Accenture and Microsoft Launch 'Green Software' Foundation

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Accenture, Microsoft, along with GitHub and ThoughtWorks, have founded and launched The Green Software Foundation, a nonprofit organization established with the Linux Foundation and the Joint Development Foundation Projects LLC, that aims to build a trusted ecosystem of people, standards, tooling and leading practices for building green software.

The companies state that the Green Software Foundation was created out of a mutual desire and need to collaborate across the software industry. Organizations with a shared commitment to sustainability and an interest in green software development are encouraged to join the foundation to help grow the field of green software engineering, create standards for the entire industry, and work together to reduce the carbon emissions of software. The foundation aims to help the software industry contribute to the information and communications technology sector’s broader targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030, in line with the Paris Climate Agreement.

Data centers around the world account for 1% of global electricity demand, and are projected to consume 3-8% in the next decade, making green software development an important priority.

In a press release, Erica Brescia, chief operating officer, GitHub, said, “We envision a future where carbon-free software is standard—where software development, deployment, and use contribute to the global climate solution without every developer having to be an expert."

Mike Dolan, general manager and senior vice president, the Linux Foundation, said, “The software industry and open source software community have both the opportunity and ability to build digital infrastructure with the least possible impact to our environment."

The Green Software foundation will focus on the following three key areas: 

• Establish green software industry standards: The foundation will create and publish green software standards, green patterns and practices across various computing disciplines and technology domains. The group will encourage voluntary adoption and help guide government policy toward those standards for a consistent approach for measuring and reporting green software emissions.
• Accelerate innovation: Nurture the creation of trusted open-source and open-data projects that support the creation of green software applications. The foundation will work alongside its non-profit partners and academia to support research into green software.
• Drive awareness and grow advocacy: Encourage widespread adoption of green software across the industry through ambassador programs, training and education which leads to certification and events to facilitate the growth of green software.

Alongside founding members, Accenture, Avanade, GitHub, Microsoft and ThoughtWorks, Goldman Sachs and non-profits including Leaders for Climate Action, Watt Time and The Green Web Foundation have also joined The Green Software Foundation.