Small business, big footprint: the digital carbon footprint dilemma in small and medium-sized enterprises

Authors

Ágnes Sándor, Budapest Business University, Centre of Excellence for Future Value ChainsFollow
Ákos Gubán, Budapest Business University, Faculty of Finance and AccountancyFollow

Abstract

A major contributor to climate change is the emissions from Information and Communication Technology (ICT) devices and digitalisation. Energy use, heat production, and the operation of assets all contribute to the production of harmful emissions. However, indirect emissions, such as production and disposal, also play a role. We rely mainly on the output of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This paper focuses on the emissions of SMEs. Is it certain that cloud services (remote data storage and management) leave a much smaller carbon footprint than ICT devices for own use? These two solutions lead to a paradox: using more modern devices to produce less emissions requires more energy and generates more heat. This article analyses how to resolve this paradox for SMEs.

Recommended Citation

Sándor, Ágnes and Gubán, Ákos (2024) "Small business, big footprint: the digital carbon footprint dilemma in small and medium-sized enterprises," International Journal of Information Systems and Project Management: Vol. 12: No. 4, Article 3.
Available at: https://aisel.aisnet.org/ijispm/vol12/iss4/3