Communities & Organizations

This page highlights key organizations, industry associations, and community groups focused on green IT and sustainable software development. These groups provide valuable resources, standards, networking opportunities, and collaborative initiatives to advance sustainable computing practices.

International Organizations and Initiatives

Green Software Foundation

Website: greensoftware.foundation

The Green Software Foundation (GSF) is a nonprofit organization established in 2021 under the Linux Foundation. Founded by technology leaders including Microsoft, GitHub, Accenture, and ThoughtWorks, the GSF focuses on creating a trusted ecosystem of people, standards, tooling, and best practices for green software development.

Key initiatives include:

  • The Software Carbon Intensity (SCI) Specification, which provides a methodology for measuring and comparing the carbon impacts of software systems
  • Carbon Aware SDK, an open-source toolkit that enables applications to become "carbon aware" by optimizing their activities based on the carbon intensity of electricity
  • Green Software Patterns catalog, documenting proven approaches to reducing software carbon footprints
  • Green Software Practitioner training and certification program

The GSF operates through multiple working groups focused on standards, policy, open source, and community engagement. Membership is open to organizations at different tiers, with options suited to companies of various sizes, academic institutions, and nonprofit organizations.

Sustainable Digital Infrastructure Alliance (SDIA)

Website: sdia.io

The SDIA is a nonprofit network of organizations working together to catalyze the transition to sustainable digital infrastructure. Founded in 2019 and based in Europe, the alliance brings together data center operators, cloud providers, software companies, hardware manufacturers, energy companies, and research institutions.

The SDIA's Roadmap 2030 provides a comprehensive framework for improving the sustainability of digital infrastructure, addressing energy sources, hardware lifecycle, and software efficiency. The organization also develops metrics and standards for measuring environmental impact, including the Digital Environmental Impact Assessment methodology.

Membership includes companies such as Equinix, NTT, and Digital Realty, alongside numerous smaller organizations and research institutions. The alliance hosts regular events, publishes research reports, and facilitates collaborative projects among members.

The Green Grid

Website: thegreengrid.org

The Green Grid is a global consortium of companies, government agencies, and educational institutions dedicated to advancing energy efficiency in data centers and business computing ecosystems. Founded in 2007, it has been instrumental in developing metrics and standards that have become industry benchmarks.

The Green Grid is best known for developing the Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) metric, which has become the standard measure of data center energy efficiency. The organization continues to develop and refine metrics addressing water usage, carbon emissions, and other environmental impacts of computing infrastructure.

Beyond metrics development, The Green Grid provides best practice guidelines, technical resources, and case studies to help organizations implement more sustainable IT practices. Members include technology companies like IBM, Intel, and Dell, alongside data center operators and energy companies.

Regional Associations and Networks

Japan Green IT Promotion Council

Website: greenit-pc.jp (in Japanese)

The Japan Green IT Promotion Council was established by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to promote green IT practices across the Japanese technology sector. The council brings together major Japanese technology companies, research institutions, and government agencies.

The council's activities include developing and promoting energy efficiency standards for IT equipment, conducting research on sustainable data center design for Japan's specific environmental conditions, and facilitating knowledge sharing between industry and academia.

The organization publishes regular reports on the state of green IT in Japan and conducts benchmarking studies comparing energy efficiency across different sectors and technologies.

Open Source Communities

Green Software Lab

Website: greenlab.di.uminho.pt

The Green Software Lab is a research group at the University of Minho in Portugal that has developed numerous open-source tools for analyzing and improving software energy efficiency. While primarily a research organization, they maintain an active open-source community around their tools.

Key projects include:

  • SPELL (SPEculative Leakage Locator): A tool for identifying energy leaks in software
  • GreenDroid: A framework for analyzing energy consumption in Android applications
  • jStanley: A Java application for detecting energy patterns in code

The lab regularly publishes research papers, conducts workshops, and provides educational resources on energy-efficient programming. Their tools are freely available on GitHub, with active community contribution and support channels.

Linux Foundation Energy (LF Energy)

Website: lfenergy.org

LF Energy is an open-source foundation focused on the power systems sector, but with significant overlap with green IT through its work on energy data and grid integration for digital infrastructure. The foundation hosts projects related to energy monitoring, grid management, and carbon-aware computing.

Notable projects include:

  • Carbon Data Specification Consortium: Developing open standards for energy and carbon data
  • OpenEEmeter: Open-source energy efficiency metering tools that can be applied to IT systems
  • Grid eXchange Fabric (GXF): A platform for edge computing applications in energy grids

The foundation operates under the Linux Foundation umbrella and follows open governance principles. Participation is open to individuals and organizations interested in contributing to open-source solutions for energy systems.

Cloud Carbon Footprint

Website: cloudcarbonfootprint.org

Cloud Carbon Footprint is an open-source tool that provides visibility and insights into the carbon emissions of cloud computing usage across AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure. Developed initially by Thoughtworks, the project now has a vibrant community of contributors.

The tool estimates energy consumption and carbon emissions based on cloud billing data, helping organizations understand and reduce the environmental impact of their cloud infrastructure. The project includes dashboards, APIs, and methodologies for calculating emissions based on cloud resource usage.

The community maintains a public GitHub repository, regular community calls, and documentation for contributors. The project welcomes contributions from developers, cloud specialists, and sustainability experts.

Industry Consortia

Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact

Website: climateneutraldatacentre.net

The Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact is a self-regulatory initiative by cloud infrastructure providers operating in Europe. Launched in 2021, the pact commits signatories to carbon neutrality by 2030 and includes specific measurable targets across multiple environmental dimensions.

Participants include major cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure, alongside European data center operators like OVHcloud and Equinix. The pact's governance structure includes a Board of participants and an independent Review Board to verify progress.

The pact focuses on five key areas: energy efficiency, clean energy, water conservation, circular economy, and heat recycling. Signatories commit to specific targets in each area and to transparent reporting on their progress.

Responsible Computing (RC)

Website: responsiblecomputing.net

Responsible Computing is a consortium formed by technology leaders including IBM, Dell, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise to advance sustainable and responsible computing practices. The organization focuses on both environmental sustainability and broader ethical considerations in computing.

The consortium's Sustainable IT working group develops frameworks, metrics, and best practices for reducing the environmental impact of computing infrastructure. Their work spans data center design, hardware lifecycle management, and energy-efficient software development.

Membership is open to organizations committed to implementing responsible computing practices and contributing to the development of industry standards and methodologies.

How to Get Involved

Most of these organizations welcome new participants, though membership requirements and processes vary. Here are general approaches to getting involved:

  • For individuals: Many organizations offer individual membership or participation in open community activities. Start by joining mailing lists, attending public events, or contributing to open-source projects.

  • For companies: Corporate membership options typically exist at different tiers with varying benefits and contribution requirements. Begin by reviewing membership information on the organization's website and reaching out to their membership team.

  • For researchers and academics: Academic partnerships, joint research initiatives, and conference participation are common pathways for engagement. Contact research coordinators or working group leaders in your area of expertise.

  • For open-source contributors: The open-source communities welcome contributions ranging from code and documentation to testing and issue reporting. Their GitHub repositories typically include contributor guidelines and community participation information.

By engaging with these organizations and communities, you can both benefit from their resources and contribute to advancing sustainable computing practices globally.