February 16, 2025

It can be challenging to develop a sustainable technology strategy when there are diverse, and in some cases competing, stakeholder interests to manage across the enterprise. However, the positive trend is that decision makers are open to approving and implementing systems that better monitor, measure and manage sustainability.

This can be due to several reasons. For example, the risk of fines and reputational damage from non-compliance with sustainability regulation, reduced revenues if customers’ environmental and ethical expectations are not met, and restricted access to capital while funding is more driven by environmental, social and governance (ESG). ) items.

The first step towards creating a reliable strategy for IT leaders and CIOs is to establish how technology works in each line of business, and then how to connect ESG to each function, and measure their current performance.

It is central to creating a strategy that reflects the needs of each part of the organization, which is to finally get the board buy-in and make the process of implementing solutions easier.

Empower CIOs to manage sustainability goals

Before any strategy works, it must be put through a filter that ensures it is authentic and does not enter into greenwashing, because it can easily fall into this trap in an effort to generate immediate results .

“CIOs play a big part in ensuring that energy efficient systems are in place and the right ones are in place to track maintenance data and drive improvements. This is why they must be taken on the journey from start ”

Praveen Shankar, EY UK and Ireland

This is where it is important for IT leaders to be a key part of the development and implementation of the company’s sustainability strategy, to help ensure that the company’s approach to IT is aligned with its sustainability commitments and ambitions. For example, the CIO can help determine whether the IT systems to be put in place will create operational efficiencies that reduce energy use throughout the organization.

While leaders are taking ESG very seriously, we are at an early stage where the perception can be that the corporate ESG strategy is an afterthought in the business transformation agenda and vice versa. To combat this, CIOs must be empowered in the C-suite to work with all business departments to better understand how they can effectively use technology tools across the organization as a means to align with one’s technology and sustainability goals.

CIOs also play a large part in ensuring that the systems themselves are energy efficient and the right ones are in place to track sustainability data and drive improvements, such as monitoring greenhouse gas emissions or employee diversity. . This is why they should be taken on the journey from the start.

Ask the right questions to avoid greenwashing

Clients’ demand for sustainable technology products and services has increased rapidly in recent years. Key terms such as “sustainable”, “green” and “environmentally friendly” are used in product advertising to give the impression that sustainability is an important characteristic of that product. There are two issues here that increase the potential risk of greenwashing: how investors and clients can be sure that the tech product is “green” and how can they know that the supplier’s own sustainability approach is genuine ?

Initially, to challenge this, there are questions that CIOs and IT teams can use to start any conversation with a supplier, such as:

  • What is the role of this piece of technology in the green transition?
  • How can this technology help the company create and deliver a climate strategy?
  • How does this technology avoid the greenwashing trap – what are its tangible benefits?
  • How does this contribute to shifting the dial for the sustainability of our company?

By asking these questions and working to ensure concrete evidence of them, leaders can make sure they’re doing their due diligence before deploying any technology across the enterprise — and thus avoiding harm. of line reputation.

CIOs should also recognize the importance of evaluating the supplier’s own approach to long-term value creation, as well as how they report their sustainability and ESG performance. Some questions CIOs can ask here are:

  • Does the company use broad and meaningful metrics to assess their ESG performance?
  • Do they manage ESG and KPI sustainability [key performance indicator] data, processes and controls with the same intensity as financial KPIs? For example, does the company’s sustainability reporting receive independent, third-party assurance?
  • Does the company articulate how the business proposes solutions to economic, environmental and social issues, in a way that creates value for all their stakeholders?

By asking these questions, businesses can ensure they have open and honest conversations with their suppliers about their sustainability ambitions and are held accountable for their performance. Incorporating sustainability criteria into the supplier selection process is the norm, but businesses need to make sure they’re asking for proof and seeing positive results year-on-year, or risk damaging their reputation on the line.

Implementing new IT solutions will not act as a panacea to solve all ESG problems. IT leaders must drive long-term value, with a focus on continuous improvement and investment. The right people need to be brought on the journey, and they need to ask better questions to ensure they get better answers – all to help build a better world of work.

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