GreenDIGIT

Abstract

Lowering the environmental impact of digital services and technologies has become an urgent priority — both for the operation of existing digital services and the design of future digital infrastructures. Energy consumption and carbon footprint are the two most prominent environmental concerns: digital infrastructures today contribute 3 to 4% of total global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, growing at 8% per year. The networking infrastructure alone accounts for 2 to 14% of digital impacts, primarily driven by electricity consumption. Addressing these challenges requires a systemic, evidence-based approach that spans the full lifecycle of research computing infrastructure.

GreenDIGIT addresses the environmental impact of Research Infrastructures (RIs) from a holistic conceptual standpoint, tackling all major factors that define and influence RI environmental and climate impact. The project unites four major European Research Infrastructures — EGI, SoBigData, SLICES, and EBRAINS , with leading research universities and institutes including the University of Amsterdam (UvA, coordinator), CNRS, CNR, CSIC, CESNET, Sorbonne University, TU Munich, University of Thessaly, PSNC, SZTAKI, CNIT, Greenspector, and Mandat International. By targeting foundational ESFRIs and their broader ecosystems, GreenDIGIT aims to drive systemic change in how European digital research infrastructures (RIs) measure, report, and reduce their environmental footprint, creating lasting impact across the European RIs.