Evaluating Sustainable Digitalization: A Carbon-Aware Framework for Enhancing Eco-Friendly Business Process Reengineering

Roberto Vergallo (), Teodoro D’Alò, Luca Mainetti, Roberto Paiano and Sara Matino
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Roberto Vergallo: Department of Innovation Engineering, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Teodoro D’Alò: Department of Law Studies, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Luca Mainetti: Department of Innovation Engineering, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Roberto Paiano: Department of Innovation Engineering, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Sara Matino: Department of Innovation Engineering, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 17, 1-18

Abstract: In an era where sustainability is paramount, understanding the environmental impact of digitalizing business processes is critical. Despite the growing emphasis on sustainable practices, there is a lack of comprehensive methodologies to evaluate how digitalization impacts environmental sustainability compared to traditional processes. This paper introduces a carbon-aware methodological framework specifically designed to assess the sustainability of business process reengineering through digitalization. The Digital Green framework quantitatively analyzes the environmental costs associated with digital transformation, ensuring that truly sustainable digitalization results in lower resource consumption relative to the complexity of the process being digitalized. To demonstrate its effectiveness, the framework was applied to a case study involving the reengineering of an administrative process at a small university in southern Italy. The case study highlighted the framework’s ability to quantify the environmental benefits or detriments of digital transformation, thus guiding organizations toward more sustainable digital practices. This research contributes to the field by offering a concrete tool for aligning digitalization efforts with ecological sustainability, and by paving the way for integration with initiatives such as the Green Software Foundation’s Software Carbon Intensity (SCI) specifications.

Keywords: sustainability; sustainable digitalization; environmental impact; process reengineering; carbon-aware framework; eco-friendly business processes; quantitative sustainability analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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