Sustainability in ITIL v5
Overview
In ITIL v5, sustainability is woven throughout the framework rather than existing as a separate module. This reflects Industry 5.0, where technology serves human wellbeing, environmental sustainability, and organizational resilience -- not merely efficiency and profit.
The European Commission defines Industry 5.0 through three pillars: human-centricity, sustainability, and resilience. ITIL v5 integrates all three into its guidance for digital product and service management.
Industry 5.0 and IT Management
Why Sustainability Matters for IT Leaders
| Driver | Impact on IT |
|---|---|
| Regulatory | EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), SEC climate disclosure rules, and national regulations require reporting on IT carbon footprint |
| Financial | Energy costs for data centres represent 5-15% of IT budgets; optimization reduces costs |
| Talent | 70%+ of IT professionals under 40 consider employer sustainability commitments in career decisions |
| Customer | Enterprise buyers increasingly require sustainability data from suppliers (Scope 3 reporting) |
| Risk | Climate events, resource scarcity, and regulatory changes are operational risks |
Three Pillars of Sustainability in ITIL v5
1. Environmental Sustainability
| Practice | Actions | Measurement |
|---|---|---|
| Green IT infrastructure | Cloud optimization (right-sizing, auto-scaling), server consolidation, renewable energy contracts | PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness), carbon per workload, energy cost |
| Sustainable procurement | Evaluate vendor environmental certifications, prefer refurbished equipment, require sustainability reporting from suppliers | Percentage of procurement from certified sustainable suppliers |
| E-waste management | Asset lifecycle extension, certified recycling partners, circular economy for hardware | E-waste volume, hardware lifecycle duration, reuse rate |
| Efficient software | Green coding practices, optimize algorithms, reduce unnecessary computation | Carbon intensity per transaction, compute efficiency |
Sustainability Across the Lifecycle
| Stage | Sustainability Considerations | ITIL Practice |
|---|---|---|
| Discover | Assess environmental impact of new initiatives; include sustainability in business cases | Strategy Management |
| Design | Design for energy efficiency, accessibility, and recyclability; use human-centred design for inclusive outcomes | Architecture Management |
| Acquire | Green procurement criteria; sustainable supplier evaluation; circular economy for hardware | Supplier Management |
| Build | Efficient coding practices; green infrastructure selection; minimize build-time resource consumption | Software Development |
| Transition | Minimize waste during transitions; decommission properly (not abandon); data centre hardware recycling | Deployment Management |
| Operate | Energy optimization; right-sizing; carbon-aware scheduling; proactive maintenance (fewer emergency responses) | Infrastructure Management |
| Deliver | Carbon-aware delivery (choose lower-emission delivery options); digital-first support | Service Delivery |
| Support | Remote support over on-site where possible; knowledge sharing (reduce repeated work); automation | Service Desk |
Green IT Metrics for Leaders
| Metric | Description | Target Direction |
|---|---|---|
| PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) | Total data centre power / IT equipment power | Lower (ideal: 1.0-1.2) |
| CUE (Carbon Usage Effectiveness) | Carbon emissions / IT energy consumption | Lower |
| Carbon per workload | CO2 per compute instance or transaction | Lower |
| Renewable energy % | Percentage of IT energy from renewable sources | Higher |
| Hardware lifecycle | Average years before hardware replacement | Longer |
| E-waste recycled % | Percentage of decommissioned hardware properly recycled | Higher |
| Sustainable procurement % | Percentage of IT spend with sustainability-certified vendors | Higher |
| Zombie server rate | Percentage of provisioned servers with under 5% utilization | Lower |
FinOps and Sustainability
FinOps (Financial Operations for cloud) connects directly to sustainability: reducing cloud waste reduces both cost and carbon emissions.
| FinOps Practice | Sustainability Benefit |
|---|---|
| Right-sizing instances | Less compute waste = less energy = less carbon |
| Reserved instances / savings plans | Predictable capacity = efficient provisioning |
| Spot/preemptible instances | Uses spare capacity that would otherwise be wasted |
| Auto-scaling | Matches resources to demand; no over-provisioning |
| Cost allocation and tagging | Visibility into which teams/services consume the most resources |
| Commitment-based discounts | Long-term planning reduces reactive over-provisioning |
Integrating Sustainability into Governance
Sustainability should be embedded in governance, not treated as a separate initiative:
| Governance Activity | Sustainability Integration |
|---|---|
| Evaluate | Include sustainability criteria in investment decisions |
| Direct | Set organizational sustainability policies for IT |
| Monitor | Track green IT metrics alongside service performance metrics |
| Communicate | Report sustainability performance to stakeholders (ESG reporting) |
ITIL v5 Mindset: Sustainability represents not merely a constraint but an opportunity. Sustainable organizations often operate more efficiently, cost less to maintain, and attract talent more successfully. The guiding principle "optimize and automate" applies directly: optimization reduces both cost and environmental impact simultaneously.