Digital Sustainability In The Workplace

Digital Sustainability : Our society is amidst significant upheaval in terms of the environment and sustainability. Companies, too, increasingly see themselves in a position to promote environmental protection and the sustainable use of resources actively. 

A significant factor here is digital sustainability in the workplace. So what can companies do to increase their sustainability? An important step is optimizing the workplace towards a green office model. Sustainability is no longer a niche topic. Public interest in this topic and the need for a more sustainable future have been increasing for years. For companies, rethinking climate friendliness also brings a positive assessment by the public. 

The reason behind this is: An organization is now not only evaluated according to how it treats employees and customers but, above all, according to its influence on the environment. So what can companies do to increase their sustainability? An important step is optimizing the workplace towards a green office model.

The Green Office model offers approaches that help to make everyday office life more climate-friendly. It considers the disciplines of management, facility, behavior, construction, and IT. Each company decides which priorities it sets and which measures it would like to take to develop a tailor-made program for its own needs.

Digital sustainability, in particular, is an underestimated area to contribute to a carbon-neutral workplace. Because digitization brought great environmental benefits, including reducing travel-related CO2 emissions. Nevertheless, using a search engine and working on the Internet have an ecological footprint that should not be underestimated. Sustainable thinking and action are also necessary for the IT sector. The possibilities for reducing CO2 emissions include, for example, setting up a cloud-based infrastructure in the company, using paper more consciously, and using green electricity.

Climate-Neutral Cloud-Based Services Save Emissions

If a company moves its data and applications from local servers to a cloud, it benefits from two advantages. On the one hand, many emissions can be saved; on the other hand, the change brings more flexibility and financial security. It is essential to rely on a CO2-conscious cloud provider. These green providers pay attention to climate-friendly planning, implementation, execution, and power supply of their data centers.

Sensitize Search And Surfing Behavior

Surfing the Internet also emits high CO2 emissions. However, there are some tips to lower this value:

• Enter the URL address directly in the URL bar
• Save standard websites in the browser
• Avoid unnecessary searches
• Use green search engines
• Transfer transfer to all end devices

Customize Streaming Behavior

Today, around 80 percent of global data traffic consists of video data, the storage, and storage of which requires a lot of space and energy on the servers. Cooling the servers requires a considerable amount of electricity. If you stream four hours of videos in HD quality daily for a month, you use as much CO2 as driving around 200 kilometers by car. The consumption of learning and other training material via video stream at the workplace is also part of this consumer behavior. Anyone who down-regulates the image quality of the video content during streaming and uses the WLAN saves CO2.

Sustainable Email Usage

The number of emails sent daily is currently at an all-time high and could double in the next two years. It requires a lot of resources to send, load, and store many emails for a more extended period. A sent email releases around 10 grams of CO2. Here, too, there are a few tricks to make mailing more climate-neutral:

• Bundle emails that anticipate the thank you
• Delete old emails regularly, do not keep them
• Empty the recycle bin regularly
• Send compressed photos
• Issue automatic email notifications from social media platforms and other portals
• Unsubscribe from unnecessary newsletters

Step By Step Towards The Green Office

Even small measures in the digital field can reduce CO2 emissions and protect the environment. The creation of a positive mindset within the workforce and management also has a positive effect on the climate-friendly initiative and its success. A shared vision and everyone working together makes moving towards a more sustainable workplace easier.