Technology Magazine January 2024 | Page 48

For today ’ s global leaders in sustainability , many began their careers when the movement was still in its infancy , and a long way from the boardroom
AWS
For today ’ s global leaders in sustainability , many began their careers when the movement was still in its infancy , and a long way from the boardroom

Thomas Blood , the CS Sustainability Leader for EMEA at AWS , began his career in the 1980s studying climate and environmental science , and economic development . “ I wanted to connect the human element and environmental science , but in the eighties there wasn ’ t any work in that , and it wasn ’ t really a career path , so I found my way into it instead ,” he says .

Over the next three decades he worked across different sectors , including software , data centres , as well as at startups and the public sector , before joining AWS as an enterprise strategist . His journey in the company has allowed his career experience in technology and his personal passion for sustainability to combine , providing him with the opportunity to help customers using AWS and the cloud to realise their sustainability ideas and ambitions .
The emergence of sustainability as a critical business focus has evolved rapidly in the last decade , and from his position , Blood has seen that change first-hand in the last five years . “ It became a topic that the CEOs cared about and all of a sudden it became a top 10 issue . It has become a boardroom conversation to say , ‘ what ’ s our responsibility ? How can we help ? What can we do differently ?’ And that is just such a game changer .”
48 January 2024