In October 2023 we brought together the Miele X team to take direct action and reduce our digital footprint. Working in partnership with Bye Bye Plastic and the Belgian Institute for Sustainable IT, we held a Digital Clean-Up event at our Community Space. The event had two key aims. Firstly, to raise awareness of the environmental impact of digital technology. Secondly, to see the positive environmental impact people could make in a single hour.
The idea was simple, we asked colleagues to volunteer an hour of their time and take part in a focused Digital Clean-Up of the files and folders on their OneDrive account, as well as their business email inboxes. A pilot scheme to demonstrate the results that can be achieved in just a single hour. Results that may inspire other Miele X teams, the Miele Group and the wider Amsterdam Zuidas business community to follow.
Ecologische Impact
We invited subject matter experts from the Belgian Institute for Sustainable IT to reinforce the importance of sustainable IT and the impact that simply cleaning up data can have. Pointing out that individual IT users have a far greater environmental impact than networks or data centres. In fact, they account for 60% of the energy, 63% of the greenhouse gases, 83% of the water, 44% of the electricity and 75% of the mineral resources associated with IT.
The presentation concluded by outlining some simple practices that everyone can adopt. Most relevantly, it stressed the need to delete unused apps and data in bulk. It was an eye-opening presentation for many of our colleagues who suggested that it should be mandatory training for everyone at Miele X. It set the mood perfectly for the Digital Clean-Up itself.
Maatschappelijke impact
We deliberately positioned this inaugural Digital Clean-Up as a pilot scheme resourced purely by volunteers to generate interest around the subject of Green IT. By the end of the 60-minute clean-up, the teams had wiped huge amounts of unneeded data from their OneDrive and email accounts. While the final amount of deleted data was calculated, the team enjoyed drinks and snacks.
When the results were announced, everyone was delighted to hear that they’d helped to save 48kg of CO2 equivalent. That’s the same as a 222km car journey – in just 60 minutes! It led us to wonder, if this is what can be achieved in an hour by volunteers, imagine what could be achieved by a company-wide, concerted effort? Or thinking even bigger, an Amsterdam-Zuidas-wide, consolidated effort.
Zichtbaarheid
The pilot scheme, and the impressive results it generated, created a buzz throughout the organisation and a genuine belief that we should organise more Green IT events in the future. We shared the event through a number of key company communication channels, writing up the event as a blog and creating a short film, then sharing both through our LinkedIn channel. Encouraging everyone who took part to share it through their socials as well. In total over 12,300 people saw the LinkedIn update, of these 11% visited the blog article on the Miele X website or watched the film. Where possible we shared the article and film with our Zuidas neighbors, encouraging them to talk to us about the event.
You can see the blog article here:
https://miele-x.com/blog/creating-greener-it-habits-through-a-digital-clean-up/
You can watch the short film here:
Schaalbaarheid
With the results in hand, we quickly realised the potential of what we’d learned. How simple it could be to roll out similar events as a team, department or even company. Teams across Miele X, the Miele Group and even some of our suppliers are now planning to hold similar events. Having seen the impact of one business in Zuidas in one hour, we imagined the results that could be achieved if all the businesses in the district took part. And if it was a single day as opposed to a single hour.
With the right platform, an inspiring message and a clear commitment from our corporate neighbours, we believe that this event could be a catalyst for sustainable IT in Zuidas. If we can do it, everyone can. Individually, the commitment is small, but together the impact is huge.
