Decarbonise Digital: Facts. Methods. Action.

Look around, and it is clear that we now live in an increasingly digital world. Everywhere we turn, we hear talk of Future Cities, Smart Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, and Generative AI. Technology and digital solutions are here and growing, with the social, educational, health, and business value of technology unquestionable. But behind the scenes, this growth has a carbon cost that has remained invisible to most of us.

The time has come to start focusing on on reducing the energy consumption of digital and the technological infrastructures, which underpin nearly all of our daily activities. Having spent the last two years engaging with some of the world’s leading cloud service providers, software companies, digital leaders, technology consultancies, and system integrators, I am now of the firm belief that we have an opportunity that could propel the technology sector to the forefront of decarbonisation .

The book is organised into five major parts covering:

1. A Foundation section providing an overview of climate change and the impact of digital
2. A more detailed Sustainable Software Engineering principles and practices section aimed at providing an in-depth view of the techniques that can be used to deliver greener software products
3. An introduction to Green Design to help guide the sustainability of digital products and services even before coding commences
4. A Sustainable IT for Technology Leaders section to help readers shape a sustainable IT strategy and consider the process and technology elements needed to be successful
5. A People and Culture section to help you consider the importance of building capability, the challenges of eco-anxiety and organisation structure to deliver a Sustainable IT Strategy

Whether you are a software engineer, a designer, an IT leader or manager, we will provide you with practical examples and online self-assessments to help you evaluate your own level of understanding and readiness to take action.

We are now able to hold up a mirror, and what we all need is for you to gaze in it and seize the opportunity to create an even better, faster, more efficient, and planet-friendly version of your incredible digital solutions.

The technology industry is filled with some of the brightest individuals in the world. We are a group of doers, and uniquely capable due to our inventiveness, innovation mindset, and pure determination to solve problems. We must abandon the notion that taking action will necessitate slowing things down or regressing to a less polluting version of the past. In our digital world, we must be progressive in our actions and utilise technological advancements to create the efficiencies required to support the development of digital. But we must recognise that we can only satisfy the technological demands of societies and businesses if we base this expansion on a more sustainable IT industry.

In our digital world we must move forward, our actions be progressive, and able to utilise the advancements in technology to create the efficiencies needed to support the growth of digital.

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