IT leaders do not think their organisations are doing enough to reach their sustainability targets, new research from Flexera shows.

While the vast majority (94%) say that sustainability is a growing priority in their companies, eight in ten (87%) say their firms are simply not doing enough to achieve their goals.

A wide range of issues are affecting the ability of sustainability teams to keep up to date with their companies’ progress. Cloud computing costs continue to rise, putting a strain on budgets, a constraint for 69% of respondents to Flexera’s survey. Further, about half of (46%) sustainability leaders say that the sheer mass of data about the usage and cost of cloud is overwhelming.

This data overwhelm means that teams are struggling to identify areas that need improvement, or even get to grips with their organisation’s current impact on carbon emissions and resource usage.

Access to sustainability data appears to be improving, with nearly four in five IT decision makers (79%) saying it is easy to access this data within their organisations. However, the research also found that sustainability is often grouped with regulatory compliance, dragging it down in the list of organisation’s priorities.

“Without full visibility of what their technology estate is costing, consuming and emitting, businesses cannot evidence clearly whether cloud and AI investments are advancing or undermining their climate goals,” said Marlon Oliver, senior vice president EMEA at Flexera.

The research found that while sustainability is increasingly integrated with other priority areas, it still ranks below these priorities, such as AI, cost reduction, and risk mitigation.

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Flexera recommends that sustainability continues to be integrated into different technology silos and choices, whether it comes to vendor selection or security measures.

Leveraging data for informed decision making is also integral, but this requires proper data management and governance as an underlying company resolve.

Overall, fostering a culture of accountability across all company departments, with clear ownership of activities and incentives for sustainable targets made clear.

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