The eyes sparked with anticipation and excitement—this is how some of us looked, getting ready to attend summit events across the globe. It’s the power of gathering, real connections, and hands-on insights offered by in-person events that make us ever more eager to unite over a common goal. The GSF Global Summit 2024—a series of in-person, free events hosted by GSF members between October 1 - 10 presented a unique opportunity to join insightful talks and panels, but most of all, to share a collective vision of cultural change needed to drive green software forward.
Our aim was to bring together green software thought leaders, practitioners, and enthusiasts and open the door for networking and local and international collaborations. Over ten days, our members hosted 11 summit events across eight countries and three continents. It was exhilarating to witness participants engaging in lively discussions, confronting ideas, and reaching a common ground over a shared goal of reducing software’s environmental impact.
What We Focused On and What We Learned
The sessions offered actionable steps for practitioners starting their green software journey and in-depth insights for those looking to advance their efforts. The talks ranged from fundamentals of green software principles, patterns, and practices to use cases illustrating how global companies reduce their resource footprint and technical training sessions exploring sustainable LLM training and AI development.
With industries paying increasingly more attention to AI’s environmental impacts, a number of events revolved around AI systems, the role of government in powering Green AI, and the potential and risks related to the rapidly developing technology field.
The belief that sustainability cannot be an afterthought when pursuing technological advancements shined through. As one of the hosts, Dr. Ong Chen Hui, Assistant Chief Executive of BizTech Group, IMDA, put it:
“Driving Singapore’s digital sustainability, we want to ensure emerging technologies such as AI are sustainable by design. IMDA believes that innovation and sustainability can be complementary. Working with global partners such as GSF underscores our commitment to co-develop green compute solutions and deliver the impact towards sustainability goals.”
We looked ahead and considered necessary steps to shape the next generation of green software and green software engineers, but there seems to be a shared recognition that the pivotal moment to drive sustainability is now. With reducing carbon footprint a leading consideration for most companies, measuring and reporting emissions has become a vital standard that must guide every aspect of software design, development, and deployment.
Measurements as a way to stay accountable and inform action played an important role in the discussion. The audience had an opportunity to explore the concept of calculation parameters and data acquisition methods for applying the SCI Standard to embedded devices, measuring emissions of serverless applications on AWS, and a reporting tool for allocating all scope emissions to customer workloads in the Cloud.
Big Thank You!
We want to share our appreciation for our hosts and their commitment to making software more sustainable. Without you, this summit would not have been possible!
BCG X, CAST, Globant, Goldman Sachs, IMDA, Intel Japan, Mastercard, Microsoft Japan, NTT Data, Siemens, Thoughtworks
Voices from the Summit
A future where software has a zero harmful impact on the environment can only be achieved if we work together—the GSF Global Summit was a joint experience that inspired collective action.
“Hosting the Green Software Foundation Summit was an experience that allowed us to connect with leaders and experts committed to a more sustainable future. This event not only reinforced our mission to integrate sustainability into IT strategies, but also inspired our teams and customers to act more consciously.” – Irene Martín, Marketing Manager at Iberia & LatAm | CAST
"Events like the Green Software Foundation's London Summit play a vital role in advancing the shift toward sustainable software. BCG X was pleased to host the event, bringing together over 70 leaders in tech, AI, and data science to drive collective progress toward greener, more responsible software solutions." – Laurent Acharian, Senior Marketing Director at BCG X
Watch the summit video and hear GSF Chair Sanjay Podder reflect on how the summit events underpin our global mission to advance sustainable software by educating, inspiring, and empowering participants with actionable solutions for a greener future.
To play an active role in building a trusted ecosystem of people, standards, tooling, and best practices for green software, join us.
This article is licenced under Creative Commons (CC BY 4.0)