Jane Edwards
Gary Hix, chief technology officer of Hitachi Vantara Federal, said federal agencies should consider the business case for advancing sustainability to help address the climate crisis as they pursue information technology modernization efforts.
“In a fortuitous twist, sustainability and digital transformation go together as transformation drives sustainability. Moving to newer technologies will reduce emissions, because today’s products are more energy efficient,” Hix wrote in a commentary published Tuesday on Federal News Network.
He called on agencies to incorporate environment, social and governance principles into their planning, improve their data center energy efficiency and use their procurement authority as stated in an executive order to meet their goals for reducing emissions.
“They can explore using set-asides to reserve certain parts of federal projects for companies and contractors that meet defined eco-sustainability guidelines, and they can build energy-efficiency requirements into every procurement,” Hix noted.
The CTO also cited other sustainability factors that agencies should look at, including data storage, virtual desktop infrastructure, management of file duplication and other basic operational efficiencies.
