK trade association made up of leaders and experts in the data centre industry. They offer guidelines on best practices, actionable advice and industry leading news for the data centre sector.  

Read the full article in the latest Digitalisation World magazine, as well as another two DCA pieces, “Energy Markets Volatility” by Andrew Toher, Head of Customer Insights at Enel X Europe, and “Sustainability is a Data Play” by Mohan Ghandi, Senior Sustainability Consultant at STG Advisors.  

Techbuyer’s Sustainable IT Solutions

Techbuyer is a global supplier of sustainable IT solutions, providing environmentally friendly solutions for the procurement, maintenance and disposal of technology. Our services enable businesses to make responsible choices with their IT to reduce their environmental impact and support sustainable goals. Find out more about what we can do for you and your business here.