Major Indian businesses are demonstrating growing enthusiasm for lowering their environmental impact, observes a top cloud computing executive. In an exclusive interview, Jenna Leiner – who oversees sustainability initiatives at leading cloud provider AWS – notes a significant appetite within the Indian market to prioritize reducing carbon emissions alongside technological and economic considerations when adopting new technologies.
Leiner's assessment is based on a recent study co-authored by AWS and Accenture, which found dramatic carbon savings of up to 98% can be achieved by shifting IT workloads from on-site data centers to AWS' energy-efficient infrastructure. Optimizing operations through AWS' specialized hardware like Graviton chips can boost reductions even further to 99%. Two prominent Indian firms have already leveraged these technologies to make tangible progress – IBS Software saw emissions per computing hour fall 40% while Paytm's carbon impact per transaction decreased up to 70%.
For those still hesitant to fully embrace cloud services, Leiner stresses the urgency of climate action and difficulties of matching AWS' scale efficiencies individually. Migrating basic workloads provides a starting point before collaborating with experts to continuously maximize savings. She also outlines AWS' ongoing efforts – constructing vast renewable energy farms and cutting carbon intensity yearly despite business growth.
As awareness around sustainable digital transformation rises, the AWS leader suggests three steps for companies striving to shrink their footprint. Evaluate existing setups, outsource to AWS initially, then partner on optimizing usage through tools and renewable options. Above all, harness technologies like AI in innovative ways aligned with environmental objectives. Indian firms appear increasingly motivated to walk this shared path of progress.
