PodChats for FutureCIO: Post-COP26 sustainability strategies for the data centre

Sustainability keeps climbing higher on company agendas across the globe. Enterprise leaders must wrestle with wide-ranging stakeholder and policy interpretations about sustainable business operations and development. They need to find ways to thrive in a dynamic landscape where global industry and business collaboration, society’s activism, and innovation acceleration drive climate and biodiversity ambitions.Gartner analyst Tiny Haynes says there are many factors that can help IT leaders achieve a sustainable future. "The idea of simply using renewable energy is not sustainable in its entirety," he said. "It's certainly a big contribution to sustainability but it's not a totally sustainable approach." Instead, Haynes advocates that these goals need to be part of organization-wide efforts. The pandemic forced organizations to look at sustainability, he said, and has provided incentives to go green.In this PodChats for FutureCIO, we speak to Sumir Bhatia, President at Lenovo ISG, Asia Pacific for his perspective on environmental responsibility in the data centre.1.       Even before COP26, environmental responsibility has been creeping into corporate agendas. In your view how has ESG (environmental, sustainability and governance) impacted the way data centres are being planned, operated, and managed, and even decommissioned?2.       Have these ESG directives changed the way users view IT?a.       For the CIO and the data centre IT team, how should they respond to both the directives as well as the offerings from vendors to find the optimum desired outcomes?3.       What do you see will be the role of software in the operation of data centres in meeting ESG initiatives?4.       What innovations (developments) in the data centre are evolving to support these ESG initiatives/directives?a.       Is a net zero carbon data centre just a possibility? What needs to happen for data centres to achieve net zero carbon?5.       Into 2022, what can expect in terms of how in-house data centres will evolve to meet ESG initiatives? How do you see these developments aligning with greater use of third-party cloud services?a.       What do you see will be the role of Lenovo ISG in supporting the building and operation of sustainable data centres?