Renske Melchers-Vermolen: Selling the sustainability sizzle

Have you ever asked yourself how much energy data and technology consume? Renske Melchers-Vermolen, Sustainable IT Lead within CITO (Rabobank’s IT organisation), is fired up to create awareness about IT’s hidden carbon footprint and shares with us her recommendations for greener tech solutions.  

When Renske Melchers-Vermolen helped to organise a symposium for green computing in 2009, she had no idea that a spark had been ignited that would fan the flame of her passion for sustainable IT. The symposium, ironically, explored possibilities for remote working via video, but it was the first time Renske grasped the growing tension between automation’s limitless potential and the unseen carbon costs tied to digital expansion. When she joined Rabobank three years ago, she volunteered to take the lead of a strategic initiative consisting of a handful of techies and specialists. They set out to consider some insights and tooling for a large tribe to make more balanced decisions on eco design and digital cleanup – and Wavemakers was born. This project, focusing on integrating sustainable software engineering into the bank's IT operations, has since garnered a lot of positive interest amongst their colleagues, and as part of its strategic agenda, Rabobank is currently centralising and scaling efforts within CITO to bring pioneering sustainability solutions to the collective IT organisation. As recently appointed Sustainable IT Lead, Renske will help to grow this powerful force for good within Rabobank and the banking industry as a whole to become Sustainable by Design.  

The story of sustainability 

It’s a sobering reality: today, the IT sector is already responsible for roughly 3.5% to 4% of global carbon emissions. “A 2018-study published in the?Journal of Cleaner Production?projected that ICT's share of global GHG emissions could rise to?14% by 2040 – and that was before the rise of GenAI,” Renske says.  But to her, figures like these are simply the backdrop to a bigger, more hopeful story. It’s a story she tells with passion, and her infectious enthusiasm has made her aninfluencer in her own right. She believes that meaningful change is possible through small, everyday actions, which is what lies at the heart of the story of sustainability. “As consumers, we all have choices,” she explains. “It’s about being aware. For example, a GenAI search with tools like Chat GPT or Copilot uses much more computing power than a regular Google search – but if it saves you hours spent on a charging laptop, it could still be the greener option overall.” She urges individuals to use their hardware as long as possible despite the dizzying rate of consumerism, and to prioritise regular digital cleanup to limit cloud usage and stream at lower resolutions. “All in all, taking these steps won’t be without sacrifice, which complicates adoption.” A natural storyteller, Renske compares the art of ‘selling’ sustainable tech solutions to two of her other roles: amateur chef and mom. “Sometimes you have to dial back the spices or sneak the vegetables into the meal to make sure everyone enjoys dinner,” she laughs. “It’s the same with clients – the most sustainable tech is the technology we don’t use, so we have to keep a minimalist mindset and ask questions like: Do we really need this feature? What is the true carbon cost? But there’s real value in those small trade-offs. I aspire towards creating a world where people are intrinsically motivated to make positive everyday changes, and to embed these habits as part of their lives.”  

Shifting the demand  

Although Renske believes in the small gains, she is also championing systemic shifts within the IT industry with urgency, and this mission is what drives her. As professionals in the digital technology industry, she encourages developers to adopt simple strategies like not resizing images within browsers, using fewer if/else-statements, and avoiding redirects. “At Rabobank, our engineers are currently exploring practical practices like demand-shifting, which means moving the time slots or locations used to execute tasks and choosing other times and locations when cleaner energy is available and/or fewer companies are working,” Renske explains. Her advice to companies is to ‘sell the sizzle, not the steak’, which refers to the famous marketing tagline by Elmer Wheeler to sell the experience that a product gives, rather than the object itself. “I hope to one day see a fundamental shift in the entire market towards sustainable IT as a major factor in cost-saving, risk reduction and general future-proofing of our organisations beyond just my own company. Right-sizing your IT infrastructure can lead to cost savings of up to 30%, and your risk of failure decreases with optimised code. Our future workforce and future clients also expect us to work more sustainably. I believe that considering IT as a finite resource will ultimately help us to solve problems much more creatively as humans,” she adds. “And therein lies the secret of the sustainability sizzle.”