SPECIFICATION LIFECYCLE
From idea to published standard
Every GSF specification follows a rigorous seven-stage lifecycle, ensuring quality, consensus, and real-world applicability.
Proposal
Requirements gathering from diverse stakeholders, defining scope and objectives, validating requirements.
Pre-Draft
Research and analysis, composing a preliminary technical specification draft.
Draft
Full specification with structured sections: introduction, scope, objectives, requirements, design, metrics, and compliance.
Consistency Review
Peer reviews, stakeholder feedback, and iterative refinement of the document.
Working Group Approval
Working group review, broader feedback incorporation, and formal sign-off.
Steering Committee Ratification
The Steering Committee officially approves the specification for public release.
Published
Public release, ongoing feedback, and maintenance. The standard is available for adoption.
Current Standards & Projects
Specifications at every stage of the lifecycle — from early proposals to internationally recognised standards.
Software Standards Working Group
Published Software Carbon Intensity (SCI)
A specification that describes how to calculate a carbon intensity for software applications.
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Ratified Software Carbon Intensity for Artificial intelligence (SCI for AI)
Extending the Software Carbon Intensity (SCI) to Artificial intelligence (AI). Addressing the challenges of measuring Artificial intelligence carbon emissions
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Draft Software Carbon Intensity for Web (SCI for Web)
Extending the Software Carbon Intensity (SCI) to the Web. Addressing the challenges of measuring website carbon emissions
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Ratified Sustainable Organisational Framework for Technology (SOFT)
A framework for decision-making during the development, implementation, and operation of technology applications by incorporating all available methodologies and instruments.
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Published Real Time Energy and Carbon Standard for Cloud Providers (RTC)
Establish a benchmark for measuring carbon emissions.
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Pre-draft Software Energy Efficiency (SEE)
Methodology for calculating the energy consumption rate of a software system
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Pre-proposal Software Water Efficiency (SWE)
Methodology for calculating the water consumption rate of a software system
Hardware Standards Working Group
Approved Workload Dynamic Power and Cooling (WDPC)
Standardized data coordination between computational workloads and energy infrastructure
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Published Open19
Open hardware specification standardising server, storage, and networking form factors within the 19-inch rack footprint. Enables multi-vendor flexibility, simplified deployment, and sustainable hardware innovation through standardised blind-mate connectors, modular power architecture (48V DC native in V2), and pluggable liquid cooling.
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AI-Facilitated Consensus: from blank page to agreement in ten weeks
Traditional standards take 3+ years. GSF's AI-facilitated assembly process brought 14 experts from 15 organisations to full consensus on SCI for Web in just 10 weeks. Structured questions feed into LLM synthesis, with human-in-the-loop review, iterative refinement, and explicit decision gates at every stage.
Most GSF standards begin with an Assembly
Assemblies are dedicated workshops — public or member-only — where experts collaborate on a specific challenge. Whether the goal is exploration, knowledge sharing, developing a new standard, or gathering feedback, assemblies bring the right people together to move from problem to solution.
What makes a good specification
Every GSF standard is evaluated against eight quality characteristics drawn from our standards playbook.
Clarity
Unambiguous language that leaves no room for misinterpretation.
Completeness
Covers all necessary aspects without leaving critical gaps.
Consistency
No internal contradictions; aligned with other GSF specifications.
Testability
Requirements can be verified through objective testing or measurement.
Traceability
Every requirement links back to a stakeholder need or objective.
Maintainability
Structured for easy updates as technology and understanding evolve.
Feasibility
Technically achievable with current or near-term capabilities.
Prioritisation
Critical requirements are clearly distinguished from nice-to-haves.
Standards in the News
Articles, announcements, and insights from across the GSF standards programme.
SCI for AI Specification Ratified: Standard for Measuring AI Emissions Across the Lifecycle
We're excited to announce the ratification of the SCI for AI specification, marking a major step in making the carbon footprint of AI systems transparent, comparable, and actionable.
