Green IT Model for IT Departments in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Organisations

Environmental problems such as climate change, pollution, non-sustainable energy, resource depletion, and recycling Information Technology (IT) devices considered the biggest glitches which are facing developed and developing countries. IT devices have become a critical issue due to the great amount of environmental damage caused by IT companies from consumption of resources, raw materials, energy, and waste disposal. To tackle this problem, sustainability strategies have become crucial in Information Technology (IT) organizations--private and public. Sustainability and Green Information Technology (Green IT) have been introduced to reduce these environmental issues and increase the sectors' needs in a direction away from older IT. Green IT and sustainability aspects are essential to reduce the environmental damages that run rampant in developed countries such as Australia, USA, and the UK. However, in developing countries such as Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, China, and India, there are difficulties in applying Green IT models since they were introduced to meet the developed countries' needs especially in GCC. Currently, the organisations in GCC countries do not consider sustainability in their strategy to reduce the environmental impacts; however, GCC countries are causing a great deal of environmental damage due to their economic growth in different sectors such as oil, gas, and telecommunications. Furthermore, GCC countries are sharing the same policies to achieve the financial stability and change in the oil market. Thus, this research aims to develop a Green IT model for GCC in IT departments to reduce the environmental impacts. A mixed-methods approach will be employed to assess the GCC's needs and to examine the new model. [For full proceedings, see ED571459.]