In his recent Information Age opinion piece, "The next frontier is sustainable AI," ACS Sustainability Committee member Tim Prosser explores the urgent need to manage AI's growing environmental footprint. Drawing on insights from a UK Sustainable IT study tour, Prosser highlights the critical shift toward software sustainability, "GreenOps" skill development, and hardware circularity. He argues that by embedding environmental modeling early in the architecture phase and adopting collaborative governance, the tech industry can drive a resilient, climate-conscious future. Read the full article to discover how today's design decisions will determine tomorrow's emissions.

This post explores ASIC’s initial findings on Australia’s new mandatory sustainability reporting regime. While standardisation has improved consistency, ASIC warns against misleading disclaimers, obscured material data, and poor risk identification.

For digital sustainability practitioners and IT leaders, the era of voluntary pledges is over. Companies must now rely on auditable, activity-based data rather than spend-based proxies, with IT directly accountable for decarbonisation targets. Ultimately, treating sustainability as a strict statutory obligation mitigates severe regulatory and commercial risks while unlocking significant opportunities in green financing, market access, and talent acquisition ahead of the June 2026 reporting deadline.

While AI drives business innovation, its massive environmental footprint—fueled by soaring energy consumption and e-waste—remains a dangerous blind spot for corporate boards. With 89% of companies failing to assess AI's environmental impact, organisations face severe regulatory and reputational risks, including compromised net-zero targets and Scope 3 emission violations.

To avoid greenwashing and systemic risk, leaders must enforce operational accountability. This requires demanding emission transparency from cloud vendors, conducting AI lifecycle sustainability assessments, and embedding strict ESG checkpoints into system design to balance technological advancement with climate commitments.

Key takeaways from the Tech Governance Forum 2026 hosted by the Australian Institute of Company Directors, highlighting that modern tech governance demands baseline technology fluency for all directors, people-focused change management, and rapid cyber resilience.

Beyond these strategic priorities, the post explores a critical missing element: digital sustainability. It challenges boards to confront the hidden environmental footprint of artificial intelligence, including escalating energy demands, water consumption, and e-waste. Ultimately, the post urges organisations to embed environmental accountability into their tech strategies, ensuring digital innovation respects planetary boundaries.

I am proud to announce my appointment to the Australian Computer Society’s (ACS) inaugural Sustainability Technical Committee for a two-year term.

As the Founding Director of Sustainably Digital, my mission is to help organisations uncover the hidden environmental costs of their technology operations. Through this new committee, I will collaborate with leading industry and academic experts to shape national standards, address ESG goals, and tackle urgent challenges like AI energy demands and e-waste. It is time for ICT professionals to own their environmental impact and make digital sustainability measurable, credible, and actionable.

AI's environmental footprint represents a critical and largely unaddressed governance risk for Australian board directors.

This article examines four key questions spanning director liability under Section 180 of the Corporations Act, Scope 3 emissions obligations under Australia's mandatory AASB S2 climate reporting regime, the physical resource demands of AI infrastructure — including energy, water, and e-waste — and the emerging legal risk of "AI-washing" under Australian Consumer Law.

Directors are urged to adopt practical governance frameworks and fit-for-purpose AI selection practices to manage these material and escalating risks.

Explore the critical gap between corporate sustainability commitments and actionable delivery in Australia, drawing on World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA) research presented at Climate Action Week Sydney ‘26.

While corporate governance around sustainability is improving, actual financial resourcing and execution lag significantly. The escalating environmental footprint of the digital sector, driven by AI and data centres, poses severe climate and water stress risks. Furthermore, Australian companies frequently overlook Scope 3 emissions and crucial social dimensions, including Indigenous rights. To achieve true digital sustainability, tech leaders must transition from high-level disclosures to comprehensive, resourced, and socially equitable transition plans.

Sustainable IT is a strategic necessity for Australian businesses undergoing transformation. CIOs/CTOs lead with structured, measurable approaches using tailored Sustainable IT standards to embed ESG performance across the organisation. Sustainable IT helps guide enterprise technology to minimise harm and maximise positive ESG impact, addressing environmental footprints, social impact, and governance. Highlighting benefits in financial value, reputation, and future readiness. It introduces nearly 200 IT-specific ESG standards covering environmental, social, and governance goals, and offers practical starting points: focus on material, high-impact areas and establish vision, accountability, and baselining energy use.

The recent Technology Executive Roundtable on Digital Sustainability provided an essential strategic overview for executives.

The session established digital sustainability as a critical business imperative, driven by regulatory requirements, investor pressure, employee values, and the need for efficiency. With 5 billion people connected and constantly interacting, digital consumption represents an estimated 40% of an individual's carbon budget when aligned with Paris 1.5°C targets. Organisations must urgently shift from reactive compliance to proactive sustainability strategies that deliver both environmental impact and business value.

The technology sector is facing a "climate strategy crisis" as rapid growth in areas like AI leads to soaring energy demands, undermining existing climate pledges. Many tech companies' greenhouse gas (GHG) emission targets are losing meaning due to this unconstrained energy consumption, particularly from data centres and hardware production, coupled with outdated market-based accounting methodologies that can obscure actual emissions.

As the deadline for mandatory climate reporting passes, organisations must ask: Is our enterprise technology team prepared to meet the challenges ahead?

From January 2025, the first of 6,000 Australian businesses will begin preparations for this significant uplift and and will impact many more as sustainability becomes a focal point in corporate procurement processes.

An insightful day at Australia's largest climate event for directors - bringing together leaders, experts, policymakers and investors to strengthen governance capabilities, better understand climate risks and unlock strategic value from the net zero transition.

Digital sustainability involves a conscientious and responsible approach to technology usage that fosters workload efficiency and leads to sustainable outcomes for our planet.