Webinar - The Road to COP26: Part 1

Digital – is it going to rewire or hot-wire our planet’s future? 

Join us for the first part of our upcoming webinar series leading up to the climate change conference COP26.

We have seen a clear shift towards digital in our lives, accelerated during the global COVID-19 pandemic, and the predominant message has been that this channel shift is good and will help people and the planet.

Is it that simple and is the path to digital causing more harm than good to society and the environment, and what choices do we have about this digital future?

Nathan Goode, Head of Data and Analytics at the Social Value Portal will be joined by Adam Turner, Head of Government and Public Sector Sustainable ICT and Digital at DEFRA and Chair of the Cross-Government Sustainable Technology Advice and Reporting team (STAR), to give an insight into the public sector journey with digital and its new focus on resilience and responsibility.

We will discuss the work of Social Value Portal with the National Social Value Task Force leading to the National TOMs Measurement Framework, and how it can bridge the environmental and social aspects of sustainability to create a common language for social value, foster coalitions of the willing to build forward better.

EDIT: This session is now available to watch on-demand

Date: Monday, 13 September 2021

Time: 14.00 – 15.15 (BST)

Unanswered questions

Special thanks to Adam Turner for taking the time out to respond to all the questions we did not have time to answer during the Q&A segment.

Q – What would a hardware company have to do to reach net zero. Are there any innovative solutions to minimise or eradicate the use of precious mineral etc in their composition?

A – “Essentially move to a circular model of manufacturing and also how you sell the product. Net Zero would be the carbon left after you have done all you can from the move to circular.”

Q – Do the panellists think that Cloud Storage companies know on a per-customer basis how much energy their data is using or do they just charge all customers the full energy charge to save having to try to calculate the per customer rate?

A – “No they don’t, but they can charge us so they can estimate. In time I believe they will be able to as we understand more about compute and storage.”

Q – Given that the majority of ICT is manufactured in China, how do you ensure your supply chains? Do you use international 3rd party assessors like the Responsible Business Alliance?

A – “The key thing here is partnerships. Ensure you ask the right questions when tendering and then work closely with all suppliers, i.e. quarterly reports. RBA are great but other options available like Electronics watch and also you can look at ecolabels like TCO and EPEAT.”

Q – What is the alternative to cloud storage? Or how can we offset our data usage when we use the cloud?

A – “You don’t have to move to cloud. In public sector, a move to Crown Hosting would reap similar cost and environmental benefits with the addition of being able to quantify your footprint. It will be down to whether it is a simple lift and shift or whether you are looking to use cloud functionality. The companies are moving to Net Zero themselves plus there are offsetting schemes available for businesses and government.”