Digital Transformation Leader and Technology Trusted Advisor, Adem Yetim CITP CEng FBCS highlights mentorship goals for a sustainable world.
‘Mentors should keep these goals in mind and encourage green IT for a sustainable world that will soon be shared by 9.9 billion people.’
Green IT or sustainable IT considers the long term environmental impact of technology. While IT professionals try to keep up with trends in rapidly developing technology on a global scale, they also need to recognise their duty to protect the planet.
Mentoring has an important place in shaping sustainable IT because it facilitates access to resources and information and is an effective way for us to learn and improve our knowledge.
Mentors help others gain perspective on global issues and how they relate to local initiatives in their communities and businesses. That means mentors in the IT field are essential to building not only technological infrastructure, but also instilling values such as environmental protection in the innovators of tomorrow.
Goals for a sustainable world
In 2015, all United Nations Member States adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Here are a few SDGs that influence the current IT ecosystem:
- Quality Education
- Affordable and Clean Energy
- Decent Work and Economic Growth
- Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
- Sustainable Cities and Communities
- Responsible Consumption and Production
- Climate Action
New goals are being set even now. In November 2021, at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, world leaders in technology such as Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos pledged resources and joined the call for global climate action.
Goals include limiting global warming to 1.5 C, halving carbon emissions by 2030, and reaching ‘net-zero’ by 2050. Mentors should keep these goals in mind and encourage green IT for a sustainable world that will soon be shared by 9.9 billion people.
Green IT needs mentors
Mentors lead changes in company culture, business habits, and social attitudes, so effective green IT initiatives should include mentoring programmes informed by the skills and experience needed to implement sustainability commitments.
Mentors can educate and motivate people to design, produce, and use technology in an environmentally friendly way. For example, an IT expert who values a Green IT approach will be more likely to design products that include renewable resources, taking into account the entire lifecycle of a device.
For example, a design may replace raw materials with recycled carbon fibre and comply with energy star standards to reduce the carbon footprint, and finally prevent waste by it being easy to recycle.
Green IT in the real world
It is easy to talk about green IT, but what are some practical applications? One example is big data. The internet of things (IoT) is increasing exponentially, resulting in more business processes happening in datacentres on equipment that runs continuously.
Since uninterrupted service in datacentres is critical, it is vital to meet the energy demand at the most affordable cost. This is a challenge because there is a limited supply of energy compared with the demand, so the price of energy is increasing.
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Since the number of IoT products is growing, the IT sector needs innovative solutions to build smaller and more energy efficient high-tech devices. As the trends toward IoT and big data grows, green IT is a necessity for a sustainable future.
Digital transformation and virtualisation is environmentally friendly and contributes to economic growth. The core of technology platforms in today's world is data; and the expansion of virtual storage areas using cloud technologies makes it possible to transfer enormous amounts of data to a completely digital environment. Cloud computing shares storage capacity with other platforms, which reduces the need for in-house datacentres and the energy they consume.
Moving to the cloud reduces hardware and resource requirements, facilitates profitability and growth, and accelerates business processes, ultimately saving money while improving production and the customer experience. In addition, thanks to the advanced analysis of the stored data, companies can develop services and products that are more useful to the end user.
Global impact of mentors
Mentors effect change. The mentor / mentee relationship can transform lives, and the global impact of mentoring will be seen in the successful implementation of sustainable IT. You can make the world a better place by harnessing the power of mentoring to promote green IT initiatives and foster innovations in technology to help reach the world’s sustainability goals.
