Schneider Electric prepares IT Infrastructure for net zero

Schneider Electric, a leader in the digital transformation of energy management and a sustainable data centre company, has published three independent research studies to gain a better understanding of sustainability initiatives within IT and data centre organisations. More specifically, the research aims to look at where the IT and data centre industry stand in achieving the vision of net-zero IT operations. 

Research results reveal gap in sustainability action with 26% of IT professionals surveyed having a full sustainability programme

The results of these studies were previewed at a broadcast titled “The Future is Now: Preparing IT Infrastructure for Net Zero Operations,” and revealed a sustainability action gap.

According to Schneider Electric, data was collected by 451 Research, Forrester, and Canalys from more than 3,000 global participants, including the largest colocation and cloud providers, IT solution providers and IT professionals across many segments and organisation sizes. The findings showed that across the data centre and IT industry, there was a discrepancy between where companies think they are and implementing full lifecycle sustainability programs across their IT infrastructure.  

In addition, the data recorded by 451 Research revealed that, out of 1,100 IT professionals responsible for core and distributed IT,  26% self-identified as having a full lifecycle sustainability programme covering all the infrastructure, whereas only 14% are taking the actions to have implemented the programmes.

“Data centres play a critical role in driving Electricity 4.0 which we believe is the key to changing the trajectory of climate change. As an industry, we have a responsibility to drive forward our environmental commitments with extreme urgency. We’ve made some progress but to avoid a major energy challenge, all data centres – including distributed edge data centres -- must be more sustainable, efficient, adaptive, and resilient,” says Pankaj Sharma, Executive Vice President, Secure Power Division at Schneider Electric. 

“The research is clear – the industry knows sustainability needs to be prioritised but challenges still exist to taking action and will take a collaborative effort to overcome. The good news is the technology to take action in sustainability exists today. Now is the time to act.”

Image: Schneider Electric