054 Your Data Has a Footprint: What Leaders Need to Know Rachel Mitchell

Did you know that five AI prompts consume the equivalent of a full glass of water? Most people associate carbon footprints with planes and cars, but our digital habits are leaving an equally massive—yet invisible—mark on the environment. 

In this episode, Jacqueline Stockwell sits down with Rachel Mitchell, Principal Consultant at Leadership Through Data, to peel back the curtain on Data Decarbonization. They dive deep into the physical reality of data: the cooling systems, the millions of gallons of water used by data centres, and the energy consumed by every "like," emoji, and duplicate email trail. 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• The Power of ROT: Why Redundant, Obsolete, and Trivial data is a "lose-lose-lose" for your business and the planet. 
• AI’s Thirst: The surprising environmental cost of AI prompts and how to use digital tools more consciously. 
• Influencing the Board: How to use the "Green Agenda" to finally get leadership to care about information governance. 
• Practical First Steps: How to stop the "uncontrolled growth" in OneDrive and SharePoint without overwhelming your team. 

Whether you are an information leader, an "eco-warrior," or just someone looking to declutter your digital life, this conversation provides the clarity and confidence needed to build sustainable information practices.

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If something landed for you in this episode… don’t just leave it here. 

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If you’re not quite sure how you’re showing up right now, start here: 

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💬 Final thought 

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Just take one next step. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Hello and welcome to today's show. I'm Jacqueline Stockwell, CEO and founder at Leadership Through Data. I inspire and motivate information leaders across the world. Hello and welcome to today's show. I'm back in the studio with Rachel Mitchell, who is a principal consultant at Leadership Through Data. Now Rachel specialises in information and data in Microsoft 365 governance and helping organizations make information management practical, usable, and sustainable. Her work is grounded in real-world experience across government and highly regulated environments. She's now focusing on empowering customers through coaching and delivering consultancy and training that generally helps organisations build confidence, clarity, and better information practices. Now, Rachel, I've got you back today because there's a real topic that I want to talk about is uh data decarbonisation. Now it's one thing that we're both really, really passionate about. Uh so when you hear people talk about data carbonization, they think energy and transport. But what does that actually mean for data and information? And where does that fit into this picture?

SPEAKER_00 1:15

Yeah, so I think you're absolutely right. So when people hear about carbon footprints, decarbonization, they often think about visible physical things like planes, cars, factory emissions. And data does feel invisible, but it also relies on a very physical infrastructure. So we've got data centers, we've got servers, we've got networks, we've got cooling systems, and every document, email, dashboard, or AI prompt is actually consuming electricity and increasingly water. And global digital technologies are now accounting for a similar share of emissions of aviation. But the issue with data is the demand is growing really fast, unlike aviation. So it's not about thinking about data as this invisible thing that's contributing. It's really part of that agenda now.

SPEAKER_01 2:10

Yeah, and it's really big, but I don't think people will actually see it, do they? Because you can't see all this data in all the things that you've just described. Whereas, you know, when you look at global impact, you can see it through climate change and through the weather, is how I determined the impact of that. So, what what do we actually mean by a data carbon footprint? And why should organizations actually take it seriously now?

SPEAKER_00 2:37

So the data carbon footprint is actually about the whole life cycle of the data. So it's the emissions that are created throughout that. So that's creation, storage, storage is a biggie, processing, every time we send something, every time we reply to something, every time we put an emoji on something, duplication of data, which I know we're gonna come on to, um, backup and then long-term retention. So a key issue is that a huge volume of that data is never actually actively used. It's just sitting there latent and just inactive, but it's still consuming that energy sort of every day. So that's how the data carbon footprint is made up, if you like.

SPEAKER_01 3:17

Yeah. And I just kind of want to delve a bit more deeper into that because you've talked about data that's not actually used. Can you just describe to listeners the rot aspect of why that's so important?

SPEAKER_00 3:29

Yeah, so rot or redundant, obsolete, and trivial data, it's effectively sitting there, but it offers absolutely no business value. But it's generating cost, it's generating risk, and it's generating carbon. So actually, there's no benefit to having it. And studies show that often at least a third of organizational data is redundant, obsolete, or trivial. So those things like duplicates or uh response or email trails where we've got hundreds of emails related to the same subject and everyone's keeping a copy of those in their inboxes. So rot is like sort of an engine that's just left idling. Well, it's worse than that. It's an engine that actually doesn't work that's left idling. So we really need to get rid of that redundant, obsolete trivial for your business benefit, but with that comes a reduction in your in your data carbon footprint as well.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

Amazing. It's just a fascinating topic, really. I find it really fascinating. And truly something that information leaders and organisations can take seriously to kind of reduce their their footprints. So you've talked about data centers and water usage. So let's kind of blend that with a bit of AI. So, what's the impact most people don't see or don't realise exists with those things?

