IT sets its sights on sustainability

These are just three of many initiatives to embed sustainability in ABN AMRO’s IT processes, explain Jasper Behnken, Sustainable IT Dashboard Product Owner, and Linda Bosboom, Digital Workplace – Personal IT Devices specialist at ABN AMRO. The IT department has set itself the ambitious target of significantly reducing the department’s carbon emissions by 2025. But how?

The bar is high. How do you plan to meet your target?

Jasper: “We’re seeing an increase in digital activities all over the world, which means their impact on the environment is growing, too. It’s a trend that affects ABN AMRO as well. After all, banks in the digital era largely rely on IT systems for everything from the transfer of funds and client data management to a whole range of control systems. That’s why making our IT activities more sustainable is a top priority. We’re working to make our server rooms smaller, extend the life of our devices and ensure they’re reused and recycled, and make our applications more efficient. We’re pleased to have already achieved a significant reduction in carbon emissions, but there’s still plenty of work to do.”

Linda: “It helps that sustainability is an issue that resonates with our colleagues. Many IT members of staff are involved in the Sustainable IT Circle, a think tank set up by staff from a number of IT disciplines. Anyone with an interest in sustainability is welcome to participate.”

IT plays a role in every part of the bank. Where do you start when it comes to meeting such a massive challenge?

Jasper: “We recently carried out a life cycle analysis to determine the environmental impact of our operations and equipment. The results of the assessment, including the carbon emissions we generate, have given us a baseline to work from. We’re also developing a bank-wide IT dashboard that gives near real-time access to power consumption and carbon emissions data on a use-case basis, so we can make changes or zoom in on one particular software application. It will help us answer questions like, are high consumption levels the result of data storage or computer processing? Does a given test deployment necessarily have to run through the weekend?

“We’re teaming up with the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam to explore ways to assign an energy label to apps, just as you would a home or a refrigerator. This should help us build more sustainable applications.”

There’s so much enthusiasm about sustainability at the moment. Despite that, do you and your team ever meet with resistance?

Jasper: “We collaborate closely with our colleagues based in India, and it’s nice to get together with them from time to time. Of course, that can lead to discussions about aviation’s impact on the environment and how much we’re flying. It makes sense to talk about things like this, since discussion gives us new insights. Our dashboard will soon be able to provide an overview of the carbon emissions generated by each team’s flights. Maybe we should also think about giving teams an emissions budget for the kilometres they travel.”

The bank is a major purchaser of IT equipment. How do you ensure it’s manufactured in a sustainable way?

Linda: “IT workstation equipment has a major environmental impact owing to the energy and raw materials needed to produce it. We’ve challenged our suppliers to address this issue. All our purchasing decisions take into account sustainable criteria, and we purchase only laptops and monitors with a TCO Certified label [sustainability certification for IT products based on environmental and other criteria – eds.]. For us, it’s sustainability, not the label, that takes precedence in our decision-making. Unfortunately, a TCO label for accessories like mice or cables has yet to be developed.”

The bank wants all its IT equipment to be circular by 2030. How far along are you?

Linda: “We purchase workstation equipment made from recycled materials whenever possible. Our laptops and monitors are given a new life once they’re written off after four years. We then offer them for sale to our ABN AMRO colleagues or donate them via ABN AMRO Foundation to charities such as the Jeugdeducatiefonds [Youth Education Fund] and to schools in Ukraine. However, our life cycle analysis has showed our approach to be less sustainable than we had originally thought. Once we’ve donated a laptop, we have no way of knowing whether it will be recycled at the end of its useful life. So we’re currently looking at ways to improve that. In the meantime, for every laptop we buy, we make a donation to Closing the Loop, a recovery network that recycles mobile phones in Ghana.”

What about server capacity and sustainability? Digitalisation is constantly on the rise.

Jasper: “Much of our data run on very efficient servers from external suppliers like Microsoft. That said, we’re making our own data centre increasingly sustainable. By redesigning the layout, we’ve managed to cut the number of server rooms and cooling requirements by over half, thus saving quite a lot of energy. We’re now modifying the cooling system to reduce energy consumption even further.”

Do your sustainability initiatives also involve social objectives?

Jasper: “Yes, we want to contribute to a society in which everyone can participate. Our Coding Buddy project, for instance, teaches young people from vulnerable groups, like refugees, the basics of computer programming to improve their chances in the labour market.”

Linda: “Our developers are using their skills to train these young people to become junior developers. It’s been a great success. The participants are so talented and motivated that we’ve teamed up with Social Point, an ABN AMRO initiative promoting equal opportunities, to launch a follow-up programme.”

The bank takes pride in sharing its knowledge of sustainability with other players. Does that go for IT, too?

Jasper: “We’re excited to share as much of the knowledge we gain as we possibly can. After all, sustainability isn’t about competing with one another.”

Linda: “That’s why we’re also taking this opportunity to invite clients and non-clients with questions about sustainability to contact Julia Krauwer, our Technology, Media and Telecom sector banker.”