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IT Sustainability Think Tank: How IT directors can spot false green claims from Big Tech suppliers | Computer Weekly

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IT Sustainability Think Tank: How IT directors can spot false green claims from Big Tech suppliers | Computer Weekly


The sustainability technology market is vibrant with activity across a range of use case areas (from ESG reporting, through nature capital, sustainable manufacturing, smart energy grids, green IT, and the circular economy).

However, for IT directors navigating this fast-moving landscape, distinguishing genuine environmental credentials from carefully chosen averages, aggregates, and sophisticated spin has become a critical competency… and one which could determine whether your organisation becomes recognised as a sustainability leader or an unwitting accomplice in greenwashing.

Beware of green IT with dirty secrets

One of the most glaring red flags when considering the sustainability of software and IT services is when suppliers tout the benefits of their artificial intelligence (AI)-powered offerings whilst remaining conspicuously tight-lipped about the environmental impacts of the resource-hungry datacentres powering them.

Even when a supplier can cite corporate-level commitments (say, for purchasing renewable power or offsetting emissions), if they’re unable or unwilling to provide granular-level transparency about impacts at the individual workload level, then this should raise concerns.

Global average figures that smooth out peaks and troughs, or rely heavily on offsetting to disguise true consumption, can mask uncomfortable truths about how green your use of their services (in your region, at the time you’re using them) actually is.

The environmental impact of AI becomes particularly pertinent when considering its application in sustainability use cases. Discussions at COP29 highlighted the ‘sustainable AI paradox’ – the fact that the very AI systems being deployed to solve climate challenges are themselves energy and water-intensive – and so it’s imperative that any sustainability solution deploying AI demonstrates clear net environmental benefits.

Absence of clear statements (taking into account the environmental costs of training models, as well as specific operational usage patterns – where and when workloads are being run, etc.) can mask a potentially green solution’s dirty secret.

Technology consumers face making inevitable trade-offs when attempting to balance sustainability against cost and performance, but without hard data upon which to make hard choices, decision-makers will be operating in the dark.

Insist on seeing actual energy consumption metrics for any cloud-based solutions. The most progressive providers are not only transitioning to renewable energy sources but are also doing so transparently. Vague claims about providing a ‘carbon-neutral cloud’, without specific, verifiable metrics, should be viewed with suspicion.

Also, be wary of sustainability claims that focus exclusively on future commitments rather than present achievements – especially if timeframes continue to shift. For example, have 2030 pledges recently morphed into similar-sounding 2035 ones?

Whilst Science-Based Targets and net-zero pledges for 2050 may sound impressive, they mean little without transparent reporting of baselines, current emissions, concrete reduction milestones, and regular progress updates.

Finally, if a company seems over-reliant on carbon credits (especially when it isn’t operating in a particularly hard-to-abate sector – such as like heavy industrial manufacturing), question whether they shouldn’t have made more of an effort to reduce their own carbon footprint before resorting to paying others to offset their impact.

This is particularly relevant following COP29’s carbon trading agreements, where – despite finally establishing country-to-country trading mechanisms after a decade of negotiations – concerns remain about credit quality.

Count what counts  – not just what’s easy to

Everybody is (eventually) somebody’s Scope 3. Before smaller – hitherto out-of-scope – organisations find themselves swept up in the expanding catchments of environmental reporting legislation directly, they’re more likely to find themselves caught in a different net… that of a partner’s or funder’s Scope 3 (indirect) carbon emissions reporting.

In today’s ecosystem world, every company is linked to numerous others up and down their value chains for a variety of reasons, and responsibility to disclose greenhouse gas emissions has now joined that list of touchpoints. Suppliers who claim they can’t provide this data are either behind the curve or are potentially hiding something.

However, even if you can get hold of this information, watch for over-reliance on industry average proxy figures (rather than actual, accurate, attributable data), and proprietary certificates and badges that lack industry-wide recognition.

Platform-specific certificates (or benchmarking schemes designed to focus on ‘product community’ efforts) can obscure the true picture of consumption and emissions when what really matters is compliance with internationally recognised standards (such as ISO 14068, replacing the BSI 2060 scheme).

