Advance your ESG goals by migrating to the cloud: A Future-ready strategy

As businesses face increasing pressure to meet their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) goals, adopting cloud technology has become more than just a technical upgrade — it is a key strategic enabler for sustainable growth and stronger ESG performance. Moving to the cloud helps organisations align with global sustainability targets, promote inclusivity, and reinforce governance frameworks.

This article explores how cloud migration supports ESG outcomes, examining its transformative potential and forward-looking impact.

The environmental advantage

Migrating to the cloud significantly reduces carbon emissions by moving organisations away from energy-intensive on-premises data centres to more efficient cloud infrastructure. Research shows that transferring workloads to the cloud can cut carbon emissions by up to 84%, thanks to better server utilisation and major investments by cloud providers in renewable energy.

Technological advances in green data centre design, such as AI-powered cooling systems, liquid cooling solutions and modular architectures, continue to improve energy efficiency. These innovations help businesses reduce their environmental impact while maintaining performance and scalability.

However, organisations must choose cloud providers carefully. Selecting partners that use renewable energy and follow science-based emissions reduction targets can enhance sustainability outcomes. Businesses aiming for net-zero emissions increasingly adopt multi-cloud strategies, optimising workloads based on energy consumption and the carbon intensity of specific regions.

Advancing social impact

Beyond environmental benefits, cloud adoption drives meaningful social impact. By broadening access to technology and enabling remote work, cloud platforms support inclusion and change how workforces operate.

The cloud removes geographical barriers, allowing organisations to access diverse talent pools. This approach opens up opportunities for underrepresented communities and supports more inclusive hiring practices. Remote working capabilities, powered by the cloud, also reduce commuting-related emissions and improve work–life balance.

Cloud tools also improve oversight of supply chains. Organisations can use cloud-based analytics to monitor compliance with ethical sourcing and labour standards. These insights allow real-time adjustments, ensuring operations remain socially responsible.

By using cloud collaboration platforms and monitoring tools, businesses can scale their social initiatives and align operations with broader societal goals.

Strengthening governance with the cloud

Cloud migration strengthens governance by improving data transparency, streamlining compliance, and supporting effective decision-making. ESG reporting — a vital part of governance — benefits significantly from cloud technology.

Cloud-based platforms consolidate data from multiple sources, simplify reporting processes, and support compliance with international standards. Automated tools improve the accuracy of sustainability metrics while reducing the time and resources needed for reporting.

Cloud analytics enhance risk management, enabling predictive insights into potential disruptions such as climate risks or supply chain issues. These tools help organisations respond proactively. In addition, built-in security features ensure compliance with data protection regulations and reduce the risk of data breaches or unauthorised access.

By adopting cloud technology, businesses can build strong governance systems that meet stakeholder expectations and drive accountability.

Best practices for improving environmental impact by adopting cloud

• Measure carbon emissions: Measure, monitor and report carbon emissions from IT workloads. Create dashboards that leadership teams can use to track emissions on an ongoing basis.
• Migrate workloads to the cloud: Reduce carbon emissions by migrating workloads from legacy data centres to hyperscalers and public cloud providers such as AWS, Azure and Google Cloud.
• Choose cloud regions and services carefully: Select cloud providers, regions and services thoughtfully. Not all cloud services are equal. Traditionally, data centres relied on electricity from fossil fuels, but many next-generation facilities now run on renewable sources like solar, wind, hydro and nuclear energy. Choosing cloud regions powered by green energy can significantly improve sustainability. Tools such as the Google Cloud Region Picker can support these decisions.
• Use modern hardware for on-premises and private cloud workloads: Legacy infrastructure in traditional data centres tends to be less energy-efficient. In industries where workloads cannot be fully migrated to the public cloud — such as regulated sectors — modernising on-premises environments with next-generation infrastructure and hardware can reduce carbon emissions.
• Modernise workloads: Transform legacy workloads into cloud-native architectures such as serverless, platform as a service (PaaS) and database as a service (DBaaS). These models improve scalability and energy efficiency, helping to lower carbon output.
• Manage data more efficiently: Design and implement data governance strategies to reduce the storage needed to support workloads. For instance, using archival storage — which emits less carbon than hot storage — can reduce your carbon footprint. Implementing an effective data retention policy supports long-term sustainability.
• Adopt green software engineering practices: Green software emits fewer greenhouse gases. Applying green software design and development practices when building cloud-native applications helps reduce emissions. The Green Software Foundation (GSF), a non-profit formed by leading technology and consulting firms, promotes standards, tools and best practices for creating environmentally responsible software.
• Embed sustainability in processes and culture: Sustainability must be a shared responsibility, not just an agenda item for senior leadership. Communicate sustainability goals across the organisation and embed best practices into everyday processes and workplace culture.

The Future of ESG with Cloud Computing

Cloud technologies will play an even greater role in ESG transformation as emerging innovations continue to reshape industries.

• AI-powered sustainability: AI tools hosted in the cloud enable smarter energy management, real-time emissions monitoring and advanced climate risk modelling. These tools help organisations meet strict sustainability targets and uncover new opportunities to reduce energy use.
• Next-generation green cloud: Cloud providers are accelerating their adoption of renewable energy. New data centres powered by solar, wind, hydropower and nuclear energy are cutting greenhouse gas emissions significantly. These facilities use advanced technologies, including liquid cooling and modular design, to improve efficiency and reduce resource consumption.
• Low-power hardware and IoT devices: Innovations in hardware are also reducing the energy footprint of cloud operations. Energy-efficient processors and IoT devices lower power use while enabling solutions such as smart grids, precision agriculture and energy monitoring. These technologies reduce waste and support long-term ESG goals.
• Blockchain for transparency: Cloud-based blockchain solutions enhance transparency in ESG efforts. From tracking carbon credits to verifying ethical sourcing, blockchain provides tamper-proof records that build stakeholder trust and improve accountability.
• Edge computing for efficiency: Edge computing reduces the inefficiencies of centralised data processing by bringing computation closer to the source. It is particularly useful in energy-intensive IoT scenarios like real-time power management, transportation efficiency and waste reduction.

By embracing these trends, organisations can use cloud technologies to drive ESG progress and shape a future where innovation and sustainability go hand in hand.

A strategic imperative

Cloud migration is more than a technology shift — it is a strategic enabler for ESG transformation. It helps reduce environmental impact, drive social change and reinforce governance frameworks. Through the cloud, organisations can lead with purpose in a world increasingly shaped by sustainability.

For forward-thinking leaders, adopting a cloud-first approach to ESG is an opportunity to shape a future that is not only efficient and resilient, but also responsible and impactful.

Tanya Khatri, Senior Executive, Grant Thornton Bharat, has also contributed to this article.