CIO Compensation May Soon Be Tied to Green Data Centers

More corporate boards are thinking about tying CIO compensation to sustainability achievements such as moves to green data centers.

At the same time, a growing number of IT job candidates are making their employment decisions with corporate commitments to sustainability as a key evaluative criterion.  

Why Is This Happening Now? 

“Global businesses have reached a sustainability inflection point. Stakeholder expectations and heightened investor scrutiny are putting organizations under pressure to articulate their societal roles more clearly, prioritize environmental and social objectives within their business strategies, and demonstrate progress to stakeholders,” according to the Harvard Business Review.

“We also know that employees are prioritizing their employment decisions based on an organization’s purpose, culture, ESG goals, and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) priorities.” 

The pressures for sustainability are not just coming from employees and stakeholders. A growing number of large enterprises are also holding their supply chain partners accountable for environmental advancements, especially in terms of energy usage reduction and the reduction of industrial waste.

Suppliers must now fill out annual “report card” questionnaires on performance, and one of the categories that they’re required to report on is sustainability, and what they are doing to improve it. 

Related:Eco-Friendly Innovations: A Guide to Green Materials in Data Centers

Green Data Center as Low Hanging Fruit 

I’ve asked numerous CEOs and CIOs about the pressures of making their companies more sustainable. To a person, all have said that the easiest way to show improvements in sustainability is to “green” their data centers. 

Continue reading this article in InformationWeek.