If a supplier’s primary evidence appears to consist more of self-awarded accolades, rather than respected third-party validation, proceed with caution.

Despite anticipated scale-backs to the eventual scope of the regulation, the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) frameworks represent a good start.

Even post-Brexit, CSRD matters because it covers UK subsidiaries of EU parent companies and UK companies with significant EU operations. Also many UK firms are voluntarily adopting it to maintain competitiveness for EU contracts.

Delays to, and reforms of, CSRD may provide UK companies with some immediate breathing room, but that’s no excuse for complacency. Suppliers that can’t demonstrate the ability to comply with these, and other emerging requirements, likely lack robust sustainability governance at their core – hampering their ability to effectively respond and report on their carbon footprint, whatever is ultimately asked of them.

There’s also now additional framework pressure on tech companies to transparently report and reduce their own emissions following COP29’s ‘Declaration on Green Digital Action’ (signed by 90 governments and 1,000 cross-sector stakeholders).

IT directors should specifically ask suppliers about their alignment with the Declaration and whether they’re contributing to their country’s enhanced Nationally Determined Contributions. The UK’s early commitment (made just prior to COP29) to reduce emissions by “at least 81%” on 1990 levels by 2035 will cascade down through procurement requirements, making suppliers’ sustainability credentials increasingly critical for public sector contracts (especially with the government’s mission-driven emphasis on “Making Britain a clean energy superpower” enshrined in its revised Social Value Model).

Also, look for evidence of an integrated (and ‘by-design’) approach to sustainability, not just a collection of disparate initiatives.

TechMarketView’s Sustainability Technology Activity Index research, which analysed the sustainability activities of over 2,000 suppliers and tech users worldwide, reveals that leading suppliers are embedding sustainability into their offerings rather than maintaining separate systems.

The Index also found that they’re providing the means for customers to leverage sustainability data for wider business decision-making and operational control too (beyond core sustainability interests).

If a firm’s sustainability team seems disconnected from its core product development and operations, its influence (and that company’s commitment) may be superficial. Sustainability should be a business issue – for them, and for you.

Shortcomings and shortcuts to being sustainability savvy

There’s something of a skills crisis at the sustainability-business-tech nexus. The uncomfortable truth is that many organisations lack the internal expertise even to properly evaluate third parties’ sustainability claims, let alone determine what sustainability means to their business.

With talent that combines environmental expertise, business context, and technical capability in short supply, companies should establish cross-functional teams to evaluate incoming proposals.

Don’t just include IT and procurement people (and sustainability specialists, where you have access to them), though – also look to finance teams, with their understanding of ROI models; operations, with their grasp of implementation realities; and business strategists, for the big picture context.

These combo teams can provide the domain expertise needed to spot greenwashing that might slip past unsupported generalists – especially when paired with the use of formal scoring frameworks that focus on third-party audited emissions data, compliance with recognised standards, and evidence of year-on-year improvements; and that weight verifiable, present-tense achievements over future promises.

Not every company has this breadth of expertise available, of course – even distributed across multiple roles and role-holders – and in such circumstances, IT services firms are ideally placed to step in and bridge the gaps.

According to data from the Index, professional services are involved in 34.9% of worldwide sustainability tech activity (rising to 38.4% in the UK) – underscoring how initiatives remain heavily consultancy-driven, rather than having yet become operationally embedded within organisations.

 However, an over-reliance on external expertise risks businesses failing to truly embrace and understand sustainability thinking (and develop anti-greenwashing antennae) for themselves – with sustainability instead remaining more of a bolt-on consideration, at risk of being sheared-off when consulting budgets are re-assigned.

Moving forward

The stakes are higher than mere compliance. Unsubstantiated sustainability claims risk not just reputational damage, but also potential legal and financial consequences as greenwashing regulations tighten. IT directors that fail to implement rigorous verification processes risk allowing their organisations to become complicit in environmental deception (and losing control of their net zero narrative).

Companies should start by auditing their current technology partners against clear sustainability criteria; for new procurements, make third-party verified sustainability metrics a mandatory requirement; and also start to build internal competency through training, hiring, and strategic partnerships – but don’t wait for the perfect team to coalesce before acting.

