Digital sustainability learning

Digital sustainability for technologists

The following is a list of material designed to support those in technical roles to reach a level of Practitioner. Completing the optional material will put you on the path towards Expert level.

Essential training and resources

1. Green software training

These two courses are essential for understanding the basics of Green Software and should only take a couple of hours to complete. They are free and open to all.

• Sustainable software engineering overview Great into video series by Asim Hussain (Green Software Foundation). Very digestible, only takes about 30 minutes to complete. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/modules/sustainable-software-engineering-overview/

• Green Software Practitioner Slightly more in-depth online course. Takes 2-3 hours to complete. Recommended. Take the short exam with the Linux Foundation to get certified. https://learn.greensoftware.foundation/ and https://training.linuxfoundation.org/training/green-software-for-practitioners-lfc131/

2. Videos

• Beth yw cynaliadwyedd digidol? / What is digital sustainability? Panel discussion by the Centre for Digital Public Services in Wales. Covers all the main topics related to digital sustainability, especially from a UK government perspective. Panellists include Hannah Smith from the Green Web Foundation as well experts from Defra, Wholegrain Digital and the Centre for Sustainability. Despite the title, the content is all in English. The first 25 minutes are devoted to each panelist speaking for 5 minutes, followed by a wider discusson. It’s generally a non-technical discusson, so suitable for all. 1 hour 12 minutes, but broken up into clear chapters. https://youtu.be/Wn5urKcquFE?si=84Th0OkXNlEPjvGd

• What does it all mean: Net-zero, carbon neutral, climate positive, carbon negative? by Asim Hussain Good breakdown of some of the crucial terminology, focussed speficically on digital emissions. 20 minutes, broken into clear chapters. https://youtu.be/HXEnbi64TdQ?si=Ff4eGg2uo4OUxsQm

• BBC News: AI Decoded Excellent report on the environmental impacts of AI with a panel of very knowledgable experts. Although it’s about AI, it covers many other important areas of digital sustainability. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjNacsyp28s

3. Guidelines

Be familiar with the following and refer back to them as needed

• Green Software Maturity Matrix. Self-evaluation tool to help organisations and teams understand their level of maturity in this area. https://maturity-matrix.greensoftware.foundation/

• W3C Web Sustainability Guidelines, 1.0. A new initiative, covers business, design and technology aspects of digital services. See https://w3c.github.io/sustyweb/. Condensed version: https://w3c.github.io/sustyweb/glance.html and quick reference: https://w3c.github.io/sustyweb/quickref.html

• GOV.UK Technology Code of Practice. Point 12 outlines the GOV.UK position on sustainability in ICT. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/make-your-technology-sustainable

• Web Sustainability Guidelines. Now in their sixth draft, the Web Sustainability Guidelines consist of 94 recommendations to help teams create more sustainable digital products and services. https://sustainablewebdesign.org/guidelines/

• Green Software Patterns (for architects). A well-researched and regularly updated set of patterns to reduce the environmental impacts of your architecture. https://patterns.greensoftware.foundation/

Websites to explore

1. Carbon intensity tools

• Electricity Maps: emissions factors worldwide. https://app.electricitymaps.com/map

• National Grid API: UK regional emissions factors. https://www.carbonIntensity.org.uk, https://electricityproduction.uk/, https://www.energydashboard.co.uk/map

• BBC Carbon Minimiser: open source Python tool which uses the national grid API to provide UK carbon forecasts. https://github.com/bbc/carbon-minimiser

2. Web page analysis tools

Web-based tools to rate web pages in terms of sustainability. Only useful for analysis of the front end.

• Beacon - https://digitalbeacon.co/

• Ecograder - https://ecograder.com/

• Globemallow - https://globemallow.io/#api

3. Embodied carbon

• Datavizta: Part of the open source Boavizta project. Multicritera user devices impacts. https://dataviz.boavizta.org/terminalimpact

• Resilio database: API with access to detailed LCA data of many common devices and servers. Accounts for national/regional carbon intensity. https://db.resilio.tech/

Optional training materials

1. Online courses

E-learning

These two courses are both very good and recommended if you have the time.

