Take Action

Every tech professional can build sustainability into the work of their organization. The process combines organizational change with technical implementation steps to reduce environmental impact while improving business outcomes. The goal is a new “business as usual” sustainability focus, with a motivated and committed group of stakeholders.

This guide is a comprehensive resource designed to support your transition to sustainable computing practices. It’s structured across 3 steps: start by reading “Light the Spark” to gain context; explore “Start Simple” to find one or two ideas that work quickly; then develop more expertise and find ways to create wider adoption in “Build a Complete Approach”, as your organization progresses to reduce the environmental impact of its online computing.

Remember that the negative impacts of online computing are substantial. Worldwide, our computing infrastructure uses more electricity than Australia, generates more carbon emissions than aviation or the global shipping industry, and uses up the drinking water of 6.7 million people. Information technology professionals hold the keys to reversing this trend, and the time for taking digital climate action is now.

References: Hill, Susannah. Cloud Sustainability Watch, 2025. Source for water use: Hodgson, Camilla. “Financial Times US Tech Groups’ Water Consumption Soars in ‘Data Centre Alley.” The Financial Times, August 17, 2024. https://drive.google.com/file/d/19h2TS6eC0kl3nzv9CqEInuc27-HReSEb/view?usp=sharing. Source for US water use: WaterSense. “Understanding Your Water Bill.” US EPA, July 12, 2024. https://www.epa.gov/watersense/understanding-your-water-bill. Source for shipping: IEA. “International Shipping,” July 11, 2023. https://www.iea.org/energy-system/transport/international-shipping. Source for Australia: IEA. “Data Centres & Networks,” International Energy Agency. updated July 11, 2023. https://www.iea.org/energy-system/buildings/data-centres-and-data-transmission-networks. Source for aviation: Allianz.com. “More Emissions than Meet the Eye: Decarbonizing the ICT Sector,” July 4, 2024. https://www.allianz.com/en/economic_research/insights/publications/specials_fmo/decarbonizing-information-technologies.html.