SPEAKER_00 4:44

Yeah, I think it comes back to water for me. And if you go back to, I mean, I'm a woman of a certain age, we're not going to say how old, but I remember the pictures of famine in Ethiopia and due to sort of levels of water not being available. This is a really big issue for the planet, let alone for individual sort of organizations and areas of business, if you like. So most people don't associate data centers with water, but actually millions of gallons of water a day are actually being used for cooling. So while the exact amount of water can vary for each single AI interaction, actually it's still using that sort of ongoing volume of water and electricity. And studies have shown that advanced AI-driven data centers can use millions of gallons a day. So on average, it's estimated that one to five AI prompts actually consumes the equivalent of a glass of water. So if you think about how many AI prompts we're now using a day, if you're sort of involved in sort of co-pilot or any of the other AI chat GPT, whatever it is you're using, that's a lot of water. So we need to really think about that as a real tangible environmental consideration, especially when you scale that up and just think about that's one person. Even in our small organization of leadership through DataJat, how many are we generating? It's it's massive when you start to the numbers become almost incomprehensible.

SPEAKER_01 6:15

So is there anything you can offset, Rachel, based on, you know, if I've got a glass of water and I've done five prompts, what can I do to offset that?

SPEAKER_00 6:24

Yeah, for me it's offsetting, but it's also your everyday habits. So it's getting used to actually not using AI when you don't have to, because sometimes we just need a search. We don't need to add the AI bit to it. So really consciously think about that because in most search bars, you have that option. So always think about when you're using AI and when you don't need to use it. But also things like email attachments versus links, that's adding extra capacity in terms of sort of your data footprint. Making sure that you're getting rid of emails that you don't need anymore. We're so bad at that. We scribble away everything. And actually, how often do you actually go back and read something? It's all about risk and resource, and in this case, it's about risk and data footprint as well.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

And I have to say, I'm very good. My best friend is the D E L button on my keyboard when it comes to my emails rate. So, you know, I feel like what you've just said is is is, you know, I use AI because it helps me and my neurodivergent brain, but I'm like, okay, there's other things that I can be thinking about, just like what you described to work on that. So talking about everyday habits, so search, storing, duplicate information, how does that directly contribute to the impact?

SPEAKER_00 7:44

Well, it's it's just about volumes, isn't it? So if you think everything has that footprint, then it means that everything we do, like I say, even if you add an emoji as a response to an email, which is not always appropriate, even that adds to your data carbon footprint. So it's really thinking about when we need to interact and how we do that. And it's almost sort of having that sort of eco-thought before we take an action. So, like I said, making sure we're not using AI when we don't need to for searching. Um, thinking about actually, do I need to email? Could I have a quick conversation with somebody as well? You know, sometimes that can be just as useful. But of course, then a Teams meeting or a call will have some kind of data footprint. Um, from a business perspective though, I think it's really about being mindful of putting things through that cycle. And to be honest, it's still badly done by the majority of organizations that I go to. It's not seen as a priority. And I just think we could really press the green button now with boards and committees within organizations to say, actually, you're not listening to me as a records manager, but you have got a green agenda here in this organization around your data carbon footprint. Actually, what can we do now to actually get data contributing to that and making them realise that? And even if they won't listen to us about legal compliance, they might start to listen to us about um, you know, the green agenda, if you like.

SPEAKER_01 9:14

Yeah, and I see I see that in in three three different areas. So you've got the green, um, the green element, you've got compliance, and then you've got AI. And it's actually working out within the organisation what values and morals that they've got that you can use one of those threes to actually drive through um uh the things that you actually want to achieve. I mean, for me, it's definitely a green rage. Because to say I'm a big eco-warrier. So let's just go back to uh rot. So redundant, obsolete, and trivial. Why is this such a powerful place for organizations to start looking at reducing the volumes of information that they hold?

SPEAKER_00 9:55

Yeah, well, it's just that hidden enemy for us in so many ways. It contributes, as I said earlier, absolutely no business value, but it's potentially costing us money to hold it. It's actually muddying our search results and our findability because it's clogging up that space so we can't do nice clear search sort of navigations. And it's also just effectively burdening the organization in terms of the data carbon footprint. So it's a lose, lose, lose with rot. And I just don't understand why people don't get that message. And sometimes it's not really difficult to start to think about where we can sweep that out. So little things like thinking about sort of with email, email is every records manager's bugbear. We know that because it's so difficult to manage because it's not based on classification. But even with email, we can start to think about every sort of Friday just going through and clearing stuff that we don't need, but also putting automated tools in so that we're getting rid of um things like meeting requests. So we're auto-deleting that out of our inboxes. Um, so I think if we don't start to tackle it, we're really gonna be just almost swamped with that volume of data that adds absolutely nothing to our organization.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

Oh, I love that. So, how can information leaders use data sustainability to strengthen influence? And I want to talk about influence here, because influence is about them as people, not about what we've just talked about, with senior leaders and board members.

