Sustainable IT isn’t just a PR move or a box to check off in an annual report anymore. Now, it's a top priority for businesses everywhere. With growing regulations, rising costs, and increasing pressure from investors and customers, green initiatives are no longer optional. This shift is particularly pressing in IT, where the AI-driven era we live in makes it more crucial than ever.
Apptio gets it. They know sustainable IT isn’t just a passing trend; it’s a must-have for modern businesses. With dedicated solutions and real customer success stories, Apptio is helping organizations integrate sustainability into the core of their financial and operational strategies.
Big AI Energy Means Big Sustainable IT Solutions
IT operations have emerged as a significant contributor to global carbon emissions, and the numbers are concerning. Data centers already consume more power than some countries. In 2024, they accounted for approximately 1.5% of the world's electricity consumption, totaling around 415 terawatt-hours (TWh).
The rise of AI only adds fuel to the fire (pun not intended). Training large AI models and running real-time inferencing require vast amounts of energy and computing power. To put it into perspective, integrating ChatGPT-like AI into every Google search could require between 400,000 and 500,000 NVIDIA A100 servers, consuming an estimated 23–29 TWh of energy every year.
As enterprises race to scale up compute instances for AI workloads, many are doing so without a clear view of the environmental impact. The result? Hidden carbon footprints, inefficient resource utilization, and missed opportunities to implement sustainable IT solutions.
Why Sustainability is Good for Your Business
Regulations are becoming stricter, and we can only expect them to intensify even further. Starting in 2025, the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) will require businesses to have an emissions reduction plan aligned with the Paris Agreement’s goal of reaching net zero by 2050.
In the United States, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has rolled out rules requiring publicly listed companies to disclose climate-related risks and greenhouse gas emissions, including Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions if deemed material.
Beyond regulation, there's a growing understanding that sustainability is good business. Greener infrastructure is more cost-effective. Reducing underutilized resources, optimizing cloud spend, and improving workload placement all contribute to lower emissions and operational costs.
How Apptio Supports Sustainable IT
Apptio empowers organizations to measure, manage, and reduce the environmental impact of their IT operations. Here's how:
1. Measuring IT’s Carbon Footprint
Apptio gives IT leaders a detailed view of their carbon footprint across on-premises and cloud environments. By integrating emissions data from providers like AWS, Azure, and GCP, Apptio helps IT leaders understand the true environmental cost of their infrastructure choices. With IBM Cloudability, part of the Apptio family, organizations can see estimated carbon emissions (MTCO2e) and power consumption metrics in their dashboards, making it easier to track and manage cloud sustainability efforts.
2. Optimizing Infrastructure for Efficiency
Apptio allows organizations to identify underutilized resources, optimize workloads, and switch to lower-carbon infrastructure. These insights lead to tangible carbon reductions while also saving money. Apptio's tools highlight opportunities to shut down idle resources or consolidate workloads, helping lower energy consumption and emissions.
3. Supporting ESG and Regulatory Reporting
Apptio helps companies align IT financial data with Environmental Social Governance (ESG) frameworks, enabling accurate and auditable sustainability reporting. Whether it's meeting CSRD standards or tracking internal ESG scorecards, Apptio provides the transparency and granularity needed for effective reporting.
Fortune Global 500 Company Cuts Carbon Emissions and Costs with Apptio
Apptio solutions don’t just align with ESG goals, they are designed to accelerate them. With its Technology Emissions Management (TEM) solution and integration with IBM Cloudability, Apptio gives you clear visibility into carbon emissions across both cloud and on-prem infrastructure. These capabilities help you stay compliant with emerging regulations like the EU’s CSRD and California’s SB 261.
Take NatWest Group, for example. The Fortune Global 500 company uses Apptio to build sustainability into both their company culture and IT operations by leveraging their Technology Business Management (TBM) platform to measure the environmental impact and expenses tied to each business unit. By gaining detailed insights into the carbon footprint of their tech estate, they can make climate-conscious decisions while keeping costs in check. Since 2019, these efforts have already led to a 46% reduction in emissions from their own operations.
Making Practical Sustainability Possible
In the AI era, where compute demands are skyrocketing, businesses need to ensure that their growing digital footprints don't come at the planet's expense. Instead of viewing sustainable IT as a roadblock to innovation, it should be considered essential for driving meaningful results. Yet for many companies, the idea of integrating sustainability into their operations feels overwhelming. It’s a complex topic that often seems expensive, risky, and like it demands an overhaul of systems and processes.
Not with Apptio, though. Apptio makes sustainable IT not only possible but practical, which is how we like to do things at Praecipio. We lean into our Apptio expertise to help you align your tools with operational performance, financial efficiency, and green initiatives. Instead of having to undergo an expensive and painful digital transformation, Praecipio takes a pragmatic approach to eliminating waste and making every resource count, all while achieving your sustainable IT goals.
