IT and your sustainable business - helping or hindering?

1. UWE Bristol
Department of Computer Science and Creative
Technology
IT and Your Sustainable Business -
helping or hindering?
Presentation by
Ian Brooks. Senior Lecturer in Sustainable IT
Ian.Brooks@uwe.ac.uk
@brksim
Version 1.0

2. Aims of this session
You will learn about
• the sustainability issues of IT
• the costs and reputational damage you need to
manage
• how IT can play a leading role in improving
sustainability in many sectors
• some of the developing business opportunities
2

3. What do I mean by
sustainability?
3
Sources: (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987)
Sustainable
development is
development that meets
the needs of the present
without compromising
the ability of future
generations to meet
their own needs
Brundtland Commission 1987
Environment Economic
Social

4. The dark side of IT
4
• Climate Change
– IT industry has similar carbon
footprint to Aviation worldwide
• Strategic resource shortages
– ‘Blood Coltan’ in phones
• Pollution
– Poisoning from IT disassembly
• Child labour
– Apple and others
• Labour rights
– Foxconn ‘interns’
Sources: (Gartner Inc, 2007) (Sutherland, 2011) (Greenpeace International, 2012)
(Garside, 2013) (Garside and Thompson, 2012)

5. The risk to your sustainable
brand
5
“the corporation in no Board
meeting or no Supervisory
Board meeting has
authorized this, but this was
a couple of software
engineers who put this in, for
whatever reasons.” Michael
Horn, President and Chief
Executive Officer Volkswagen
Group of America
Sources: Committee on Energy and Commerce, 2015

6. Sustainability of IT and by IT
IT producing 1.97% of
global Greenhouse Gas
emissions by 2030
IT enabling 20% of
global Greenhouse Gas
reductions by 2030
6
Sources: (Global e-Sustainability Initiative, 2015)

7. …of IT. In use
7Sources: (Computer Technology Review, 2008) (IBM, 2010) (European
Commission, 2012 a and b)
40% Data
centres and servers
60% Distributed

8. …of IT. In your supply chain
• Add IT to your
sustainable
procurement
policies
8
Sources: (European Commission, 2013) (EPEAT, 2013) (Electronics Industry
Citizenship Coalition 2014) (ECMA, 2015)

9. …of IT. Reuse and end of life
• Responsible
management of
Waste Electrical and
Electronic Equipment
(WEEE)
• Upgrading and Reuse
9
Sources: (Fairphone, 2013) (Google, 2015)

10. …by IT. GeSI Smarter2030
10
• IT… can enable a
20% reduction of
global CO2e
emissions by 2030
• …increase
agricultural crop
yields by 30%
• …save over 300
trillion litres of water
Sources: (Global e-Sustainability Initiative, 2015)
IT CO2e abatement potential by use case (2030)

11. …by IT. Bristol Is Open
opportunities
11
https://opendata.bristol.gov.uk/http://www.bristolisopen.com/

12. Make IT support your
sustainable brand
• In Use
• In Your Supply Chain
• At End of Life
• Apply IT for
Sustainability Benefits
12

13. Entrepreneurship in energy
efficiency and renewable energy
• Entrepreneurial, team-based learning
• Pilot course, no fees
• Preference for unemployed or employed
but with a strong desire to progress career
• Starts 11 April, 12 weeks, part time
• Information sessions 1 April 10:00, 13:00
• Eventbrite. Search GREENPRENEURS
13

14. Thank you
14

15. Lists and registers
Epeat http://ww2.epeat.net/searchoptions.aspx
Energy Star https://www.eu-energystar.org/
WEEE T11 http://epr.environment-
agency.gov.uk/ePRInternet/searchregisters.aspx
WEEE approved / authorised treatment facilities (AATF)
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/weee-registered-
producers-public-register
EU Code of Conduct for Data Centre Energy Efficiency
http://iet.jrc.ec.europa.eu/energyefficiency/organisation-list-
short/ict_coc_dc_partner
15

