One set of hands is a good start, but many hands make for more and lighter work.
This is what global tech executives led by Delphix founder and CEO Jedidiah Yueh were thinking when they joined forces to form SustainableIT.org, a nonprofit organization focused on advancing global sustainability through technology leadership. The launch was announced today.
SustainableIT.org will unite IT leaders and experts from around the world to define best practices and standard metrics for all three pillars of sustainability – environmental, societal, and governance – in order to drive transparency and progress toward a sustainable future.
“Sustainability is the megatrend of the century,” said Yueh, founding director of SustainableIT.org. “For too long, sustainability has been a problem for someone else to solve. Today, we’re joining forces with technology leaders from the world’s largest organizations to make sustainability our collective problem to solve.”
Over the next decade technology systems will increase their energy consumption and related environmental and carbon impact, Yueh told ZDNet. In addition, digital transformation programs are increasingly putting consumer data privacy at risk, a major governance concern. Yet most organizations independently define their approach to sustainability, with no standard metrics or reporting for the three pillars of sustainability: environmental, societal, and governance.
“One of the big goals is to really help define what are sustainable transformation programs, sustainable digital transformation programs for all major industries, and then to try and drive metrics and transparency around progress against this transformation,” Yueh told ZDNet. “Programs where we can really define the ones that make the biggest difference and galvanize technology leaders and CEOs of the world’s biggest companies to take action. That in sum total can have a bigger impact on sustainability than any one company.”
“IT leaders and teams want to have more of an impact on sustainability initiatives. Launching SustainableIT.org represents an important moment in time for empowering IT to fulfill its promise—not just innovating for the business and our customers but to help save the world,” said Brian Kirkland, CIO of Choice Hotels and a founding board member of the nonprofit.
SustainableIT.org is governed by global technology leaders with the support of partners and the technical advisor, Delphix. The founding board of directors includes:
- Amir Desai, CIO, Molina Healthcare
- Chris Gates, CTO, Allstate
- Bernard Gavgani, Global CIO, BNP Paribas
- Josh Harbert, CMO, Delphix, President of SustainableIT.org
- Brian Kirkland, CIO, Choice Hotels International
- Ralph Loura, CIO and CTO, Lumentum
- Bryan Muehlberger, CIO, The Beachbody Company
- Vipul Nagrath, Senior Vice President, ADP
- Neal Ramasamy, Global CIO, Cognizant
- Andy Santacroce, Vice President and Deputy CIO, Tokio Marine North America
- Mihir Shah, Enterprise Head of Data, Fidelity Investments
- Suda Suvarna, Global Chief Solutions Officer, Deloitte
- Katherine Wetmur, CTO, Morgan Stanley
- Jedidiah Yueh, Founder and CEO, Delphix
As part of its mandate, SustainableIT.org will define sustainable transformation programs by industry, create best practices and frameworks, set standards and certifications, provide education and training, and raise awareness for environmental and societal programs that make organizations and the world sustainable for generations to come.
“At Delphix, sustainability is core to our business and value. Our DevOps Data Platform reduces the environmental impact of application environments by 10x, and we govern and protect consumer data privacy for many of the world’s biggest brands,” Yueh said.
“But we can do more. SustainableIT.org is our chance to galvanize the world’s largest organizations to take clear and transparent actions that lead to a sustainable world.”
