Australian data centre sustainability efforts stall: survey

Tuesday, 06 June 2023 15:38

Australian data centre sustainability efforts stall: survey

Hitachi Vantara ANZ vice president and managing director Nathan Knight

Australian businesses are behind their international peers when it comes to data infrastructure sustainability, according to a new report from Hitachi Vantara.

Among local companies surveyed, 68 percent have advanced plans for achieving net zero carbon emissions, whereas the global figure is 77 percent, according to The State of Data Infrastructure Sustainability.

On the other hand, 72 percent of Australian respondents reported being on track to achieve carbon reduction goals compared to 64 percent globally, although the survey suggests actual progress may not be as robust as many businesses believe.

IT has been called out as a major energy consumer (using an estimated 20 percent of all electricity production and responsible for 5.5 percent of all carbon emissions by 2025). Fifty-seven percent of Australian respondents said their data centre footprint had not changed at all in the past two years, and 44 percent said it will stay the same or increase. That compares with global figures of 61 percent and 73 percent respectively.

Just 7 percent (16 percent globally) said it had decreased.

Looking ahead, 44 percent expect the carbon footprint of their data centre will either stay the same or increase (73 percent globally), and only 6 percent (9 percent globally) expect it to decrease by more than 10 percent.

In the light of those responses, it is not surprising that just 36 percent of Australian respondents (versus 50 percent globally) said the creation of an eco-friendly data centre was a high or very high priority for the organisation.

The survey suggests CxOs are not fully aware of the importance of data centre modernisation to to overall sustainability goals.

Thirty-eight percent of CEOs and 33 percent of CIOs and CFOs said an eco-friendly data centre is one of the most effective ways to reduce their company's carbon footprint, but only 14 percent of chief data officers and 17 percent of chief sustainability officers agreed.

The survey identified various local barriers to achieving achieving sustainability goals, including the lack of a sustainability strategy and implementation plan (45 percent), struggling to keep up with regulations (41 percent), and inadequate access to critical sustainability data (approximately 33 percent).

"To get to net-zero goals as set out by Federal and state governments, this global survey suggests that Australian businesses are in catch-up mode compared to their global peers in their sustainability efforts," said Hitachi Vantara ANZ vice president and managing director Nathan Knight.

"Data centres consume large amounts of electricity and account for 4% of the total greenhouse emissions worldwide. Yet only 36 percent of Australian businesses believe that eco-friendly data centre is a top priority in reducing carbon emissions, compared to 50 percent of global respondents. Four in ten firms require third-party help to achieve data centre decarbonisation. Australian firms must establish a concrete strategy and implementation plan, with leadership buy-in, that takes a broad view of emissions across their entire IT estate, including edge, on-prem, and off-prem."

The report classifies respondents as leaders, advanced, early implementers, or beginners according to their progress in creating an eco-friendly data centre by implementing eight key sustainability initiatives. Overall, leaders were more likely to say they had started taking steps to decarbonise their data centres, with just under half (46 percent) saying they had started taking steps to decarbonise their data centres, compared with 40 percent of beginners. Yet there was only a small gap between the two groups in terms of when they expect to achieve net zero carbon emissions: 2048 for leaders and 2049 for beginners.

The survey was conducted by ThoughtLab Research for Hitachi Vantara. There were 1,000 respondents (100 in Australia) across a range of industries including financial services, manufacturing, transportation, healthcare, and public sector. Nearly all respondents (96%) were from companies with at least 1,000 employees.

Read 137 times

GARTNER MARKET GUIDE FOR NDR 2022

DOWNLOAD NOW!

PROMOTE YOUR WEBINAR ON ITWIRE

MORE INFO HERE!