Enterprise Architectures for Addressing Sustainability Silos

A need exists for behaviour change and transparency in modern organisations where the focus needs to shift towards sustainability thinking rather than just sustainability reporting for compliance reasons. The number of organisations which are undertaking Green Initiatives and reporting on sustainability are increasing. However, many of these organisations are not viewing these initiatives strategically. The effect on information requirements and business processes is often not considered and the available tools and technologies are not used to their full potential. As a result, whilst sustainability reports are produced, the underlying infrastructure consists of “sustainability silos” comprising of a lack of integrated systems, inconsistent data and information where the integrity is not reliable. In order to address these issues this study investigates the extent to which organisations consider environmental information requirements and processes when planning their information systems and Enterprise Architecture (EA). The inclusion of Green Initiative strategies into the design of an organisation’s enterprise systems and EA is proposed. This will ensure alignment between environmental management and IT planning and result in integrated systems, an improved sustainability reporting process and more effective decision making regarding the environmental impact of organisations.