Go Green: Reducing Emissions, Costs & Greenwashing • Pini Reznik • GOTO 2024

The IT industry generates about 4-6% of global carbon emissions, double that of airlines, with projections to reach 10-14% by decade’s end if unchecked

Three main scopes of carbon emissions:

• Scope 1: Direct emissions (e.g., burning fuel)
• Scope 2: Indirect emissions through electricity use
• Scope 3: Supply chain and other indirect emissions

Data centers operate at only 15-20% average utilization, indicating massive waste and opportunity for optimization

Key areas for reducing IT emissions:

• Hardware efficiency (right-sizing infrastructure)
• Energy consumption optimization
• Carbon awareness (running workloads during greener energy periods)

Infrastructure optimization alone can achieve 50%+ reduction in emissions while maintaining same service levels

Tools for measuring and optimizing emissions:

• Kepler for Kubernetes monitoring
• Cloud provider carbon reporting
• Code profiling tools for energy efficiency

Software development practices should align with product lifecycle:

• Early stages: Focus on innovation (higher emissions acceptable)
• Mature stages: Optimize for stability and efficiency

The EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) requires companies to report emissions, with a target of 55% reduction by decade’s end

Hardware lifecycle extension is crucial - 83% of a device’s carbon footprint comes from manufacturing (embodied carbon)

Simple actions like shutting down unused resources and right-sizing infrastructure can lead to significant emissions reductions without complex optimizations