Sustainability initiatives are returning to the boardroom. The issue of Green IT isn't new, but concerns quickly moved from enhancing sustainability towards cost-saving.

"The topic is returning with emphasis on the CSR (corporate social responsibility) element," said Mortensen.

At Knight Frank, the company's board decided to participate in LOOP, and Yue noted the experience in managing IT was also helpful in the process.

"We are applying IT programming projects [management lifecycle] into the LOOP initiative," he said. "Like any IT project, it started with identifying the issues and setting a green policy, which is a guideline for procurement and disposal of IT equipment, as well as managing printing processes--followed by measuring, prioritizing and implementing actions."