ITIL® 4 Specialist:

Sustainability in Digital
and IT in 1,000 Words

Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021

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Contents

1 Introduction 4

2 Modern sustainability 4

3 ITIL 4 Sustainability in Digital and IT 6

4 Conclusion 6

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1 Introduction
A search engine will return billions of results
in less than a second to anyone searching for
‘sustainability’. Sustainability is discussed every
day: at work, in the news, and at home. But what
does it actually mean for communities, teams,
and individuals globally?
The most simple and practical way to explain
sustainability is this: being sustainable
means being able to last for a long time and
succeed in one’s mission. At the global level,
sustainable development is about ‘meeting the
needs of the present without compromising
the ability of the future generations to meet
their own needs.’ At the organizational level,
sustainability is about being able to both
achieve business objectives and serve the
community and future generations.
1.1 The triple bottom line
Many people still only associate sustainability
with environmental issues. However, sustainable
businesses consider all three pillars of
sustainability; this approach is known as the
triple bottom line. The three pillars are:
• environmental impact on the natural
environment, such as energy consumption,
greenhouse gas emission, deforestation,
pollution, and so on
• social impact on the social environment,
such as job and development opportunities,
discrimination, fair work conditions, education,
and so on
• economic including investments in mid-
and long-term improvements, the ability to
withstand unexpected changes and crises,
long-term financial reliability, and so on.
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2 Modern sustainability
2.1 Interconnectedness
In the modern, interconnected world, it is
impossible to be sustainable in isolation.
Sustainability is about contributing to the
sustainable development of the systems
we live and operate in, including social
groups, economic relationships, and natural
environments. To achieve sustainability,
everyone must act responsibly towards
others in these systems.
Corporate social responsibility is one common
expression of this concept, but responsibility
should be taken at all levels (individual,
corporate, national, and international) and in
all aspects of sustainability (economic, social,
environmental, and governance).
2.2 Digitalization
Digital transformation affects individuals,
organizations, societies, and countries.
Technologies such as cloud computing,
machine learning, big data, and blockchain
reshape the way organizations operate,
offering new business models. This means
that it is impossible to navigate sustainability
and digital transformations separately.
Digitalization can enable sustainability, if the
technology is used responsibly.
To ensure the effective integration of the two
transformations, organizations need to:
• understand the key concepts of sustainability
and digital technology
• continually explore the recent trends and
solutions in both domains
• continually monitor current and anticipated
standards and regulations

• adopt and promote sustainability values

• adopt and apply relevant guiding principles

to address sustainability and digital
transformations

• effectively manage organizational changes

• treat sustainability and digitalization as

continual journey, not a one-off initiative

• effectively navigate the complex business,

social, and natural environments.

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3 ITIL® 4: Sustainability in Digital and IT
ITIL® 4: Sustainability in Digital and IT is
an ITIL® 4 specialist module. It provides
step-by-step recommendations for sustainable
operations and strategy, and explains why and
how IT and IT-enabled service providers can
become sustainable so they can evolve and
succeed in the long term.
The ideas and recommendations in this book
are designed for organizations that provide
and use digital and IT services and care about
what they do, regardless of whether the
provider is a self-employed consultant, an IT
department within a corporation, or a large
digital enterprise.
3.1 What is included?
ITIL® 4: Sustainability in Digital and IT follows
the steps of the ITIL continual improvement
model. This is because sustainability activities
should form a continuous journey, rather than
being a one-off initiative. For each step, the
book explains the key sustainability concepts,
describes applicable methods and models, and
provides guidance on their application in the
context of digital technology.
3.1.1 What is the vision?
In the first step, organizations define their vision
for sustainability, ensuring that it is aligned
with the overall business vision and supports
the widely accepted sustainable development
goals, the UN SDGs. Organizations review and
reconsider their guiding principles and may
amend them using the UN Global Compact
principles for sustainability as a guidance.
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3.1.2 Where are we now?
The second step provides a good
understanding of the organization’s internal and
external context. This is achieved by various
forms of assessment, including materiality
assessment, risk assessments, and stakeholder
analysis and mapping. The results of the
assessments inform the following steps.
3.1.3 Where do we want to be?
In the third step, organizations define, agree,
and communicate their sustainability objectives.
The objectives address the material topics
identified via the materiality assessment and
support the agreed sustainability vision.
3.1.4 How do we get there?
In the fourth step, organizations plan a portfolio
of initiatives to achieve the agreed objectives.
Together with the third step, this step results
in the creation of a sustainability strategy and
supporting tactical and operational plans.
In many cases, these plans are based on, or
enabled by, digital technology.
3.1.5 Take action
The fifth step provides readers with tools
and approaches needed to implement
their sustainability plans in today’s volatile,
complex, uncertain, and ambiguous business
environment. Along with recommendations
for addressing complexity (based on the
Cynefin framework), this chapter explains how
various ITIL management practices support the
organization’s sustainability journey.

3.1.6 Did we get there?
In the sixth step, organizations review and
report their progress and achievements.
Together with ITIL-based recommendations
for measurements and reporting, this chapter
introduces sustainability-driven approaches
to corporate reporting, such as the integrated
reporting framework.
3.1.7 How do we keep the momentum going?
The seventh step enables the continual nature
of the sustainability journey. This is where
drivers such as governance, collaboration, and
innovation help organizations to maintain the
direction and the momentum to achieve the
sustainability objectives and get closer to the
agreed sustainability
4 Conclusion
In the modern world, sustainability and
sustainable operations are non-optional.
ITIL® 4: Sustainability in Digital and IT has been
created by Axelos in close cooperation with
DEFRA to help organizations of all types
integrate sustainable practices and ideas into
their business and operating models.
We believe that sustainability is a major
part of success, and this book aims to help
organizations to realize their visions and achieve
their goals in a sustainable way, enabling
success all around the world.

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