Green Coding in practice – perspectives from business and academia

In the project "Potentials of Green Coding", which is currently being implemented by the German Informatics Society, Umwelt-Campus Birkenfeld and HTW Berlin with funding from the Internet Society Foundation, a central question is whether and how resource and energy- efficient software development (green coding) is already being implemented in practice. Representatives from companies such as DATEV, Google and adesso met with the researchers for a collaborative reality check.

Prof. Dr. Stefan Naumann (Umwelt-Campus Birkenfeld) presented possible categories for classifying software as sustainable. Based on sustainability label “Blue Angel for Software”, the participants discussed whether strategies are known and where they see a need for innovation. Dennis Junger (HTW Berlin) then presented possibilities for integrating sustainability into the education and training of computer scientists and software engineers. Worldwide, there are currently only a few implemented examples in higher education. In the third presentation, Michelle Thorne (Green Web Foundation) outlined the role of sustainable energy resources and the strategies already available to make the Internet greener. 

In the subsequent workshop, the participants gathered, which challenges their companies and the digital industry in general encounter when the goal is to develop and use software more sustainably. In a lively exchange, needs and wishes were formulated so that a green transformation can become reality in the software industry.

The workshop day was closed by project coordinator Carolin Henze (German Informatics Society): "We were able to take away a lot from the exchange and gained new insights. Sustainable software is becoming more prevalent as a strategic goal, but low-threshold options for implementation are crucial."

The findings from the workshop and a company survey conducted prior to it are being consolidated in a publication to be released in early summer 2023.
The presentations in full length and a short recap video can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYcO8AUs4DaFuwtrviynAmqQfkSdXQn9A