Hong Kong CIOs lead region in ESG-driven infrastructure shift

Half of CIOs in the city say environmental and governance factors influence all of their digital infrastructure decisions.

Over a quarter of Hong Kong CIOs (26%) are seeking guidance from their network providers on temporal optimisation—strategies such as shifting workloads to off-peak times to reduce energy use and environmental impact—according to new research from Colt Technology Services.

The data, part of Colt’s latest Digital Infrastructure Report, highlights how CIOs in Hong Kong are pushing digital infrastructure to align more closely with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals. 

This puts Hong Kong ahead of other major Asia-Pacific markets, with more CIOs in the city seeking active collaboration from their tech providers to meet sustainability demands.

Colt’s research also found that 50.67% of Hong Kong CIOs say environmental and governance factors influence all of their digital infrastructure decisions, compared to just 32% in Singapore and 33.33% in Japan.

Furthermore, 87% of CIOs in Hong Kong are directly involved in shaping their company’s environmental strategy, well above the global average of 71%.

Hong Kong is also leading in long-term ESG planning, with 41% of CIOs reporting multi-year sustainability strategies aligned with science-based targets.

This focus is matched by rapid digital innovation: 58% of Hong Kong CIOs have implemented end-to-end intelligent infrastructure, and over a quarter (25.87%) have integrated generative AI into their operations.

The report also shows that 36% of Hong Kong CIOs view AI as a facilitator of sustainability strategies, compared to 18% in Japan and 21.33% in Singapore.

AI is being used to enhance network security, process data at the edge, and leverage Network-as-a-Service models to optimise performance and efficiency.