Green Enterprise Architecture (GREAN)—Leveraging EA for Environmentally Sustainable Digital Transformation
Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: Digital Transformations (DT) play an increasingly important role in academia and business, yet their significant Environmental Footprint (EF) is often overlooked, sidelining their potential for Environmental Sustainability (ES). This paper bridges this gap by integrating ES into the discourse of DT, proposing Green Enterprise Architecture (GREAN) as a method for sustainable transformation. Utilizing a Design Science Research approach, we developed an artefact outlining a comprehensive strategy for embedding ES in DT across various layers of an organization. The tool’s need was validated via a systematic literature review (SLR), highlighting the significant research gap in Green Enterprise Architecture. The artefact provides concrete Courses of Action (CoAs) for incorporating ES into the organizational strategy, business, data, application, and technology layers and proposes relevant capabilities to address this. The paper further presents an ES-aware business capability modelling, an innovative business modelling approach that integrates environmental sustainability principles by using (in a novel way) the presentation and analysis methods that capability mapping offers. The proposed artefact serves as a starting point for environmentally sustainable DTs. Future research directions include in-depth exploration of each enterprise layer for ES, real-world validation of our proposed tools and concepts, and the expansion of these into a full framework.
Source: Sustainability
DOI: 10.3390/su151914342
Authors: Niels Vandevenne, Jonas Van Riel, Geert Poels
Institution: Ghent University
Language: English
Subfield: Management Information Systems
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,447
OpenAlex ID: W4387178277