Green ICT

A delicate equilibrium between ICT growth and environmental preservation, at the core of Europe's sustainable future.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) plays a dual role in Europe's pursuit of sustainability. On the one hand, it acts as a catalyst for societal modernization, optimizing processes in sectors like transport, healthcare, and building management, thus potentially reducing carbon footprints. On the other hand, the sector itself is a significant energy consumer, with, for example, data centers alone accounting for 2-3% of global energy usage. In line with the European Green Deal of 2019, which sets an ambitious target for Europe to become carbon neutral by 2050, a balanced approach is required. This involves developing an efficient, optimized ICT infrastructure with minimal environmental impact, while simultaneously leveraging these technologies to further sustainability in all societal sectors. This delicate equilibrium between ICT growth and environmental preservation is at the core of Europe's sustainable future.

Informatics Europe, representing nearly 200 member institutions across Europe, is gathering efforts for sustainability in and through Informatics. The Green ICT Working Group launched at ECSS 2023 in Edinburgh with the goal of setting the action agenda to unite all levels of researchers, public policymakers, and industry representatives across and beyond Europe to discuss sustainability around the theme “Green ICT and ICT for Green”. Find a summary of workshop outcomes and related working group activities from all years under the "Outcomes" tab below.

WG Goal: Developing and understanding efficient, optimized ICT infrastructure with minimal environmental impact, while simultaneously leveraging these technologies to further sustainability in all societal sectors.

Double Perspective: Green ICT and ICT for Green.

Pillars: Energy accountability, Human-centered, Interdisciplinarity, Measuring, Policies, Sustainable design, Tooling

• submission of a COST Action proposal;
• set up of a LEAP study at the European level;
• working on a white paper on Green ICT metrics and best practices;
• publication of the position paper "The Need for a Green ICT Reference Framework" at GreenArch 2026, the International Conference on Software Architecture (ICSA) Workshop on Software Architecture for Green Sustainable Carbon-aware Software Systems.

• 8-10 February 2027: Working Group in-person meeting at the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering (DEIB), Politecnico di Milano, Via Ponzio 34/5, Milan, Italy.

Interested in contributing to this working group? Please register here or contact us via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

• Working Group
• Outcomes

• Current members:

  • Monica Vitali, Politecnico di Milano, Italy (Chair)
  • Marco Aiello, University of Stuttgart, Germany
  • Michel Albonico, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
  • Mina Alipour, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
  • Vasilios Andrikopoulos, University of Groningen, the Netherlands
  • Manel Barkallah, University of Namur, Belgium
  • Mikkel Baun Kjaergaard, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
  • Nicolas Bique, SVIA SSIE SSII Schweiz - Verein für Informatik in der Ausbildung, Switzerland
  • Antonio Brogi, University of Pisa, Italy
  • Rafael Capilla, Rey Juan Carlos University, Spain
  • Alessandro Crimi, AGH University of Krakow
  • Xavier Devroey, University of Namur, Belgium
  • Stefano Forti, University of Pisa, Italy
  • Lidia Fuentes, Universidad de Málaga, Spain
  • Ilche Georgievski, University of Stuttgart, Germany
  • Gabriele Gianini, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy
  • Kawsar Haghshenas, University of Groningen, the Netherlands
  • Brian Keegan, TU Dublin, Ireland
  • Monica Landoni, Universita della Svizzera Italiana, Switzerland
  • Julian Legler, TU Berlin, Germany
  • Leo Wilhelm Lierse, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
  • Syed Waqar Nabi, University of Glasgow, UK
  • Ciarán O'Leary, TU Dublin, Ireland 
  • Gilles Perrouin, University of Namur, Belgium
  • Andrea Emilio Rizzoli, IDSIA USI-SUPSI, Switzerland
  • Ina Schieferdecker, TU Berlin, Germany
  • Lucía Serrano-Luján, Rey Juan Carlos University, Spain
  • Jacopo Soldani, University of Pisa, Italy
  • Klervie Toczé, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
  • Mahyar Tourchi Moghaddam, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
  • Sebastian Werner, TU Berlin, Germany

  Past Chairs:

  • Marco Aiello, University of Stuttgart, Germany (2023-2025)
  • Marina Jirotka, University of Oxford, UK (Sustainability Working Group, 2022)
• • Position paper "The Need for a Green ICT Reference Framework"
    Download
    Date: April 2026
    Details: The paper, presented at GreenArch 2026, the International Conference on Software Architecture (ICSA) 2026 workshop on Software Architecture for Green Sustainable Carbon-aware Software Systems, introduces a shared Green ICT reference framework to support the governance of ICT sustainability impacts. Developed within the Informatics Europe Green ICT Working Group, the framework integrates sustainability perspectives across system layers, lifecycle phases, and governance contexts.

   

  • ECSS 2025: Green ICT and ICT for Green Workshop
    Read More
    Date: October 2025 
    Details: Workshop description and presentation slides from the ECSS 2025 workshop, held in Rennes on 29 October 2025.

   

  • ECSS 2024: Green ICT and ICT for Green Workshop
    Read More
    Date: October 2024 
    Details: Workshop description and presentation slides from the ECSS 2024 workshop, held in Malta on 29 October 2024.

   

  • ECSS 2023: Green ICT and ICT for Green Workshop
    Read More
    Date: October 2023 
    Details: Workshop description and presentation slides from the ECSS 2023 workshop, held in Edinburgh on 25 October 2023.