The research involved 54 signatories of DataSolutions’ Techies Go Green initiative, which was launched in March 2021 with an aim of building awareness of climate change and encourage proactive change within the larger IT community.
Despite the challenges, the research showed that 85 per cent of those surveyed plan to be carbon neutral by the end of 2025. The findings were revealed as the Techies Go Green movement celebrated reaching 100 members. Companies already signed up include Cyber Ireland, Softcat, Enware and QBS Software Ltd.
The survey showed that 37 per cent of organisations are already using a green electricity provider. As part of the initiative, DataSolutions is aiming to get 70 per cent of all members signed up to a green energy provider by the end of this year.
Some 88 per cent of respondents said they would move their corporate workloads and apps to the cloud, the top reason being that it is more easily managed (79 per cent). Reduction of carbon footprint was cited as a driver of the move to cloud by 77 per cent of respondents.
To drive sustainability efforts and carbon neutrality target, 88 per cent of tech leaders said increasing carbon taxes will accelerate their efforts over the next three years.
All respondents believe that becoming carbon neutral will make a difference to customers, with 60 per cent saying it makes them more attractive in this regard. Meanwhile, 96 per cent felt it makes a significant difference to employees and 30 per cent said it gives a significant recruiting advantage, with one in ten believing they will lose employees if they do not become carbon neutral.
“Sustainability is the topic on everyone’s lips — not just business leaders but employees and customers too,” said Michael O’Hara, group managing director at DataSolutions.
“While our recent findings show that there are rewards to be reaped in terms of recruitment advantage and customer growth, they also indicate that some companies don’t know where to start to achieve this goal. But the truth of the matter is it has never been easier to find ways of using renewable power, cleaner energy sources and more sustainable technologies.
“By working collaboratively and implementing the right approaches, we can not only become greener and more efficient together — which makes business sense — but play our part in tackling this global issue.”