What is Planet & Pixels?
The world is changing – and so are the factors that determine the competitiveness of companies. Today, positioning in sustainability issues is a tough factor.
Planet and Pixels is an innovative partnership that combines the commitment of Let‘s Do It – organizer of the World Cleanup Day – with the technological expertise of Fujitsu.
The project aims to increase the efficiency of environmental protection measures through the use of advanced technologies and to make both our living environment and the digital space more sustainable. It also encourages leaders, teams and individuals to forge new digital habits.
WHAT?
HOW?
WHY?
WHAT?
Sustainable IT and new digital habits can...
- Reduce environmental risks (GHG emissions, pollution, etc.)
- Address social aspects (employee health, safety, child labor, living wages)
- Reduce operating costs (energy costs – volatility of the energy market affects margins)
- Reduce your own CO2 footprint
- Improve resilience (reduce CAPEX; optimize and extend life cycle of IT assets)
- Improve efficiency and compliance
- Strengthen brand image
A sustainable data culture also lays ground for the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to utilize underutulised assets, reduce waste, predict maintanance needs, prolong lifespan of equipment and minimise downtime.
The time is now!
The foundation of Planet & Pixels comes at a time when companies feel under pressure from two sides at the same time:
Top-Down Influence: Policy frameworks like the EU Taxonomy provide essential guidelines and standards for sustainable practices, ensuring that companies' CSR strategies align with global environmental and social goals.
Bottom-Up Contribution: Employees, as part of civil society, offer invaluable insights and ground-level perspectives. Their involvement ensures CSR initiatives are realistic, inclusive, and resonate with internal and external stakeholders.
WHY?
Data, energy, CO2, efficiency – how it’s all connected
Our hard disks and clouds are full to the brim with junk data: emails that nobody reads, files, apps, photos and videos. Much of it is duplicated or triplicated. No problem, we used to think, after all storage capacity is cheaper than ever before. But this calculation no longer works. Because data consumes energy. Energy is expensive. And the emission of CO2 also costs companies money — and the trend is rising.
Amount of CO2 generated by sending an email without attachments
4 g
Amount of emails sent worldwide in 2021
320 billion
Amount of CO2 emitted annually worldwide through internet use and the infrastructure required for it:
900 million tons
Total amount of CO2 emitted annually by Germany:
746 million tons
Besides handling data trash and lowering energy consumption there is another huge challenge: Today, almost all important decisions are made on the basis of data. The ability to organize, manage and use it determines success or failure. But in many companies, data has gone from being a success factor to a risk factor. Too much or badly organized information slows down processes and systems. In order to strengthen competitiveness, you need to tackle this issue.
HOW?
What you can do to forge new digital habits
Normalize the conversation about sustainability.
Include it in all aspects of business & technology planning throughout the whole value chain (partners, consumed services, impact of operations). IT is an ecosystem, not an island.
To drive change in the daily workroutine you should also
- Set clear goals for moving away from wasteful habits
- Monitor groups
- Create opportunities and events
- Praise achievements
- Encourage the use of existing collaboration tools such as MS
- Team/One Drive
- Influence partners & suppliers (align efforts)
Work out how you can make better use of what you already have.
Cost efficiency tied to sustainability is not part of the business plan – it is the business plan.
Different functions need to work together. Therefore, organisations will need to change the way they are structured.
Teams in companies are crucial for achieving sustainability goals, mainly through collaboration and innovation. Their role involves integrating sustainable practices across various departments and ensuring these practices are actively pursued and measured.
Improve the soft skills of each and every individual.
When it comes to forging new digital habits, soft skills such as collaboration, communication, adaptability or systems thinking become more important. We are here to support you with tools for evaluating and developing missing skills.