SPEAKER_00 11:33

So I think it starts with our vision. So I I always think about, and if you're in on any of my training, if I mention the word context once, I mention it about 300 times. But you need to think about actually what's the vision of the organization first? What's what's the culture and vision? What are they trying to achieve? So it's things like I mean, you said Jack, so the culture and leadership through data is we actually have a massive green agenda because you are an eco-warrior, we're very passionate about our gardens and things like that. But in an organization, you can tell where that culture sits, I think. So you can see that in the business cases and business plans. So, as information leaders, we need to look at those things and say, right, where can I plug my information vision into that and actually have a vision that people recognize and understand? Not if you do what I say, we'll give you statutory compliance, because they're just gonna go to sleep. I would go to sleep. So we need to be speaking their language. So get their vision, tie your vision to that and actually think about who are your buddies on the board, who are your buddies on the committee, have a look at their LinkedIn. Who's sharing green items on LinkedIn, for example, that shows that they've got a passion about saving the planet, looking after water supplies, and try and get people like that on board with you, and then you're all starting to talk about the same messaging, and they're doing your job for you as well. So, one of my key things is to find little allies in the board, and it might be people that are surprising, it might be the head of IT is actually really thinking about the green agenda from a data storage and cost perspective, slightly different angle, but we can use that within our vision and then make it sort of this holistic approach that everyone's signed up to. If you just try and do it single-handedly, you are just gonna be knocking on a closed door continually.

SPEAKER_01 13:30

Yeah, agreed. And it's understanding the people that you work with. So, like you said, you know, I'm a gardener, you're a gardener. Um, but it's how you can approach those types of things with senior leaders. So having stories, but actually what is an emotional connection to them. So understanding how you want to communicate to them. And I think that's a real thing with influence as well. Comes around your personal branding and how you present yourself. But influence, I would definitely say, is a people-led process, and it's having that understanding. How can you influence your green agenda onto somebody that who might be more interested in compliance or might be interested in AI, for example, which is probably a better example, isn't it? So amazing. So if an organization wants to act without overwhelming people, what are one or two practical first steps you would recommend?

SPEAKER_00 14:23

So for me, it's stopping the rot before it starts. So we've got to think about stopping uncontrolled growth. Wherever we think that's happening, as a records manager, and this is where your IT department can help you as well, or anyone that's monitoring sizes of things, where are things becoming crazy? Like OneDrives is a good example. People might be using them as dumping grounds. Are you actually monitoring the sizes of OneDrives to see how people are using them, for example? So the first step for me is to look where we've got uncontrolled growth. Always email, always OneDrives if you haven't put the right policies and controls in place. And then also think about SharePoint sites. So when we do our architecture course, we talk about scale in terms of architecture. So architecture is how we embed our classification really into our technology for those that aren't that familiar with it. So if you're looking at your growth spurts across your SharePoint, say, and you look at there's going to be some key areas where you've got crazy growth going on, and the scale of the information is increasing, not exponentially, maybe, but massively. So try and look at some of those and think actually, why is that happening? And should that stuff even be in SharePoint? Could it be on cheaper storage or colder storage that takes us a bit more to access it because it's actually we need to keep the data, but it's inactive. So it's thinking about that uncontrolled growth for me first, rather than trying to get overwhelmed with like a mass cleanup. Okay, so stop that rot increasing exponentially. Then simple guardrails, thinking about simple things that we can implement really slowly and carefully to take people with us, not a big bang, let's change the world. So Fred that comes in on Monday's like, whoa, what's going on with my whole sort of SharePoint of Microsoft space? And obviously, there's other things like Google that people might be using. But retention on emails. Let's start to get that culture. And quite often people will say to me, Yeah, but we can't do that till we do the right architecture. Rubbish. Start with a retention of five years and just get people sort of familiar with the fact that we're gonna be not keeping our emails forever, everyone. So simple guardrails like that to start to get that culture shifting. So people are using things in the way that we want them to. And then thinking about known rot hotspots, it amazes me how many shared drives are still out there. Let's get rid of them. They're no good for the users for starters, and that's the most important focus, but they're definitely no good for rot because they just become this dumping ground of folder structures that are sort of eight, nine, ten layers down. No one knows what's in there. So that's a that's a real prime space, I think, to get rid of the rot. And um and I love starting to sort shared drives out, it's one of my favourite things.

SPEAKER_01 17:20

I love that. What is it? No rot drop, did you say? No rock drop, I love that. I think that's wicked. Uh that's my thing for the day. So I want to talk about culture because all you've described is is really great, but actually, you need to look at culture and change management with these things. Yeah. Um, what matters more in reducing environmental impact? So, like better technologies or changing culture and behaviours around information and data?

