KMD FOCUSES ON GREEN CONVERSION AND REDUCING CO2 EMISSIONS
KMD is part of the Climate Partnership for IT, Service and Consultancy led by KMD Director Eva Berneke. On 16 March, the partnership delivered its recommendations to the government, with the goal of supporting Denmark's goal of a 70 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. But what does an IT company like KMD do to reduce CO2 emissions? According to KMD's sustainability manager, the key words are reducing energy consumption and minimizing business travel.
Reduce CO2 emissions from transport is one of KMD's key focus areas for reducing the IT company's own CO2 emissions.
Today, CO2 emissions from transport account for about a quarter of KMD's total CO2 emissions.
"Our primary CO2 emissions as a software company come from energy consumption and transport. Even if we as a software company are not in an industry with the greatest pollution, the amount of our CO2 emissions can still be reduced. Therefore, we have worked for many years to ensure a green transition and reduce the total CO2 emissions in KMD," says Lead PA & Sustainability Officer in KMD Ditte Haugaard Clausen.
Our primary CO2 emissions as a software company come from energy consumption and transport. Even if we as a software company are not in an industry with the greatest pollution, the amount of our CO2 emissions can still be reduced. That is why we have been working for many years to ensure a green transition and reduce overall CO2 emissions in KMD.
She points out that the green transition consists, among other things, of converting more meetings into online meetings instead of travelling between KMD's different locations. This may eventually lead to a culture change for the meeting culture in KMD.
"I hope that the Covid-19 crisis has opened people's eyes to the fact that there are a lot of meetings that can be handled over, for example, Microsoft Teams or Skype. Efficiency also gets higher when you don't have to spend time traveling around to each other. Of course, we still need to visit customers and see each other physically, but in the future we could look at which meetings might as well function as an online meeting," says Ditte Haugaard Clausen.
KMD belongs to the service, IT and consultancy sector, which accounts for less than half a percent of total Danish CO2 emissions. The sector's emissions have fallen significantly by 41 percent since 1990, according to the Danish Energy Agency's figures. The world's data centers use about 2,000 terawatt hours each year, which represents 1 percent of the world's total electricity consumption. That equates to 0.3 percent of total CO2 emissions, within the whole IT sector, including everything from smartphones to networks, emitting about 2 percent.
Focus on optimizing data center and energy optimization in KMD buildings
SINCE 2013, KMD has been certified in environmental management ISO 14001, which ensures that the company continues to work systematically to reduce emissions and environmental impact.
"We have initiated many energy optimization projects in KMD as far back as 2012, when we entered into an energy optimization collaboration with the energy company Ørsted, where several different optimization projects were identified and prioritized. As one of the most recent major initiatives, KMD has implemented our own solution Energy Key to help us get an even better and more detailed overview of our resource consumption and optimization potentials," says Ditte Haugaard Clausen.
We have initiated many energy optimization projects in KMD as far back as 2012, where we entered into an energy optimization collaboration with the energy company Ørsted, where several different optimization projects were identified and prioritized. As one of the most recent major initiatives, KMD has implemented our own energy key solution to help us get an even better and more detailed overview of our resource consumption and optimization potentials.
Examples of energy optimization projects in KMD
- The ISO 14001 standard ensures that we all seek to minimize both larger and smaller climate impacts.
- KMD waste sorts and recycles 75 percent of our waste.
- Our canteen supplier Food & Co has a strong focus on food waste and balanced the amount of meat. Since 2015, Fazer has reduced food waste per guest by 15 percent
- Deploying Microsoft Teams has led to a decrease in the number of emails and data volumes sent in e-mail messages within your organization
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