Integrating Green Software into Sustainability Strategy—Meet Rob Maher of Xero

Posted on January 28th, 2025

Empowering engineers to reduce software emissions starts with measuring internal carbon footprint.

Integrating Green Software into Sustainability Strategy—Meet Rob Maher of Xero

As the executive general manager (EGM) of engineering, Rob leads engineering teams in building and scaling Xero's global platform. His focus is on small business products, including some of the most highly used areas of the platform.

Can you tell us about Xero? 

Xero is a global small business platform with 4.2 million subscribers. Our smart tools help small enterprises and their advisors to manage core accounting functions such as tax and bank reconciliation, and complete other vital tasks such as payroll and payments.

How does green software fit into your organization?

The green software initiative is an integral component of our broader emission reduction strategy.

As environmental sustainability is a core focus at Xero, our dedicated sustainability and impact team leads the charge. However, we are pursuing a company-wide effort to integrate sustainability considerations into key functions and processes. 

Our engineering teams have been critical in driving efforts to reduce emissions associated with our software. To empower them to take ownership and lead IT teams in building greener software, we’ve started a community of practice of sharing knowledge and built an internal carbon footprint calculator tool. 

Which other sustainability initiatives are you working on? 

In 2024, we made changes to how we calculate our carbon footprint. We recalibrated our baseline and adjusted our reporting boundary to better reflect how our company has evolved. This resulted in a significant increase in the share of Scope 3 emissions, which now account for 98% of our total footprint. 

As a result, we’ve had to reset our emissions reduction targets to align with the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and Climate Active

Our targets:

  • Scope 1 & 2: Cut emissions by 60% by 2034

  • Scope 3: Reduce emissions by 35% and ensure 70% of our suppliers set science-based targets by 2034 and Net Zero ambition by 2050

What we’re focusing on:

  • Decarbonizing our supply chain – tackling the most significant part of our footprint.

  • Greener software – finding innovative ways to make our software more sustainable.

  • Traveling thoughtfully – balancing emissions reductions with the needs of our global teams.

  • Greening our offices – reducing emissions from our leased office spaces.

  • Abating our impact – investing in sustainable aviation fuels alternatives and high-level offset credits. 

What challenges and opportunities can you share as you look to reduce the environmental impacts of software?

Reducing the environmental impact of our software presents both challenges and opportunities. On the opportunity side, this work offers the chance to demonstrate leadership in sustainable software development and proactively communicate our commitment to sustainability in a way that resonates with our stakeholders.

However, a key challenge is that software-related emissions represent a relatively small proportion of Xero’s overall carbon footprint. This means that, as a business, we must balance our focus on reducing software emissions with our efforts in higher-impact areas, ensuring a comprehensive and practical approach to reducing our overall environmental impact.

Why did you join GSF, and how do you hope to contribute and benefit from your participation? 

We joined the Green Software Foundation (GSF) because we believe it’s leading the charge in sustainable software practices. With its excellent reputation and active involvement from several of our tech peers, we see this partnership as a valuable opportunity to help shape the future of green software. 

As a GSF member, we look forward to learning about best practices, accessing critical resources, and collaborating with organizations that share our goals. By learning from others and sharing our own experiences, we can support our engineers in developing innovative solutions that will contribute to reducing software’s environmental impact.

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