Dimension Data offer help to make office IT greener

Stuart Corner
Sunday, 13 July 2008 06:05

IT Industry - Market

Dimension Data has launched a range of consulting services designed to help office-based organisations develop and implement an integrated approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from their IT&T systems.

Dimension Data's Office Sustainability Services is a suite of four modules covering: accounting and reporting; stakeholder engagement; opportunity analysis; and emissions reduction.

Dimension Data CTO, Gerard Florian, said: "For an office-based organisation, its ICT infrastructure is a significant contributor to its greenhouse gas emissions, and a number of our clients in this space have approached us asking how they can respond to pressure from their executive to reduce waste and cut energy use."

He added: "While Australia's new National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting System requires our largest emitters of greenhouse gases to monitor and measure their emissions with a view to introducing reduction programs, there is pressure on all organisations, regardless of the size of emission levels, to take steps to reduce their impact on climate change."

Dimension Data says the services on offer have been developed from its own experience in responding to the measurement and reporting requirements of the Carbon Disclosure Project, an international not-for-profit organisation for institutional investors seeking information on the business risks and opportunities presented by climate change and greenhouse gas emissions data from the world's largest companies.

"This year, Dimension Data completed its submission to the Carbon Disclosure Project for the first time, and we had to start from the fundamentals: first, who do we need to engage with in the business, what do we measure and how do we go about doing it accurately? Then, once we have these figures, how do we monitor this so that we can track the impact of any emission reduction programs we put in place?" Florian said.

He added: "Now, many IT departments are being asked to include 'green' metrics or benefits in addition to the traditional ROI-style statistics used to gauge the success of projects undertaken. If these green aspects are taking into consideration during the initial analysis and planning phase of a project, not only does this provide a greater level of justification for project funding, it also provides measurable outcomes that benefit the organisation as a whole in its effort to reduce its impact on climate change."