"Carbon Footprint" Innovation through Environmental Information Management

Abstract

Many argue that digital innovation and innovation in services will be driven by Information and Knowledge Management technologies. This paper investigates a case study on sustainability innovation and more specifically, carbon footprint innovation through Environmental Information Management in the context of the University of Manchester Carbon Management Plan. This work has been carried out as an enquiry-based learning student project with the participation of the Estates department and the Sustainability Office of the University of Manchester. The analysis and results reported in the paper cover three areas, firstly, the paper describes the issues relating to the current performance of the university sector in UK and in particular, of the University of Manchester in comparison with other UK universities in terms of its CO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> emissions. In this context, the paper also identifies and discusses the major challenges in collecting and analysing the information required for the task at hand. Secondly, the study presents a number of recommendations relating to changes on policies and procedures that present significant improvements in terms of environmental management efficiencies. Thirdly, the study proposes a set of recommendations for the ICT infrastructure which could have a significant impact on the CO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> emissions reduction.