Chapter 1: Governance & Strategy¶
Open questions¶
- How is the Sustainable IT strategy organized and formalized inside the organisation, and in its ecosystem and amongst its stakeholders (including suppliers)?
- How do you ensure the continuity of the Sustainable IT initiative and the perspectives for people who contribute to it?
- How have you structured the operational governance of your Sustainable IT strategy?
- How do you integrate Sustainable IT in the organisation’s risk management?
- How do you on-board Procurement in your strategy?
1.1 How is the Sustainable IT strategy organized and formalized inside the organisation, and in its ecosystem and amongst its stakeholders (including suppliers)?¶
Rationale¶
Sustainable IT, in an organisation, cannot be the initiative of a single employee. To be a success, such an initiative must consider “bottom-up” expectations and find “top-down” answers and sponsorship. This is true for any transformation or strategic topic. A clear strategy must be used as a reference to build a concrete and effective action plan, which is possible only if it is formalized.
Evaluation criteria¶
| Evaluation criterion | Recommended priority | Proposed weighting (total = 31 points) |
|---|---|---|
| Link with initiative such as SBTi, reporting like CSRD (& EFRAG evaluations), or voluntary certification like Ecovadis or B.Corp, shall be done. | P1 | 3 |
| The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) shall be considered in the digital strategy. | P1 | 3 |
| An Environmental Management System (EMS) shall exist in the bidder organisation. It shall be certified (to ISO14001 or ISO 26000) or at least respect the continuous improvement loop principles. Note: ISO 50001 certification covering only energy consumption (mono-criterion) without considering life cycle impacts is considered to be not sufficient. The type of certification (site or group certification) shall be stated. If the certification is by site, the number of sites certified and the number not certified, shall be transparently communicated. | P1 | 4 |
| An inventory of stakeholders has been made, and they have been involved in the definition of the strategy, key objectives have been defined. | P1 | 5 |
| The CSRD template and associated KPI/OKR shall be covered in the Sustainable IT governance. | P1 | 5 |
| For subcontracting stakeholders, an information about the level on subcontracting (tier level 1, 2, 3…) that is reported shall be communicated. | P2 | 2 |
| An engagement letter for the Sustainable IT shall exist and respond to an existing policy. A Charter (e.g. ISIT) shall be adopted. | P2 | 2 |
| An action plan dedicated to Sustainable IT shall exist and be in line with the environmental and societal policies. It must be communicated to all employees. Specific means or tools shall be used to monitor this action plan. Sustainable IT shall weight in the top objectives of the IT and environmental governance. Financial incentives are setup for main contributors and their managers as well as top management | P2 | 2 |
| Link between sustainability and economic performance should be formalized. An internal carbon (CO2) price is recommended, and its value should be declared. | P2 | 3 |
| The bidder shall have similar initiatives to evaluate the maturity of its ecosystem, stakeholders or suppliers. | P3 | 1 |
| The sustainable IT strategy and the associated targets have been shared with the ecosystem. | P3 | 1 |
1.2 How do you ensure the continuity of the Sustainable IT initiative and the perspectives for people who contribute to it?¶
Rationale¶
As for any strategic topic, the continuity of the action plan must be ensured, even if people leading the initiative change position. Moreover, people who work on a strategic topic must benefit from fair recognition and should be encouraged to remain inside the organisation. A rate of turnover of people working on Sustainable IT higher than that of the rest of the organisation should trigger a warning, especially if they leave the organisation.
Evaluation criteria¶
| Evaluation criterion | Recommended priority | Proposed weighting (total = 17 points) |
|---|---|---|
| HR development team surveys show that the careers of people working on Sustainable IT evolve in a way like that of other engineers or executives, and that turnover is not induced by higher a rate of departure from the organisation. | P1 | 9 |
| Integrity in the approach results in long-term engagements in the roadmap, with priorities that do not change too frequently in order to ensure the coherency and objectivity of the results that are monitored even if the organisation changes. The priorities cover the whole scope of environmental and social impacts: energy, GHG emissions, water consumption, resource depletion, digital inclusion and not only one of them for one year and another for another year. | P1 | 8 |
1.3 How have you structured the operational governance of your Sustainable IT strategy?¶
Rationale¶
Once the top management has validated a Sustainable IT initiative, and a strategy has been formalized, even if only as a draft, it must become operational and actively governed.
Evaluation criteria¶
| Evaluation criterion | Recommended priority | Proposed weighting (total = 20 points) |
|---|---|---|
| Sustainable IT shall be considered in the strategy and business model of the bidder, so that capacity for engagement is certain. | P1 | 4 |
| A roadmap, with specific KPI/OKR shall exist. The monitoring frequency shall be defined. | P1 | 4 |
| ESG impacts shall be promoted through a ROII approach (Return On Investment and Impacts). Currently, negative environmental and societal impacts of a product or a service rarely have economic consequences. For example, the price of an IT equipment does not reflect its environmental and societal footprint. The impacts should be considered as an investment to reimburse. | P2 | 3 |
| Sustainable IT initiative shall be managed by a transversal team. This team is able to answer to questions coming from employees or stakeholders (generic e-mail address, FAQ, website, for example). | P2 | 3 |
| Sustainable IT shall have specific means including a budget and resources. It is recommended to integrate this team as a part of the Governance Department, or under the CIO. | P2 | 3 |
| The KPI/OKR for Sustainable IT shall be consistent with the EMS policy, its certification, and IT governance: it shall include specific targets, with at least an annual review with top management, and shall be defined at IT department level. | P2 | 2 |
| The initiative shall be managed at international level (when relevant). | P3 | 1 |
1.4 How do you integrate Sustainable IT in the organisation’s risk management?¶
Rationale¶
More and more companies and organisations deploy risk management methodologies, for example for cybersecurity, or for their core business strategy. Environmental and societal standards (ISO 14001 for example) require a link between risk management and the global sustainability strategy. It is both an opportunity to raise the potential impacts of an organisation on its stakeholders, and a way to both inform top management of the risks for the organisation induced by climate change, and to make them aware of its societal responsibility.
Evaluation criteria¶
| Evaluation criterion | Recommended priority | Proposed weighting (total = 16 points) |
|---|---|---|
| The Sustainable IT management team shall ensure a link with the risk management system managed at the bidder’s organisation level. | P1 | 6 |
| Due diligence regulation shall be considered. (see webography at the end of the document) | P2 | 4 |
| A link with the global organisation footprint evaluation shall be made. | P2 | 4 |
| Data governance shall be considered both in Sustainable IT and in risk management. | P3 | 2 |
1.5 How do you on-board Procurement in your strategy?¶
Rationale¶
We know that the main societal and environmental impacts are in the upstream and downstream value chain of IT equipment and infrastructures. Consequently, buying any IT equipment or services is a real opportunity to recognize a supplier’s responsibility and an opportunity to have a real influence on our stakeholders.
Evaluation criteria¶
| Evaluation criterion | Recommended priority | Proposed weighting (total = 16 points) |
|---|---|---|
| IT procurement shall be involved and shall integrate specific requirements for suppliers in Calls for Tender specifications. | P1 | 8 |
| The evaluation grids of calls for tender shall assign a minimum weight of 10% to Sustainable IT. | P2 | 4 |
| Requirements requested during a call for tender, are included in the contracts and verified throughout its duration. | P2 | 4 |