Cloud carbon footprint: measures to take

COP27 took place in Egypt last month, the latest in the series of conferences that bring the global community together in the hope of agreeing on action to mitigate the climate emergency. Many ecologists have questioned how helpful these endless meetings have actually been. Although getting everyone around the table is an important first step, the gathering has received criticism for promoting an all-talk, no-action approach to climate change.
 
We all have a duty to tackle climate change, and in order to achieve the ambitions set out by successive COP meetings, businesses now need to begin laying the foundation for reducing their cloud computing emissions across every organization. Whilst improving efficiency and digitalizing operations bring with them environmental benefits, IT departments themselves don’t always have visibility over their own carbon footprint. If we are to build a foundation upon which to meet green objectives, this needs to change.
 
With GreenOps, organizations can massively improve their visibility into the environmental impact of IT operations, putting decarbonization at the heart of decision-making.
 
At its most basic, GreenOps is a framework for organizations to start understanding the environmental impacts of their IT strategies. Think of it as FinOps, a framework for managing operational expenditure, but for the planet. At the same time, it empowers organizations to promote environmental responsibility at every level through data-driven decision-making and insights.
 
You can read more about GreenOps here, but the bottom line is that it gives organizations of any size the ability to start taking data-driven decisions to decrease their carbon footprint.
 
A fair question often asked of proponents of GreenOps is: can we really expect businesses to make more expensive decisions for the sake of the environment? Certainly, in our current economic climate, there is a need for much more sobriety in spending across all industries, so it is a challenge to pick green options over cheaper alternatives. However, if COP27 has shown us one thing, it is that the time to act is now.
 
Like the decisions at COP27, nobody can guarantee that greener choices will be the easier choices. In fact, many environmentally friendly options are often more expensive and time-consuming than those which cause larger emissions. However, businesses must avoid just “talking the talk” about tackling the climate emergency if they have no intention of putting it into action. GreenOps acts as a fantastic foundation for greener business practices; businesses that are serious about acting more than talking when it comes to environmentalism should look to implement it as a priority.

Would you like to start walking the walk when it comes to your cloud carbon footprint? Cycloid's on a mission to give businesses full visibility over their cloud carbon footprint. Knowledge is the first step to taking action. Subscribe to be in the know and tackle climate change now.