How to make your technology greener

The NCVO note that: “Charities and civil society will continue to play a major role in influencing the environment and climate debate, whether through the government on issues such as improving wastewater infrastructure or direct action such as marches, sit-ins, and walkouts during the UN Climate Change Summit (COP26) last November.” 

Knowing how influential charities are and how hot green is, we take a look at the top tips for implementing green and sustainable tech in your organisation.

Monitor your environmental footprint 

The saying goes, “you can’t change what you don’t measure”. Coming to grips with how much staff and the overall organisation emits is the first step in mitigating impact.

Environmental footprint calculators like WWF’s and Carbon Footprint’s can be used regularly to chart change.

Check your utility provider 

An easy way to reduce your organisation’s carbon footprint is to ensure that your energy comes from renewable sources. 

Octopus Energy and Bulb UK offer consumers electricity produced only from renewable sources (wind, solar, and hydro). Both make it easy to switch providers. Our top tip here is when you’ve switched, make sure to mention that in your impact report.

Go paperless 

On trend for some years now, going paperless works hand-in-hand with cloud infrastructure. Encourage staff in the office and at home to stop printing pages.

Save documents over the cloud (which is perfect for sharing) rather than printing and passing it around.

E-signatures over wet-inked 

Safety concerns over signing documents online is closing on zero because of digital signature services like DocuSign.

Authentication factors include sending the documents directly to an executor’s email. The technique is safer than wet-inked autograph because written signage can be tampered with. Charities can get Docusign at a discounted price on the Charity Digital Exchange.

Continue to work hybrid 

Hybrid and flexible working are not only popular with charity staff, but also saves on emissions. With staff not coming regularly into the office, the overall impact on transportation, in office food waste, and utilities are reduced. For some charities, this means an entire reduction in rental space and cost.  

Tech also has a big hand to play in reducing the need to travel, particularly for interviews and meetings. We have previously explored the best apps that support hybrid working.

Up-cycle and recycle hardware 

Taking aim at IT infrastructure and tech, staff may be able to reuse or refurbish computers. Green-root Tech is one charity specialising in providing charities with second-hand computers and IT hardware and software. The benefit is two-fold: not only do charities reduce their impact, but the service is also free.

Power-down 

Another impactful way to transition to green tech is to switch internet search providers. Ecosia plants trees with the profits it makes from internet searches.

For those tech geeks, the search engine even has a plug-in for Google Chrome so charity staff can search while planting trees in over 35 countries. 

Have diligence with your providers 

One lasting impact charities are making is to ask more questions.

Find out if the paper provider is Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified. Ask whether IT service providers are using clean energy. Push corporate stakeholders to be B-corp stamped. All of these actions matter when transitioning to green tech.