DataSolutions, the specialist distributor of innovative IT and security solutions, and also the founder of Techies Go Green, recently announcened its commitment to becoming the world’s first carbon-neutral IT distributor by 2022.

After measuring its carbon output in 2018 and 2019, which saw it emit 100 metric tonnes of CO2 per year, DataSolutions has set a sustainability target to become carbon-neutral by next year. The organisation has already made a number of changes to help reduce its carbon footprint and eliminate 60 metric tonnes of its CO2 emissions per year. This includes:

• Moving its ERP system and other corporate applications to the cloud

• Adding electrical cars and charging points to company premises

• Replacing its gas burning (fossil fuel) office heating system with a more efficient heat pump system

• Switching all office lighting to LED.

The Ireland-based value-added distributor is also cutting down on business travel and is encouraging working from home to reduce the number of employees commuting to the office. By next year, all company vehicles will be electric.

Sustainability Survey in the Technology Sector

DataSolutions also released to results of a sustainable survey recently conducted earlier this year with a number of tech industry leaders. The results showed

1. 57% of business are planning to become net carbon neutral

2. Less than 24% have a carbon neutral plan written into their company policy

3. Negative reputation and exclusion from customers and tenders were seen as the biggest business problems resulting from failing to address carbon emissions

4. Key hurdles to becoming net carbon neutral were revealed as

   • uncertainty on how to measure it (62%),

   • a lack of capacity or resources (41%)

   • and difficulty in getting buy-in (32%).

DataSolutions is meeting a growing need for practical advice and guidance in this area. The survey further revealed that negative reputation and exclusion from customer and tender opportunities were the ranked by respondents as the joint biggest business problems that would come from failing to address carbon neutrality, according to 81% of respondents.

Launch of Techies Go Green.

As part of its ‘Go Green’ initiative, DataSolutions is supporting partners who want to begin their sustainability journey. The company has helped set up a movement called Techies Go Green,  a community of IT and tech-oriented companies who are committed to decarbonising their businesses.

The goal of Techies Go Green is to enable each member to purposefully improve their energy efficiency by collaborating and sharing practical know-how, with the main aim of making every signatory carbon-neutral by 2030. To date, over 70 members have signed up and DataSolutions is expecting to reach 100 members by the end of June.

“With this in mind, we are taking action and also calling on businesses across Ireland and the UK to join us on this sustainability journey. This is just the beginning, but our ‘Go Green’ initiative is already the most important launch we will ever do because of its potential impact on the future of our planet.

 “Our sustainability inspiration also comes from our vendor partners, a large number of which have developed tech solutions that can reduce carbon footprints. For instance, IGEL′s fan-less desktop terminals without hard drives run on very low power, while Citrix′s flexible work solutions help over 100 million users by facilitating remote working and reduce corporate office energy use. Whilst small, these collective efforts can create big results and should not be underestimated.”

Join Techies Go Green

Join DataSolutions, along with our other signatories, in our movement that enables each member to purposefully improve their energy efficiency by collaborating and sharing practical know-how with the main aim of making every signatory carbon neutral by 2030.