• Career Essentials in Sustainable Tech by Microsoft and LinkedIn. About 3.5 hours. A good overall introduction to the topic of sustainability. Covers areas such as Net Zero, carbon accounting, the circular economy, LCAs, procurement as well as some light-touch information on why digital services must also transition to being sustainable. The digital part of the course makes some claims that could be questioned or challenged. Requires a LinkedIn account. https://www.linkedin.com/learning/paths/career-essentials-in-sustainable-tech-by-microsoft-and-linkedin

• Sustainable Software Engineering Fairly in-depth course with some Python coding examples. Takes 6-8 hours to complete, but the videos may be blocked for some as they are on Vimeo. Note that the graded coding exercises are not available in self-paced mode. The pace can be a little slow at times, but there are some very good arguments and examples made. Part 1 is focussed on the problem of digital emissions and higher-level thinking, while Part 2 is more focussed on technical approaches. Part 1 is strongly recommended for all, while Part 2 is a little weaker. https://open.hpi.de/courses/sustainablesoftware2022

Code walkthroughs

• Impact Framework Step-by-step tutorials created for Carbon Hack 24. https://github.com/heaversm/carbonhack-if/wiki and https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC_E8ugf8_Oz86WzXHZ1oqVLvxZSWo4F3

2. Books

• Building Green Software. Good and very broad introduction to Green Software. Aimed more at those new to Green Software, it covers all the main topics. Could be strengthened by more practical examples or how-to advice. https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/building-green-software/9781098150617/

• Digital Sustainability: The Need for Greener Software. Similar to the previous title, a solid and succinct introduction to the topic. Good chapters on AI, service measurement and team measurement. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0CYXVD5L2/

• How can engineers make IT more sustainable? Free whitepaper (44 pages). Good and easy-to-read summary of the issues and some approaches to addressing them. https://www.scaleway.com/en/blog/how-can-engineers-make-it-more-sustainable-part-1/

3. Podcasts

• Environment variables: weekly podcast by the Green Web Foundation. Often technical, covers a wide range of topics. Recommended. https://podcast.greensoftware.foundation

• Green IO: weekly podcast hosted by Gaël Duez on green software and ICT. Recommended. https://greenio.gaelduez.com/

4. Articles to read

There are hundreds of recent articles on these topics, here is a sampling of a few which are of interest.

General interest

• The Staggering Ecological Impacts of Computation and the Cloud - https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/the-staggering-ecological-impacts-of-computation-and-the-cloud/

• The UK government’s IT carbon footprint has got worse - the transparency is welcome - https://www.csofutures.com/news/the-uk-governments-it-carbon-footprint-has-got-worse-and-thats-not-all-bad-news/

• How can engineers make IT more sustainable? Part 1: It’s holistic - https://www.scaleway.com/en/blog/how-can-engineers-make-it-more-sustainable-part-1/

• Sustainability, a surprisingly successful KPI: GreenOps survey results - https://climateaction.tech/blog/sustainability-kpi-greenops-survey-results/

Data centres

• Amazon, Google, Microsoft: Here’s Who Has the Greenest Cloud - https://www.wired.com/story/amazon-google-microsoft-green-clouds-and-hyperscale-data-centers/

• Why Cloud Zombies Are Destroying the Planet and How You Can Stop Them - https://www.infoq.com/news/2023/03/stop-cloud-zombies-qcon/

• Understanding the results of cloud providers’ carbon calculators - https://boavizta.org/en/blog/calculettes-carbone-clouds-providers

• Clouded II: Does Cloud Cost the Earth? - https://www.clouded.tv/ (trailer at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPLMyY71_eM)

Hardware and e-waste

• Your old phone is full of precious metals - https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20161017-your-old-phone-is-full-of-precious-metals

• UN report: Time to seize opportunity, tackle challenge of e-waste - https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/un-report-time-seize-opportunity-tackle-challenge-e-waste

Data

• Data is the new plastic - https://www.swctn.org.uk/2021/03/23/data-is-the-new-plastic-part-1/

• IT leaders ‘oblivious’ to the environmental impact of ‘unwanted’ data, research shows - https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366551312/IT-leaders-oblivious-to-the-environmental-impact-of-unwanted-data-research-shows

AI

• The carbon impact of artificial intelligence - https://www.nature.com/articles/s42256-020-0219-9

• AI likely to increase energy use and accelerate climate misinformation - https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/mar/07/ai-climate-change-energy-disinformation-report

BCS articles

• The greening of IT: what it is and why it’s significant (free webinar) - 1 hour presentation by Deloitte, broad-ranging and gives a good overview of key problems and terminology.

• AI and climate change (free webinar) - 3 talks by top female computer scientists. The first talk is not sustainability/climate related, the sustainability talks start at 27:50. Talk 2 looks at the overall impact of ICT on the environment, which is good and fairly high level, but also based on some good research. Covers most of the standard subject areas. Full paper here: https://www.cell.com/patterns/fulltext/S2666-3899%2821%2900188-4. The final talk covers machine learning and AI, and is quite high-level. No mention of LLMs.

• The IT practitioner of the future (free article) - good article explaining that technologists must understand and work to improve the ESG profile of technology

• Engineering sustainable AI systems (free article) - high-level summary article from late 2021.

Glossary

Are you new to terms like Scope 3, GHGs, the Rebound Effect SDGs? If so, please make use of the glossary to get familiar with the relevant concepts and terminology. Digital sustainability glossary.