At first sight such statement may look overambitious or even pretentious... but, in fact, technology, when properly used, may help in many different ways.
How many times have you had to travel just because communication wasn’t being good enough?
It is not about the flights only, it’s about being able to work from home at least in a few occasions… face to face meetings will always be important, but, if a couple of flights and a few road trips can be avoided thanks to good quality /reliable communication, this can represent a meaningful reduction on the carbon footprint at your organization scale. How much paper have you had to use just because there were no real alternatives in your organization? This is not about paper only. This is about many other polluting materials such as medical imaging support (i.e.: x-rays), ink, toners, etc…
Let’s assume that a reliable infrastructure would allow a much better voice system making any conference call easier. Let’s assume that a powerful infrastructure would allow the implementation of proper videoconferences and tele presence. Let’s assume that a secure infrastructure would allow better processes. Let’s assume, this would save one single flight / year per person, a dozen of trips from home and a couple of kilos of paper per person…
Now, let’s assume that none of the above would have any meaning for your organization… and yet, a significant amount of energy can be saved. An efficient network may waste less than 1/3 electricity than an average network and this is not about the data center only. The biggest waste is not that visible in the departments, and yet, it may be significantly more relevant…