Greenpeace Report a Wake-Up Call for the IT Industry (Feb-07)
From Lauraibm
Contents |
MI Summary
In early 2007 Greenpeace published a report on “Cutting Edge Contamination – A Study of Environmental Pollution during the Manufacture of Electronic Products”. The report identified that the IT industry will face increased scrutiny on its environmental impact throughout the lifecycle of products and services as a result the IT industry need to be much more proactive in reducing their environmental footprint. The benefits of IT to the environment, society and the economy are substantial, but the industry needs to do a much better, and collaborative, job of communicating that fact and the achievements to date.
Text of Article
13 February 2007 Simon Mingay
The IT industry will face increased scrutiny on its environmental impact throughout the life cycle of products and services. It must get smarter at addressing these issues.
Event
On 8 February 2007, Greenpeace published "Cutting Edge Contamination — A Study of Environmental Pollution During the Manufacture of Electronic Products" (http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/cutting-edge-contamination-a ). This report highlights environmental contamination resulting from the manufacture of electronic equipment such as computers.
Analysis
Greenpeace has limited influence on corporate buyers, but has a long history of initiating public debate that becomes mainstream opinion within a few years. Despite the limitations of the report, it is likely to inform politicians and regulators — particularly in the European Union (EU) — who are increasingly keen to act on contamination issues. It's a wake-up call to the IT industry and a bellwether of things to come.
While the report acknowledges that the EU's Restriction of Hazardous Substances directive is having a positive impact, it identifies environmental damage from a range of chemicals used to manufacture electronic equipment. Its findings have several significant implications for the IT industry:
The IT industry will increasingly face investigations from environmental pressure groups, specifically related to chemical contamination, greenhouse gas emissions (mostly related to power consumption throughout a product's life cycle, including manufacture and distribution) and "profligate" use of nonrenewable resources. Investors will also want proof of the industry's environmental credentials. IT vendors need to be much more proactive in reducing the environmental footprint, and any contamination, of their products and services throughout their full life cycle. IT buyers are now starting to focus on operational power consumption (and by implication CO2 emissions) and e-waste, and Gartner expects them to become more environmentally concerned and informed. They will increasingly challenge vendors about the full-life-cycle environmental footprint and impact of IT-related equipment, including contamination in the manufacturing process and "embodied" energy (used in manufacturing and distribution). The benefits of IT to the environment, society and the economy are substantial, but the industry needs to do a much better, and collaborative, job of communicating that fact and the achievements to date. We believe there will be dramatic changes in 2007 and 2008 in enterprises' attitudes toward the environmental impact of IT (especially outside the U.S.), which will be reflected in buying criteria. The catalyst for these changes will be concerns about climate change.
Recommendations
IT vendors and buyers:
- Familiarize yourselves with the contents of the Greenpeace report.
IT vendors:
- Assess the long-term implications of a change in buyers' environment-related opinions and of further negative reports such as this Greenpeace one.
- Identify the strategic, operational, market, financial and regulatory risk that any such change foreshadows.
- Start to understand the costs of any necessary remediation.
IT buyers:
- Ask IT vendors about their environmental policies and practices, particularly what they are doing to minimize environmental impact throughout the full life cycle of products or services, from design to end-of-life disposal.
- Understand the cost implications of any IT vendor remediation.
Recommended Reading
- "Key Issues for Environmentally Sustainable IT” — Environmental issues offer threats and opportunities for the IT organization and the IT industry. By Simon Mingay and others
- "The IT Industry Is Part of the Climate Change and Sustainability Problem” — The IT industry and IT organizations must understand the changing sociopolitical views of climate change and take action to ensure that they're part of the solution, not the problem.
