Data Solutions

DATASOLUTIONS

Techies Go Green

Leading IT distributor DataSolutions co-founded a movement called Techies Go Green to help educate the wider tech sector and support like-minded IT businesses to embark on their sustainability journeys

In March 2021, leading IT distributor DataSolutions founded Techies Go Green, a movement with two main goals: firstly, to build awareness around the need to be more sustainable, and secondly to drive action, making every participating organisation carbon-neutral by 2030.

The aims of Techies Go Green revolve around education and action – creating awareness of and encouraging action on practical steps to make businesses in the IT and tech sector more sustainable. All businesses who join the community sign up to the Three Year Carbon Pledge. Whilst not compulsory, the goal here is that each new corporate member would aim to have their business achieve carbon neutral status within three years. It starts with each business measuring their own carbon footprint and once they know where their CO2 emissions are coming from, they can then identify the positive actions necessary to reduce them. Techies Go Green signatories are encouraged to measure their carbon emissions as the starting point in their journey. Practical steps are then highlighted, such as moving to green electricity and refurbishing IT. Techies Go Green also aims to shed light on the larger issues at play in this space, including the role of carbon offsetting, the move to the circular economy and the importance of safeguarding biodiversity. Discussions are had by signatories around how companies can align with the UN’s sustainability goals.

DataSolutions has a number of planned activities and defined goals Michael O’Hara, Group Managing Director, DataSolutions

AS PART OF THE TECHIES GO GREEN MOVEMENT, DATASOLUTIONS ITSELF HAS ELIMINATED 60 METRIC TONNES OF ITS ANNUAL CO2 EMISSIONS AND REDUCED ITS REAL CARBON FOOTPRINT BY MORE THAN 50 PER CENT

for the next stage of the Techies Go Green journey. These include growing the membership base to more than 300 signatories in 2022. It is also planning to launch a Sustainability Ambassador programme for Techies Go Green members and roll out an online Members Only portal for all companies signed up to the movement. Techies Go Green will also be establishing a dedicated Sustainability Lead Forum—after its surveys revealed that most businesses have appointed a Sustainability Officer or Manager in their businesses. Michael O’Hara, Techies Go Green co-founder and DataSolutions Managing Director, has become a leading voice in the IT sector on sustainability. As part of the Techies Go Green movement, DataSolutions itself has eliminated 60 metric tonnes of its annual CO2 emissions and reduced its real carbon footprint by more than 50 per cent compared to its 2019 figures. Techies Go Green has grown its signatory base to more than 250 members, including Presidio, Ergo and Folens. The three-year goal is to grow the number of members to 2,500 by 2025.

www.techiesgogreen.com