Measuring Sustainability For Managing Sustainability

Companies are increasingly incorporating sustainability reports alongside financial ones, focusing on five key environmental metrics—energy, emissions, water, waste and ecosystem—to enhance environmental sustainability and governance (ESG) efforts in data center operations. ESG promotes responsible, sustainable growth, which is essential for long-term business success. The criteria for best ESG practices foster responsible, sustainable business growth, crucial for long-term success, by promoting environmental stewardship, ethical practices and social responsibility. A white paper by Schneider Electric provided earlier this year concludes that “Data center operators should use a standard set of metrics,” finding that challenges in benchmarking and alignment can handicap IT and its efficiency and sustainability. With benchmarking, “when organizations use different metrics, it’s difficult to compare data center performance” and “difficult to establish common criteria” for comparisons and meeting goals, the white paper found. To support its conclusions, Schneider Electric has provided a range of solutions to address data standardization and data-driven sustainability. A good example is EcoStruxure IT Expert, which uses and provides standardized data across an organization through its remote monitoring, graphical trending analysis, alert notifications and data-driven trending analytics. EcoStruxure IT Expert can be a vital tool for solution providers in giving customers continuing advantages.