Use IT Asset Management to reduce carbon emissions

Cutting Carbon Emissions Through Effective IT Asset Management: How SaaS ITAM Solutions Drive Sustainability

Reducing your ITAM carbon footprint might seem like yet one more unwanted item on the "todo" list, but when approached constructively, a "green" approach to ITAM can cut costs, improve reliability, and reduce workload.

The Environmental Impact of IT Assets

IT equipment contributes to carbon emissions in multiple ways:

• Manufacturing consumes energy and raw materials
• Delivery creates shipping emissions
• Power is consumed during operational use
• E-waste generation at end-of-life
• Data centers contribute to significant energy usage

According to recent reports, the IT sector accounts for approximately 2-3% of global carbon emissions – comparable to the aviation industry. With digital transformation accelerating across sectors, these emissions are projected to grow unless organizations implement strategic carbon reduction initiatives.

Carbon Reduction in IT Asset Management

Effective ITAM practices can reduce the environmental impact of technology assets through these approaches:

1. Extend Asset Lifecycles

Laptop manufacture can generate 200-400kg of CO2, so extend asset life through maintenance and upgrades:

• Maintenance schedules help maximize life
• Use component upgrades instead of replacing the device
• Establish proper care and usage policies to prevent premature replacements

2. Standardize Hardware

Use energy-efficient hardware:

• Procurement policies favor "Energy Star certified" equipment
• Use a catalog of approved, energy-efficient devices - this can be done in your ITAM system
• Use bulk purchasing to force vendor sustainability practices and reduced shipments
• Reduce support overhead and lower spare parts stock with fewer device models

3. Optimize Power Management

Energy consumption during the operational phase of the IT asset life represents the largest part of their carbon footprint:

• Turn assets off when they are not being used, with sleep modes and power schedules
• Optimize server utilization time windows and rates
• Replace energy-inefficient equipment
• Virtualization reduces physical hardware footprint

4. Software License Optimization

• Reuse reclaimed licenses to prevent unnecessary purchases
• License distribution should match usage patterns
• Consolidate apps with similar functionality
• CPU hungry apps such as AI programs can be terminated when not being used

5. Asset Disposal

Disposal of IT assets helps reduce e-waste and enables recovery and reuse:

• Partner with certified e-waste recyclers
• Implement secure data wiping standards to enable reuse
• Use refurbishment programs
• Track and report on diverted e-waste for sustainability reporting

6. Data Center Optimization

Specific optimization can reduce carbon footprint:

• Implement cooling systems and airflow management
• Increase server density to maximize space efficiency
• Implement power usage effectiveness (PUE) metrics
• Explore renewable energy options for powering data centers

How can SaaS ITAM Solutions Enable Carbon Reduction?

Modern IT Asset Management platforms provide capabilities to help reduce carbon.

1. Complete Asset Visibility

ITAM solutions provide visibility into IT assets, enabling you to:

• Identify unused or underused assets that can be redeployed
• Prevent unnecessary purchases by locating existing available equipment
• Track asset performance to identify replacement timing
• Monitor energy consumption across the IT estate

2. Data-Driven Decision Making

ITAM platforms collect vital data that supports sustainable decision-making:

• Calculate the total carbon footprint of IT operations
• Compare energy efficiency metrics across different device models
• Identify high-emission areas requiring intervention
• Generate sustainability reports for stakeholders and regulatory compliance

3. Automation

Automation within ITAM solutions can help sustainability efforts:

• Schedule preventative maintenance to extend asset life
• Automate power management across all devices
• Send alerts when devices reach replacement windows
• Streamline disposal and recycling process

4. Managing "Work From Home" Assets

• Track and optimize energy usage of remote work equipment
• Implement consistent power policies across distributed assets
• Coordinate efficient logistics for hardware support and replacement
• Provide remote workers with sustainability best practices

5. Cloud-Based Efficiency

The SaaS delivery model itself contributes to carbon reduction:

• Shared infrastructure reduces overall hardware requirements
• Cloud providers often implement advanced energy efficiency measures
• Remote management reduces travel-related emissions
• Continuous updates ensure access to the latest efficiency features

6. Vendor Sustainability Management

ITAM solutions can help organizations select and manage vendors based on sustainability criteria:

• Track vendor environmental certifications and commitments
• Compare suppliers based on product energy efficiency ratings
• Analyze full lifecycle carbon costs when making procurement decisions
• Encourage vendors to improve their environmental practices

Measuring and Reporting Carbon Reduction Success

ITAM platforms can help quantify environmental impact:

• Track emissions across all IT assets
• Monitor energy usage against benchmarks
• E-waste diversion metrics against targets
• Sustainability KPI dashboards

These metrics demonstrate progress and help identify further opportunities to improve and support sustained emission reduction. You can communicate these results to both internal stakeholders and to the public to demonstrate your alignment to ESG goals

Regulatory Compliance and Reporting

• Generate documentation for carbon disclosure reporting
• Track compliance with regulations like EU WEEE Directive and RoHS
• Support ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) reporting requirements
• Prepare for emerging carbon taxation and trading schemes

The Business Case for Carbon-Conscious ITAM

• Reduce energy through power management
• Extend asset life to achieve lower acquisition costs
• Tax incentives may encourage regulatory compliance in some jurisdictions
• Enhance your brand reputation

Conclusion: Transforming IT Asset Management into a Sustainability Driver

This guide outlines how businesses can transform their tech practices from carbon liabilities into sustainability assets.

By extending device lifecycles, optimizing energy consumption, and ensuring responsible disposal, ITAM practices supported by ITAM systems can deliver carbon reductions, improve operational efficiency, and cut spending.

How can xAssets ITAM be used to help reduce carbon

• Use the discovery tool to discover your network
• Use the built in reports to list assets in different ways
• Use the query builder to build custom queries and reports to meet your needs

Out of the box reports include the following

Device Age Report

Older devices, especially desktops and servers, tend to consume more power, and can be a liability to the business for issues like security, inability to encrypt, inability to run updated firmware, and reliability

Bare Metal Servers

Bare metal servers can be listed to spot virtualization opportunities

Virtual Host to Guest Relationships

This helps to see where savings have been made by virtualizing applications and services

Adhoc Queries with the XQL language

XQL is an AI driven search language which interprets search terms

You can simply type XQL queries in the search box

The above will return all Dell equipment which was purchased prior to the year 2022

Use the PowerCfg command

This is a command prompt utility which scans a device for a period of time and returns power consumption and other useful information