16. References
Committee on Energy and Commerce (2015) VOLKSWAGEN’S EMISSIONS CHEATING
ALLEGATIONS: INITIAL QUESTIONS. [online]. pp. 156. Available from:
http://energycommerce.house.gov/hearing/volkswagens-emissions-cheating-allegations-initial-
questions.
Computer Technology Review (2008) Green Tech: Creating Synergy between IT and Facility
Strategies Available from:
http://www.wwpi.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13416:green-tech-creating-
synergy-between-it-and-facility-strategies&catid=210:ctr-exclusives&Itemid=2701757 [Accessed
27/4/2013 11:34:11 AM].
ECMA (2015) Standard ECMA-370. Available from: http://www.ecma-
international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-370.htm [Accessed 19 October 2015].
Electronics Industry Citizenship Coalition (2014) Code of Conduct. Available from:
http://www.eiccoalition.org/standards/code-of-conduct/ [Accessed 11 November 2015].
EPEAT (2013) EPEAT . Available from: http://www.epeat.net/.
European Commission (2012a) ENERGY STAR Product Database Available from: http://www.eu-
energystar.org/en/database/ [Accessed 24/10/2012 5:27:53 AM].
European Commission (2012b) EU Code of Conduct for Data Centre Energy Efficiency. Available
from: http://iet.jrc.ec.europa.eu/energyefficiency/ict-codes-conduct/data-centres-energy-efficiency
[Accessed 9/2/2013 5:36:30 AM].
16

17. References
Fairphone (2013) Fairphone. Available from: http://www.fairphone.com/.
Garside, J. (2013) Child labour uncovered in Apple's supply chain Law: Child Labour | Guardian.Co.Uk
[online]. [Accessed 18/2/2013 5:35:47 AM].
Garside, J. and Thompson, Y. (2012) Apple's Chinese iPhone Plants Employ Forced Interns, Claim
Campaigners | Technology | the Guardian Available from:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/apr/01/apple-iphone-china-factories-forced-interns
[Accessed 1/5/2013 1:03:45 PM].
Gartner Inc (2007) Gartner Estimates ICT Industry Accounts for 2 Percent of Global CO2 Emissions.
Available from: http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/503867 [Accessed 5/1/2013; 1/5/2013 12:23:32
PM].
Global e-Sustainability Initiative, (2015) SMARTer2030 [online]. Brussels, Belgium: Global e-
Sustainability Initiative. [Accessed 15/06/2015].
Google Inc (2015) Project ARA. Available from: http://www.projectara.com/.
Greenpeace International (2012) Guide to Greener Electronics. Available from:
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/toxics/electronics/Guide-to-Greener-
Electronics/ [Accessed 5/2/2013 4:17:28 PM].
17

18. References
IBM (2010) Energy and Low Carbon: More Haste, Less Waste. Available from: http://www-
304.ibm.com/easyaccess/fileserve?contentid=215956 [Accessed 29/9/2012 12:00:09 PM].
Sutherland, E. (2011) Coltan, the Congo and Your Cell Phone SSRN Electronic Journal [online].
[Accessed 1/5/2013 12:54:06 PM].
World Commission on Environment and Development (1987) Our Common Future / World
Commission on Environment and Development [online]. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [Accessed
5/2/2013 12:04:25 PM].
18

19. Backup slides
19

20. 20
Sources: (United Nations, 2015)

21. What’s the size of the problem?
• Data Centres around
9% of UK electricity
consumption and
sector turnover
growing circa 15%
per annum
• Distributed IT? Similar
or higher?
UK Electricity Consumption
2013 GWh
Data
Centres
8.6%
21Sources: (Datacentre Dynamics, 2013), (DECC, 2015)

22. Low Carbon Music
22Sources:(Weber, Koomey and Matthews, 2010)
The Energy and Climate Change Implications of Different Music Delivery Methods