From green IT to sustainable innovation

Sustainable innovation is about creating social, environmental, and economic value for all stakeholders involved. In this paper we propose the sustainable innovation lens as an extension of the prevailing discourses on Green IT/IS. The sustainable innovation lens goes beyond the environmental facet of sustainability—which is the main focus of Green IT/IS—and offers a three-fold approach that encompasses social, environmental and economic dimensions of sustainability. Moreover, sustainable innovation provides a potent proactive approach to IT/IS development and management by focusing on creating positive solutions to environmental and social challenges rather than on reducing and managing IT footprint. Building on a longitudinal study of Hewlett-Packard, we demonstrate how a company can widen its perspective from Green IT to sustainable innovation, and then illustrate how the latter has a greater potential for change and innovation.