Cloud Computing - Carbon Disclosure Project

Improve automation that helps drive process efficiencies
“The study results make a powerful case for businesses to continue to explore and adopt
secure and flexible cloud computing solutions,” said John Potter, Vice President, As-a-Service
Solutions, AT&T.
Andrew Winston, leading expert on sustainable business and author of Green to Gold and
Green Recovery, said: “Finding providers and partners that can take some of your energyusing
operations to scale, and manage them in a shared capacity, is good for both business’
carbon footprint and its bottom line.”
The study suggests that significant non-monetary benefits can be achieved with cloud
computing, including business process efficiency and increased organizational flexibility. Paul
Stemmler from Citigroup commented: “Carbon reduction is one driver, but not the primary
driver. The primary driver is time to market. Developers used to take 45 days to get new
servers, but in the internal cloud infrastructure that we operate in our own private network,
it takes just a couple of minutes.”
Verdantix conducted in-depth interviews with multi-national firms—including Aviva, Boeing,
Citigroup and Juniper Networks— in diverse sectors. All study participants had adopted
cloud services for at least two years. Many of the firms interviewed reported cost savings as
a primary motivator, with anticipated cost reductions as high as 40 – 50 percent.
Luis Neves, Chairman of the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) commented on the
report: “We are delighted to lend our methodology to this valuable and fascinating new
insight into the financial and sustainability benefits of cloud computing.”
Paul Dickinson, Executive Chairman of CDP, welcomed the ICT sector’s leadership in driving
sustainability: “A large percentage of global GDP is reliant on ICT – this is a critical issue as
we strive to decouple economic growth from emissions growth. The carbon emissionsreducing
potential of cloud computing is a thrilling breakthrough, allowing companies to
maximize performance, drive down costs, reduce inefficiency and minimize energy use – and
therefore carbon emissions – all at the same time.”
This study follows the release of a recent paper, “Building a 21 st Century Communications
Economy.” Tying these studies together, Dickinson commented: “The communications
economy of the 21 st century has the potential to generate more economic value with less
environmental impact, and ICT companies will lead the way.”
The full cloud computing report can be downloaded at https://www.cdproject.net/en-
US/WhatWeDo/Pages/Cloud-Computing.aspx.
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