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We ’ re already seeing customer choice being influenced by a company ’ s commitment to the environment and this is likely to grow in the future . Customers won ' t buy from companies unless they can demonstrate their commitment to the environment . It ' s an issue that binds all organisations – regardless of industry or size – and businesses need to show that they are taking sustainability and reducing their impact on the environment seriously .

It ' s also become an imperative for companies seeking investors . A recent survey by EY found that 25 % of CEOs in the US see strengthening their ESG performance as the ‘ primary goal ’ in pursuing M & A activities this year . Fortune noted that this survey is the first time ESG shows up as a significant driver of deals .

So how can businesses take practical steps to reduce their impact on the environment ?

Going greener in the cloud

The digitalisation of SMEs is driving new business models and determining how work is undertaken . In a move helped along by the pandemic , more organisations are moving to the cloud than ever before . Gartner estimates that by 2025 , 85 % of organisations will adopt a cloud-first principle . The cost savings and innovations such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are largely understood , but the cloud can also help businesses meet their sustainability goals .

The estimated total carbon emissions generated by IT is around 1.4 % of the global greenhouse gas ( GHG ) footprint , and by 2040 , this number is expected to hit 14 %. Data centres make up the largest share of this percentage ( 45 %). But a 2018 study found that Microsoft Azure is up to 93 % more energy-efficient and up to 98 % more carbon-efficient than on-premises solutions . It ' s estimated that a greater reliance on cloud computing can reduce per-user carbon footprint by 30 % for large companies and 90 % for small businesses . Cloud brings flexibility around scalability and prevents wasted space and energy resources from being used by companies who rely on their own data centres .

Also , when organisations are in the cloud , there are other savings to be gained .

When workloads are managed in the cloud , they can benefit from automation capabilities which can help to consolidate the environment and reduce energy consumption . When you consider that the possibilities for automation are endless , this can make even more of a difference to the energy consumption used by companies of all sizes .

The role of sustainability calculators

While the cloud offers vast improvements in carbon performance compared to onpremises , continuous scrutiny of the digital tools we deploy is essential and our consumption should be transparent .

Sustainability calculators for the cloud provide businesses with a way of demystifying their carbon footprint and giving a solution-based approach to calculating their impact on the environment . At the same time , it allows them to demonstrate cost savings and the more comprehensive benefits of the cloud to the rest of the organisation .

There is now a specific carbon footprint calculator , for example , that will show customers how much they can reduce their carbon footprint by moving compatible workloads to Azure . This assessment tool enables businesses to assess their estates to help them evaluate which on-prem workloads would be suitable for Azure , the Azure VM types recommended for the target environment , the cost of hosting those workloads in Azure and the carbon saving they would achieve .

For example , the sustainability calculator demonstrates that a small business that has eight virtual machines running workloads in the cloud instead of on-prem would save :

• 12,913 miles per year saved

• Five acres per year saved

This is based on :

• 7,800 CO ₂ kg per year – the amount of carbon footprint generated by purchasing and running similar physical servers through their entire life cycle per year on-premises

• 1,793 CO ₂ kg per year – the amount of carbon footprint generated by running

THE POSSIBILITIES FOR AUTOMATION ARE ENDLESS , THIS CAN MAKE EVEN MORE OF A DIFFERENCE TO THE ENERGY CONSUMPTION USED BY COMPANIES OF ALL SIZES .