How are IT teams are addressing challenges like e-waste, responsible procurement, and cross-functional alignment? These are issues that IT functions are currently contending with in the modern business world, especially as hybrid working continues.
To discover more, Digital Journal spoke with Dan Root, Head of Global Strategic Alliances at Barco ClickShare. Can IT teams can champion enterprise sustainability?
Digital Journal: How has hybrid work reshaped IT’s role in driving workplace sustainability?
Dan Root: Hybrid work has fundamentally changed how IT contributes to sustainability initiatives. Early on, the wins were obvious from a reduction in commuting and office energy utilization. According to our data, 63% of IT leaders reported a reduced carbon footprint due to hybrid work – largely driven by shifting from on-prem hardware to the cloud. But now the picture is more complex as organizations are distributed across thousands of home offices, because IT leaders lack visibility into device energy use or compliance with sustainability standards.
DJ: Why is e-waste emerging as one of the most urgent sustainability challenges for IT teams?
Root: E-waste is one of the biggest yet least discussed sustainability challenges in enterprise IT. The shift to hybrid work has spread devices far and wide, making it harder to track, maintain, or recycle them. Nearly half (48%) of survey respondents said managing e-waste from remote employees is a top challenge. Without consistent device recovery and recycling policies, companies risk trading one environmental win for another loss – solving for commute-related emissions but increasing landfill-bound hardware.
DJ: What is driving IT leaders to take a stronger stance on sustainability today?
Root: It’s a mix of responsibility and pressure. 98% of IT leaders believe their departments should lead on corporate sustainability, and over half feel they personally care more about the issue than other teams – especially the C-Suite. The tech they procure and manage has ripple effects on energy use, emissions and resource consumption. IT is also feeling pressure from all sides: employees want to work for responsible companies, and customers are asking deeper questions about the environmental impact of IT infrastructure, not just end products.
DJ: Despite that motivation, why is progress slower than expected?
Root: It comes down to decision-making power. Only six percent of IT leaders said their department has sole authority over tech purchases. Most need to coordinate with other business functions, like finance, operations and procurement with different priorities. While IT might prioritize sustainable certifications or repairability, those factors often lose out to price or compatibility. Without sustainability baked into procurement policies, it’s difficult to make lasting change.
DJ: Can sustainability be a competitive advantage for IT, beyond compliance?
Root: Absolutely. Sustainability is becoming a differentiator. Our research shows 92% of IT leaders believe customers care about the environmental footprint of IT operations. For many enterprises and public companies who have to report their progress, it’s table stakes that vendors should be sharing life cycle assessments and pursuing carbon neutral labeling to simplify reporting, which ultimately enables business relationships to develop.
Companies that demonstrate responsible practices, like sustainable procurement, repair programs and e-waste management stand out. Internally, too, it matters. Employees increasingly want to work for companies that align with their values, and IT plays a role in shaping that culture.
DJ: What should IT leaders focus on in 2025 to make sustainability a default, not an afterthought?
Root: The shift we’re seeing is from reactive to proactive. Forward-looking IT leaders are embedding sustainability into every decision. That means rewriting RFPs to demand lifecycle sustainability data from vendors. It means requiring repairability and recyclability, not just as nice-to-haves but as baseline requirements. It also means collaborating across departments to track energy use and educate employees on responsible tech usage. Sustainability needs to become muscle memory in how IT operates.
