3a. Set the sustainability approach for the project

Lifecycle phases

Pre-discovery Discovery

Actions

(i) Create a sustainablity strategy for the project

A project sustainability strategy can focus on which of the actions listed in the 'Greener Service Principles' that a project could adopt.

There is also guidance on questions that can guide a project sustainability strategy in the Tech Code of Practice(See box below).

Guidance from the Tech Code of Practice

The Tech Code of Practice provides guidance on a number of questions that can and should be considered as part of a project's strategy:

At the start of your project, you should consider:

  • Can you include specific project objectives to meet your organisation’s sustainability goals?

  • Have you identified potential benefits for meeting sustainability objectives, or risks that would stop you meeting those objectives?

  • Does your organisation have processes for recording and reporting on sustainability goals? For example, reporting on the targets for greenhouse gases, waste and water.

  • Are you able to use existing datasets for your project?

  • Can the project make re-use of technologies rather than using new?

(ii) Create a low-carbon non-functional requirement (NFR) for the project

Sustainability should be regarded as a factor that has influence over all other project requirements, with a non-functional requirement covering the whole lifecycle of the service (from production through to use and then end-of-life), and setting metrics so success can be measured.

3b. Choose the right collaborative practices for the team

Actions

(i) Choosing collaboration tools and approach to document sharing

The right collaboration tools for particular tasks, such as digital whiteboard software for workshops and diagramming, can save teams time and effort, in turn reducing energy consumption. Share documents via use of platforms synchronised with a shared server rather than email where possible.

(ii) Have a plan in place for travel

Business travel usually has a very significant environmental footprint. Put tech packages and policies in place to mean business travel is only used when delivering absolute benefit.

(iii) Have a clear approach to meetings

Set up purposeful meetings, with a clear agenda and actions to takeaway. If the meetings are online, turn off video after the initial intros have been made. If the meetings are in-person, then ensure there is a clear rationale for doing so and the most is made from gathering the team together in one place.

Measurement

There are a number of tools that can help us estimate a team's or individual's environmental footprint:

3c. Provide teams the necessary training to deliver greener services

The Digital Sustainability Team at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) are doing work to gather together relevant training resources.

See: Digital Sustainability Learning, Ishmael Burdeau & DWP Team

3d. Be smart with AI tools

AI may offer us the opportunity to make businesses more resource-efficient, reducing costs, emissions, and waste through monitoring of energy consumption, hardware utilization and data storage. It may also bring environmental benefit through other specific applications that bring environmental benefit, such as analysing data sets to better support services (e.g. satellite or weather data). But AI is also resource-hungry and training models consume large amounts of water and produces a carbon footprint.

Actions

(i) Choose the appropriate size model

Choose the appropriate AI model for the service's needs. Small AI models can be trained for a specific task, are cost effective, quick (as there is less data for them to reference) and they can be run on basic hardware (such as a PC or phone).

(ii) Reuse existing models where possible

Consider building on an existing model rather than starting from scratch, and use AI to analyse code performance and then tidy to lower environmental impact.

(iii) Carefully choose supplier and region

Careful selection of the right supplier and location is important. Training models in low-carbon regions or times of day can reduce the carbon footprint. Don't forget about the other environmental impacts of AI, especially water use (but even this can be complex - water use in Scotland will have a different impact to Suffolk, for example).