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Digital technologies play a pivotal role in the race to Net Zero. The digital transformation is catalyzing global decarbonization by enabling remote work, enhancing energy efficiency with advanced data analytics and IoT technologies, facilitating operational design improvements, and optimizing supply chain management. However, the exponential growth of the digital ecosystem and the rapid expansion of data centers has made them major contributors to climate change, accounting for an estimated 2-4% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, on par with the airline industry. This aspect of the digital transformation is often overlooked.
Because Scope 3 digital emissions are generated far from their direct use, it is easy to forget that every email, every Zoom meeting or ChatGPT search generates GHGs, the totality of which constitutes the “digital carbon footprint” (DCF). Globally, this footprint is growing exponentially. COVID-19 increased internet use by 70%, and our digital habits may have permanently changed. The expanding use of digital tools and artificial intelligence (AI) threatens to raise digital energy demand to unprecedented levels.
Ensuring that digital technologies save more energy than they consume is essential, and the effort must begin close to home. Assessing and understanding the DCF is vital for companies aiming to reduce emissions. By thoroughly evaluating their DCF, companies can pinpoint hotspots – specific operations, technologies, and suppliers – that contribute most to its emissions, enabling the development of targeted, impactful strategies.
This proactive approach not only enhances environmental performance but can also lead to cost savings through more efficient resource and energy management. Companies that have set public decarbonization targets must accurately calculate their current DCF and anticipate future growth, or risk falling short of their stated ambitions. What follows is a potential path forward.
Recent research from ENGIE Impact has shown that 66% of organizations today have some form of public carbon-reduction commitment, with this figure expected to exceed 80% in 2025. But reducing carbon emissions is challenging. Setting targets is one thing; turning ambition into reality is another. It requires an actionable strategy that aligns corporate goals with on-the ground execution.
Many organizations find their efforts impeded by internal challenges, such as competing executive priorities or a lack of focus on decarbonization. Some organizations may not fully grasp that carbon reduction is not a one-off exercise, but a continuous process that demands company-wide buy-in and ongoing performance monitoring.
These complexities don’t make the challenge insurmountable. Setting up an internal ICT emissions task force that combines ICT, sustainability, and carbon accounting teams is one recommended approach. Appointing decarbonization champions to liaise with the C Suite can also help drive these corporate initiatives across the company.
To translate strategy into implementation, keep the following steps in mind: set ambitious goals, engage stakeholders, rigorously calculate your digital footprint, identify and implement mitigation measures, and ensure consistent progress through education and awareness programs. These enablers are essential to achieving decarbonization targets.
Setting ambitious goals is crucial. This involves adopting a forward-thinking mindset that integrates sustainability into the company's core mission. While corporate executives tend to be optimistic about their sustainability capabilities, confidence is not enough. Organizations must envisage and plan their energy transformation with sufficient granularity. Thorough research and an understanding of industry best practices are vital to ensure goals are ambitious yet attainable.
Fostering a culture of sustainability and ensuring everyone understands the importance of reducing carbon emissions is key to the process. In a data-driven organization, key stakeholders include:
Accurate measurement and tracking are essential for understanding the DCF. This involves auditing digital operations to identify CO2 hotspots such as data centers, IT infrastructure, and digital services. Enhancing the granularity of data collection supports informed decision making because it enables an organization to measure the impact of ICT on emissions and identify mitigation options with which it can build an action plan.
If a standardized GHG calculation methodology for identifying data requirements is not available, your carbon task force could ascertain ICT’s impact on emissions by focusing on these areas:
Integrated solutions, rather than siloed approaches, are crucial to avoid pitfalls such as missing major dependencies between sustainability levers. Without a vision of the long-term interplay of digital energy needs and solutions, taking isolated actions on low-hanging fruit may create the illusion of progress while stifling the transformation process.
Considering unique organizational requirements, challenges, and symmetries could be vital to success: How many sites does the company operate? Are there regulatory requirements or restrictions to consider? Where are the highest levels of carbon intensity? To ensure adoption of carbon mitigation measures across a company, regularly share tips and recommendations to facilitate behavioral change.
Long-term change requires continuous effort and positive reinforcement. Introduce targeted campaigns to raise awareness and motivate employees. Incremental information sharing and concrete actions can lay the groundwork for lasting benefits. A positive goal is to empower your employees to make informed decisions and effectively use the IT infrastructure provided by the company, as well as their personal devices.
A firm we recently worked with implemented the five-step plan outlined above. They successfully engaged a diverse team of stakeholders to build a rigorous methodology – including ambition setting, stakeholder engagement, data gathering and measuring – to implement mitigation programs and develop new tools to tackle the challenge of decarbonizing their DCF.
Using a spend-based method to estimate emissions based on the economic value of purchased goods and services, they discovered that ICT accounted for 10% of their total carbon footprint. This finding raised their awareness of the importance of addressing the DCF as a critical component of their sustainability transformation.
Turning awareness into ambition, and ambition into action, the company’s comprehensive approach led to impressive results: 100% of employees across global locations received education on reducing ICT impact, with over 400 employees pledging to cut their DCF. This initiative also fostered behavioral changes, such as increased use of cloud links instead of attachments and the adoption of energy-saving habits like using dark mode and reducing screen brightness.
Decarbonizing the DCF is a critical step towards achieving corporate decarbonization. By focusing on this often-overlooked source of emissions, companies can make significant strides in their sustainability efforts. Organizations of all stripes should not wait to prioritize DCF mitigation, from motivating individuals to implement common-sense measures, to intensive data gathering about digital scope 3 hotspots. Embedding this ‘no regret’ approach early is vital, as the flow of digital information is only going to accelerate.
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