E&S and IT &CC: Never Let an Energy Crisis Go to Waste
28th April 2026 from 5:00pm — 6:00pm • Online Event
Join the Ethical and Spiritual Panel and IT and Climate Change Panel for a free online seminar, April 28th where we will explore the growing energy impact of IT and AI, challenging the perception that little can be done. It will provide practical, actionable solutions for IT professionals to reduce energy use and respond to rising costs and environmental pressures.
IT has gone from being a minuscule energy user to one of the largest users on the planet. Furthermore, the widespread experimentation with AI is leading to quite dramatic demands on the Earth’s resources. Yet, many IT practitioners seem very disconnected from the impacts of their profession. On the face of it, it would appear to be a highly unethical position, knowing that you are causing damage but being unwilling to put in the effort to change.
However, possibly, it is just a fatalistic view that there is little one can do change things. In this seminar we will show that this attitude is false. We will do our best to avoid airy and indeterminate analyses,, and instead will focus on practical and crisp solutions that every IT professional should know. Given the current cost of energy, and its strategic importance, this seminar is well timed. Many people will be searching for more Energy efficient IT and to paraphrase Winston Churchill, we should never let a crisis go to waste.
Contributors:
Eric Zie: is the Founder of GoCodeGreen and Chief Research Officer at Charsfield Research & Advisory, focused on tackling the growing environmental impact of software, digital services, and AI. His work spans industry, research, and policy. GoCodeGreen delivers standards-aligned measurement platforms used across financial services, technology, and the public sector, while CR&A leads research programmes, including work under Eureka / ITEA exploring sustainable AI development. Eric plays a leading role in shaping the future of digital sustainability as former Vice Chair of techUK’s Climate Council and current Co-Chair of the Tech Nature and Biodiversity Group, a Fellow of the British Computer Society, a partner to the United Nations ITU, and a Visiting Professor across multiple UK universities.
He is the author of multiple books on digital decarbonisation. Through this combined work, he is redefining how digital progress is measured, governed, and delivered—linking innovation directly to measurable environmental and economic outcomes.
Chris Watts: started his career designing cutting-edge electronics for minicomputer CPUs and developing very high-performance software. At BT, he led a team developing software for ISDN phones. During 23 years at 3Dlabs, he worked on efficient software development for pioneering 3D graphics chips. As Director of R&D Programmes, he successfully programme managed world-beating chip and software development projects. At Tactiq, Chris managed life-saving medical and automotive embedded software and hardware projects. Though retired, he is working on multiple high-tech and environment projects. He has a BSc (Hons) in Electronics, an MSc in Computer Science, is a Chartered Engineer and a Member of the IET.
Emma Fryer: is Director of Public Policy – Europe at CyrusOne. Prior to joining CyrusOne she spent almost two years at environmental consultancy ERM where she specialised in data centre sustainability and resilience. Previously Emma spent over a decade at trade body techUK where she provided a collective voice for operators on matters of policy, compliance and reputation. She monitored regulatory developments, responded to consultations and produced over 200 sector-specific publications on topics ranging from data protection to climate change adaptation. She sat on the Board of the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact from 2021-2022 and was appointed to the Infrastructure Mason’s Advisory Council in 2021. She is a judge on several international award platforms.