Government urges firms to turn to Cloud to cut emissions
The UK government has said that migrating to the cloud is one of the steps that businesses can take to help cut their emissions and tackle climate change. The recommendation is one of several issued to businesses as the government pushes them reduce their carbon emissions by 2030.
The government is urging companies to do this by joining the UK Business Climate Hub. This initiative, which is backed by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), is challenging businesses to become net-zero (not emitting more carbon than they take out of the atmosphere) by 2050.
In an advisory note, BEIS said that equipment and infrastructure efficiency and greater use of renewable energy sources made cloud providers more energy efficient than private datacentres.
The BEIS said: “Net-zero means that you are putting no more carbon into the atmosphere than you are taking out of it. Through the government’s United Nations-backed commitment process, you’re joining an international community of thousands of like-minded businesses.
“Large cloud providers are generally more energy efficient than traditional enterprise datacentres. That’s thanks to IT operational and equipment efficiency, datacentre infrastructure efficiency and a higher utilisation of renewable energy. So, consider moving from on-premise servers to the cloud.”
Alongside this, BEIS is urging companies to audit data stored on-premises to assess whether it needs to be kept or can be deleted in order to minimise storage costs. Another recommendation is that businesses consider buying energy efficiency-certified hardware and recycled or repurposed IT equipment.
“There are many ways you can design your software to minimise energy use. Even small improvements, when amplified across millions of systems, can make a big difference,” the BEIS said.
Andrew Griffith MP, the UK government's Net Zero Business Champion, commented: “From buying energy-efficient equipment to sourcing large cloud providers, these small steps can collectively make a big difference in helping us fight climate change and create a brighter and more sustainable future.”
