Sustainable IT and Carbon Accounting Partner Strategies Surface at Microsoft Ignite 2024 Conference

At the Microsoft Ignite 20224 conference (November 19-22, Chicago), several sessions will explain how partners and customers can focus on sustainable IT services, carbon reduction and overall sustainability strategies. Partners such as AMD and KPMG will drive some of the content.

Many of the conversations will involve Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability, an AI-powered platform that allows customers to gather and manage ESG (environmental, social and governance) data.

One key session, scheduled for November 21, will explain how partners can leverage Microsoft's technology to help customers solve sustainability challenges. Presenters will include:

• Arminder Singh, director of climate data and technology at KPMG; and
• Shelly Bakke, director of customer and partner success, Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability.

Microsoft Ignite 2024: More Sustainability Content

Several additional Microsoft Ignite 2024 conference sessions will touch on sustainable IT, carbon accounting and reduction strategies. They include:

1. Copilot Studio for Microsoft Sustainability Manager, presented by Amanda Giglio and Robin Smith;
2. How to gain more insight into your sustainability KPIs with Copilot, presented by Mahesh Narayanan;
3. Implementing best practices for Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability, presented by Shelly Bakke and Brandon Potter;
4. Effortless sustainability tracking with Microsoft Fabric, presented by Mahesh Narayanan;
5. Community Roundtable: Sustainability for technologists, led by Thomas Lewis;
6. Accelerating ESG progress with sustainability data solutions in Fabric, presented by Mahesh Narayanan; and
7. Optimize for costs and sustainability while enhancing performance, presented by John Stewart of AMD.

Some of the sessions will be in-person in Chicago; some will be online only; some will be recorded for on-demand consumption. See the complete sustainability content lineup here.

CIOs and IT Service Providers: Partnering on Sustainability?

Microsoft's effort to promote sustainable IT services and ESG data management comes at a key time. Indeed, CIOs (chief information officers), backed by boardroom and shareholder mandates, need partners to assist their sustainability strategies.

Alas, only one in six (16%) of the world’s largest companies are on track to reach net zero emissions in their operations by 2050, while close to half (45%) continued to increase carbon emissions, Accenture research found in November 2024.

And in the IT channel, 76% of partners still have no part-time or full-time roles dedicated to sustainability – and only 23% of partners are tracking Scope 3 (i.e., supply chain) emissions, Canalys research found.

IT Service Providers and Sustainability: Signs of Progress?

Amid that backdrop, some major technology companies -- names like Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, IBM, and Cisco Systems -- are striving to empower partners with sustainability tools and educational content.

Major global systems integrators and some MSPs now offer sustainable IT services to their customers. Names like Logicalis and NTT Data come to mind.

We'll be watching to see if more IT services partners tout their sustainability efforts at the Microsoft Ignite 2024 conference.