By combining healthy scepticism with systematic verification, IT directors can ensure they’re working with genuine sustainability leaders rather than sophisticated storytellers. In a market where environmental considerations have the potential to reshape every industry, the ability to distinguish substance from spin isn’t just good governance. It’s business critical.



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Save 50% at Total Wireless, Even Without a Promo Code

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4 hours ago

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January 10, 2026

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Save 50% at Total Wireless, Even Without a Promo Code


Total Wireless, formerly known as Total by Verizon, is a prepaid, no-contract wireless provider with unlimited data covered by the Verizon 5G network. Total Wireless Total 5G Unlimited plan has unlimited data, talk, and text, along with a five-year price guarantee—meaning it won’t get jacked up after a trial period, guaranteeing you get unlimited data at a low price. Total Wireless has also introduced unlimited data on Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband network that promises to be up to 10 times faster than the median download speeds of other providers.

Whether you have to have the newest iPhone 17, or are more of an Android phone person, we wanted to highlight the best Total Wireless promo codes and discounts that will make anyone happy!

50% Off With BYOD at Total Wireless (No Promo Code Required)

My phone bill is always way more expensive than I think it will be, and it doesn’t help that phone contracts can be confusing and difficult. Total Wireless makes it easy, with incentives like free items and price-lock discounts. Right now, you can get 50% off the Total 5G Unlimited plan when you bring your own phone (aka ‘Bring Your Own Device’). These plans start at as low as $20 per month, with taxes and fees included.

Save up to $250 on Select Devices When You Switch to Total Wireless

Total Wireless wants to thank you for switching. Right now, you can get a free Galaxy A36 5G when you switch to a Total 5G or 5G+ unlimited plan. Or, you could choose to get up to 4 free Moto G Stylus 5G phones when you switch to the Total Base 5G Unlimited plan (or higher). They have tons of other promos going on too, so there’s something no matter your taste. Right now, if you switch, you’ll get up to $250 off select devices, including the iPhone 13 for $50 ($249 off), a free Samsung Galaxy, or a free Samsung Galaxy A25 5 (originally $180), and so much more.

Loop in Friends, Get a Month Free

Total Wireless also has a loyalty program; when your friend gives you a referral code to join, you’ll get a free month of service upon joining. Once you make the switch to Total Wireless and join Total Rewards, as long as you enter your friend’s code within 14 days of activation, you’ll both receive 5,000 points, which is enough for a $50 service plan.

Other Ways to Save at Total Wireless (No Coupon Required)

Tons of other Total Wireless deals are active throughout the month, like the chance to get a free Samsung Galaxy A26 5G or Samsung Galaxy A16 5G when you Port-in, Switch, and purchase a 2-month 5G Unlimited plan or higher, through April 15. On top of that, with the Total 5G Unlimited plan, you can get unlimited talk, text, and data for under $30 per month, plus a 15 GB hotspot, and a Disney+ subscription.



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OpenAI Is Asking Contractors to Upload Work From Past Jobs to Evaluate the Performance of AI Agents

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9 hours ago

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January 10, 2026

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OpenAI Is Asking Contractors to Upload Work From Past Jobs to Evaluate the Performance of AI Agents


OpenAI is asking third-party contractors to upload real assignments and tasks from their current or previous workplaces so that it can use the data to evaluate the performance of its next-generation AI models, according to records from OpenAI and the training data company Handshake AI obtained by WIRED.

The project appears to be part of OpenAI’s efforts to establish a human baseline for different tasks that can then be compared with AI models. In September, the company launched a new evaluation process to measure the performance of its AI models against human professionals across a variety of industries. OpenAI says this is a key indicator of its progress towards achieving AGI, or an AI system that outperforms humans at most economically valuable tasks.

“We’ve hired folks across occupations to help collect real-world tasks modeled off those you’ve done in your full-time jobs, so we can measure how well AI models perform on those tasks,” reads one confidential document from OpenAI. “Take existing pieces of long-term or complex work (hours or days+) that you’ve done in your occupation and turn each into a task.”

