5.2 Assign a Sustainability Representative
Having someone within an organization who represents sustainability as a core agenda makes good sense due to the accessibility, performance, financial, and other benefits that can occur from following best practices.
Criteria
- Ecological Referee: An ecological referee (with specific digital expertise) for the product or service within your organization has been assigned.
Impact
Medium
Effort
Low
Benefits
- Environmental:
A referee will maintain quality assurance and guide decisions that measurably reduce the environmental impact of the organization’s digital products and services. - Privacy:
They will maintain intersectional data privacy standards and potentially watch out for legal compliance issues within the organization. - Social Equity:
A representative will help to reduce the digital divide and improve access to information for visitors with older devices, in low-bandwidth areas, and so on. This reduces emissions as less e-waste will be produced if the need for newer equipment becomes less of a priority. - Accessibility:
The sustainability representative will help the organization improve issues surrounding barriers to access. These inherently could cost bandwidth, have a monetary value, and have potential legal implications. - Economic:
A dedicated resource who maintains quality control will ultimately improve the organization’s financial standing.
GRI
- materials: Medium
- energy: Medium
- water: Medium
- emissions: Medium
Example
- Microsoft’s sustainability team and journey.
Resources
- Chief sustainability officer
- Does Your Organization Need a Chief Sustainability Officer?
- [GPFEDS] 1.3 – Strategy (Ecodesign Supervisor) [PDF]
- Organizing for sustainability success
- United Nations [SDGS] Goal 1 (Poverty)
- United Nations [SDGS] Goal 4 (Education)
- United Nations [SDGS] Goal 12 (Consumption & Production)
- United Nations [SDGS] Goal 13 (Climate Change)