Cloud technologies are playing a fundamental role in a more sustainable future. In times where human consumption is so intricately linked to climate change, companies need intelligent tools to optimize their operations in order to cut their emissions, in response to their national targets and industry regulations. With new resolutions and commitments, there is also a pressing need for innovation, enabling companies to implement these sustainability policies without sacrificing their operational capacity, or breaking their budget constraints. Cloud computing is one of the solutions in the fight against climate change, which will not only boost the green credentials of a business but also promise them a sustainable future for the long haul.
Is there sustainable cloud computing?
Every industry addresses climate change differently by setting separate sustainability targets and standards. Cloud computing is not much different in that sense based on the disparity of the information a customer receives from different sources and companies. The key points in our industry, which often get addressed on international summits discussing green technology and the transition towards a net-zero future- are energy use of data centers and finding an alternative approach that will mitigate the impact of cloud computing industry on a global scale.
How sustainable are data centers?
Without any doubt, data centers consume substantial amounts of energy each year. Even though cloud computing contributes only to 0.3% of the global carbon emissions, the ICT industry as a whole is responsible for 2% of the GHG globally. These numbers, of course, are predicted to grow as more businesses and industries are being driven by digital transformation and adopting new cloud solutions in their business models. But this is not something to feel disheartened about. In line with the 2030 Climate and Energy Framework, as well as the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact, cloud companies across Europe are bound to meet new ambitious targets within the next decade. Energy efficiency is set to increase by changing from not sustainable carbon sources to renewable energy by 32% across the whole Information and Technology Sector. Data centers at the moment have an even higher commitment to sustainability in the energy sector by going 100% carbon-free by 2030. This makes cloud computing a front runner in the fight against climate change by setting the bar really high and making a committed promise to meet the complexity of these requirements for the greater good of the business, people, and the environment.
How does the cloud make your business more sustainable?
The role of the cloud in making businesses more sustainable will be substantial in the next 10 years. Businesses across the board will be in need of effective and affordable solutions to comply with their green industry standards and stay competitive. In the past two years, we saw how COVID-19 accelerated the digital transformation of companies, many of which speeded into this transition as their only resort to keep their operations up and running during these critical times. Things haven’t changed much since. Industries are continuing to look for new innovative solutions to optimize performances, be more sustainable or gain a better competitive edge.
The cloud is a more sustainable option than on-premise infrastructure
If you want to stay on top of your sustainability game on-premise technology is not your best option. It is the legacy infrastructure of the past, which is more energy inefficient and costly to operate. In order to run on-premise servers, a company needs to invest more resources into technology each year and maintain the premises in the right operational conditions all year round. Energy-wise that is a lot less sustainable than using a multi-tenant cloud solution where the computing resources are shared and optimized by the cloud provider at maximum efficiency.
Less maintenance
There is no maintenance if you choose to outsource your IT infrastructure. This is one of the key points that make the cloud a more sustainable model than traditional server technology. The entire workload and all the associated energy costs are not adding to your company’s carbon footprint since the maintenance and data management is handled remotely in a centralized location.
Remote working is green
We can close this discussion by mentioning the cumulative impact of transportation as part of the commuters’ daily journeys to work, as well as the impact of maintenance of office premises by cooling and heating for 12 months every year. This adds substantially to the carbon footprint of a business…Being more sustainable in the modern-day requires better adaptability to work models that allow cost and energy cuttings via digital transformation and technology, but also serve the employees better by giving them an improved work-life balance. The cloud enabled this shift with solutions like DaaS, which will continue to stay in trend as sustainable and effective technologies within the cloud computing industry.
Cloud computing is making a big leap in the next decade to become more sustainable and allow business customers to utilize innovation in line with the global shift in consumption towards greener alternatives. The final goal is to collaborate in this together and fight climate change as partners, who are looking in the same direction and with positivity for a more sustainable future for all of us.