SPEAKER_00 17:48

Yeah, so the way I like to look at it, technology sort of enables sustainability. If we get the tech right, actually that helps our green agenda. So things like those guardrails, keeping content down, monitoring sizes, things like that. But culture actually determines outcomes because culture's about how we are working with those systems. And we can buy greener cloud services, but actually, I might still be duplicating everything, hoarding just because, and just having lots of waste in my sort of personal storage spaces. So I think trying to get them to lead from above is really important. So everything we just said about influencing at board level, but also everyday habits. So just picking up little things that you can start like a drip of green records management, so and little adverts like that you send to team meetings to say, have you thought about question marks? Some just some little good examples that just start people to think about working in a different way. I don't think it works to sort of start with a massive big bang change program. We have to start with small messaging that then almost becomes part of the ethos and then ramp that up. So even if you've got, and I know this is the case for a lot of people, you're frustrated because you've got no funding, no finance at the moment, and it's it's getting worse again now instead of getting better. You don't have to spend money to start with. You can just be starting to think about right, what's the vision we're trying to get to, and what are the key messages we want to start to embed? And then just start little PowerPoint slides or little vignettes of videos or whatever it might be, and just share them for team meetings so people just drop them into their team meeting agendas. Share them on your intranet, share them on your social media, and just it starts. If we say things often enough, they become true. So that's my top tip, really, if you've got, especially if you've got no budget. Fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 19:50

So I'm gonna ask you to look into that crystal ball that no one ever has, but I think it's a really good, good, good question. Over the next few years, what do you think will force the biggest change? Regulation, cost pressure, or environmental responsibility?

SPEAKER_00 20:04

Or I God, it's all of them, isn't it? There's no one thing, I think, at the moment. Like we haven't got a big bang statutory change like we had with GDPR, for example, that's coming over the horizon. I think, given the economic climate again, I think cost pressure is going to be driving the most attention. We're feeling it domestically. I think that's gonna be affecting businesses again. And the first things to be cut are normally things in albumin information governance space because they don't see it as a essential. So we need to, we need to try and make ourselves essential, of course. But I think um AI is still obviously the big talking point, but it's quite interesting because I'm not seeing it driving a lot of change. I'm seeing organizations are saying, well, you've got two spectrums in one organization, haven't you? You've got no, you've got one spectrum with two ends in an organization. So some people saying we've got to get it, we've got to get it, we've got to use it, we've got to use it. And the other end saying, it's too scary, it's not controlled, it's not governance. But actually, I am not seeing, apart from in a handful of organizations, really good managed AI introduction and testing. People might be screening at screaming at the screen, saying, actually, we're doing that, we're doing that. Well, publicize it. Give me some really good ideas in terms of how you are embedding AI, because a lot of people are still doing this battle of the two ends of the spectrum, like saying we must use it, we can't, we must use it, we can't. So give me some really good examples of way I where AI is actually driving good records management because I'm not seeing it yet out in the ground.

SPEAKER_01 21:49

No, and I'm not either, Rachel. And that's kind of one of my biggest bugbears. Everyone's talking about AI, but whatever it, you know, you talked about rot, you've got rot inside your information, the AI is going to be rubbish on the data out it's bringing. And that's a huge frustration for me because you know information leaders should be up there having those conversations. Yeah. Banging that drum. And banging that drum. But also it's about influence. It's around us as information leaders, you know, stepping out of our comfort zones, being in influential within the business and the industry to actually get that message in across.

SPEAKER_00 22:24

Definitely. And it's and it is sad that we're not jumping on that bandwagon more and getting our messages heard because it's just not coming through practically.

SPEAKER_01 22:33

Well definitely keep following me, keep listening to the podcast, and I'll help you on your way. Rachel has been absolutely sensational. How can listeners reach out to you if they want to know more?

SPEAKER_00 22:44

So I am on the website for Leadership Through Data as the principal consultant. I'm on LinkedIn so come and um hook up with me on LinkedIn and hopefully we'll be sharing lots of helpful resources for you. Jackie does it continually don't know how she has the time. I do it during the week as well. So come and um see what resources we've got on LinkedIn too. Fantastic. Thank you so much Rachel Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 23:09

Bye. Thank you for listening to the journals of the information entrepreneur with me Jacqueline Stockwell. I hope you found this episode inspiring and helpful and have some takeaway tips that can be useful to you. If you liked this episode please like review and share it with your friends. Your support helps us reach more information leaders to stay inspired and listen to great content. Want to test out your strengths and weaknesses and measure it against our Empower framework please complete the scorecard it's a great way to improve and evaluate your skills you can find the scorecard at the end of the description of this podcast. Stay tuned for new podcast every Thursday and remember to be bold be brave and be beautiful