OpenAI is asking contractors to describe tasks they’ve done in their current job or in the past and to upload real examples of work they did, according to an OpenAI presentation about the project viewed by WIRED. Each of the examples should be “a concrete output (not a summary of the file, but the actual file), e.g., Word doc, PDF, Powerpoint, Excel, image, repo,” the presentation notes. OpenAI says people can also share fabricated work examples created to demonstrate how they would realistically respond in specific scenarios.

OpenAI and Handshake AI declined to comment.

Real-world tasks have two components, according to the OpenAI presentation. There’s the task request (what a person’s manager or colleague told them to do) and the task deliverable (the actual work they produced in response to that request). The company emphasizes multiple times in instructions that the examples contractors share should reflect “real, on-the-job work” that the person has “actually done.”

One example in the OpenAI presentation outlines a task from a “Senior Lifestyle Manager at a luxury concierge company for ultra-high-net-worth individuals.” The goal is to “Prepare a short, 2-page PDF draft of a 7-day yacht trip overview to the Bahamas for a family who will be traveling there for the first time.” It includes additional details regarding the family’s interests and what the itinerary should look like. The “experienced human deliverable” then shows what the contractor in this case would upload: a real Bahamas itinerary created for a client.

OpenAI instructs the contractors to delete corporate intellectual property and personally identifiable information from the work files they upload. Under a section labeled “Important reminders,” OpenAI tells the workers to “Remove or anonymize any: personal information, proprietary or confidential data, material nonpublic information (e.g., internal strategy, unreleased product details).”

One of the files viewed by WIRED document mentions an ChatGPT tool called “Superstar Scrubbing” that provides advice on how to delete confidential information.

Evan Brown, an intellectual property lawyer with Neal & McDevitt, tells WIRED that AI labs that receive confidential information from contractors at this scale could be subject to trade secret misappropriation claims. Contractors who offer documents from their previous workplaces to an AI company, even scrubbed, could be at risk of violating their previous employers’ non-disclosure agreements, or exposing trade secrets.

“The AI lab is putting a lot of trust in its contractors to decide what is and isn’t confidential,” says Brown. “If they do let something slip through, are the AI labs really taking the time to determine what is and isn’t a trade secret? It seems to me that the AI lab is putting itself at great risk.”



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The Samsung Galaxy Watch Is Discounted on Amazon

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12 hours ago

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January 9, 2026

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The Samsung Galaxy Watch Is Discounted on Amazon


While iOS users have an easy smartwatch choice in the Apple Watch, Android owners have a few more options, as well as face shapes, to choose from. The semi-squircular Samsung Galaxy Watch8 and Watch 8 Classic have both a unique look and set of health features, and are currently marked down to as low as $280 at Amazon for the 30mm Bluetooth version, or as low as $433 for the Watch8 Classic.

  • Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

  • Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

Samsung

Galaxy Watch8 and Watch8 Classic

As the first watches to sport Google’s Wear OS 6, these made waves when they released with bigger, bolder watch faces, and an improved interface that shows more information. It has a 1.5-inch AMOLED screen that’s generously sized even on the 40mm version we tested, and has more than enough brightness to check on a sunny day.

Both watches feature the kind of physical activity and health tracking data you’d expect from a modern smartwatch, including steps, heart rate, and both sleep quality and bedtime guidance, which recommends when you should go to bed, if you couldn’t sort that out on your own. You can also use the optical sensor to measure your Antioxidant Index to help track what you’re eating without manually logging meals.

Battery life is a key factor for any smartwatch, and the smaller 40mm didn’t quite impress us, running for just right around 20 hours, about half of Samsung’s claimed runtime. The more expensive Watch8 Classic lasted closer to two full days, even some tracked physical activities tossed in. If more than full day of battery is a key selling point, I’d consider making the upgrade.

While only the graphite and silver models are in stock as I write this, there are discounts for both the 40mm and 44mm sizes across both the Bluetooth only and LTE connected options. You can also scoop a healthy markdown on the more deluxe Watch8 Classic, which I spotted for $433 in black or $450 in white. If you’re curious to learn more, make sure to check out our full review of both the Watch8 and Watch8 Classic for all the details, or peruse our other favorite smartwatches to find your new daily driver.



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