Celebrating the Ratification of the Sustainable Organizational Framework for Technology (SOFT)
We’re proud to announce the ratification of our Sustainable Organizational Framework for Technology, marking a key milestone in the adoption of green software across industries.
Establishing Software Carbon Transparency: Why We’re Exploring SCI Disclosure Certification
At GSF, we’re exploring a voluntary, structured approach to self-reported SCI disclosure, designed to build shared knowledge base needed for meaningful, measurable progress. Learn about its potential impact.
Real Time Cloud Ratified: A Major Step Toward Transparent, Sustainable Cloud Computing
We’re thrilled to announce the ratification of the Real Time Energy and Carbon Standard for Cloud Providers! Learn more about the project, what this milestone means, and what’s coming next.
Calculating Your Carbon Footprint: A Guide to Measuring Serverless App Emissions on AWS
Denis Angeletta and Franziska Warncke explain how NTT Data applied the SCI specification to quantify the carbon emissions of serverless applications.
The EU AI Act: Insights from the Green AI Committee
A few member representatives on the recently formed Green AI Committee share their thoughts on the publication of the EU AI Act and what it can mean for greening AI.
Emission Calculations through Large Language Model
Srinivasan Rakhunathan and Navveen Balani share how to estimate software emissions during the system design phase using LLMs.
Software Carbon Intensity (SCI) Specification Achieves ISO Standard Status, Advancing Green Software Development
The ISO confirms that the SCI Specification is a reliable, fair, and comparable protocol for measuring and reducing software's carbon footprint, achieving a major milestone in green software.
Decarbonizing Software: How CAST applied the SCI Metric to Make a Difference
“The automatically generated Green Software Insights from CAST Highlight enabled us to identify exactly where in our code we could improve our green impact and then estimate the actual CO2 emissions savings with concrete numbers.” - Michael Muller, Director Product Management, CAST
The GSF Endorses the AI Environmental Impacts Act
How the AI Environmental Impacts Act could foster a culture of greening software and support green software projects.
Baselining Software Carbon Emissions - A Use Case by UBS
Using the SCI specification, UBS compares two banking applications with regard to their carbon emissions.
Can AI Truly Be Green?
In a recent GSF-organized panel on responsible AI, experts discussed the environmental challenges of AI, prompting a critical question: Can AI be truly green?
The Carbon Conundrum and Ethical Quandaries in the Expanding Realm of AI
In this blog, we'll provide a summary of the key messages and concepts shared in Abhishek Gupta’s latest article on The Imperative for Sustainable AI Systems, published on The Gradient.
Balancing Power and Responsibility: GSF's AI Environmental Panel Preview
GSF is holding on online event on October 5, where experts will explore how we can make AI greener and carbon-aware.
Cloud Computing: The Business Case for 100% Carbon Free Energy
The cloud computing industry is growing at an unprecedented pace. With businesses and consumers relying on cloud services for everything from data storage to application hosting, the demand for cloud computing solutions is on an upward trajectory. However, with this growth, there is a greater risk of increased carbon emissions from cloud computing.
How Accenture Implemented the SCI Specification Score to Track Software Emissions
An in depth look at how Accenture implemented the SCI Specification Score to track software emissions.
Texas State University deems GSF SCI an effective metric to evaluate the carbon impact of software
The Texas State University has just released its report on a study evaluating software carbon intensity of foundation models. Among other findings, the study confirms that the SCI is suitable for effectively measuring the carbon impact of software.
Sustainable Tech Choices for Cloud
The big three hypercloud providers need clever flexibility and targeted efficiency to achieve CZero. And the changes must come from them as well as from their users.
Why Should Sustainability be a First-class Consideration for AI Systems?
Should sustainability be a first-class consideration for AI systems? Yes, because AI systems have environmental and societal implications. What can you do to make green AI a reality?
Software Carbon Intensity (SCI): Crafting a Standard
The Software Carbon Intensity (SCI) standard provides an actionable approach to designers, developers and deployers of software systems to measure the carbon impacts of their systems.
What Do We Need to Build More Sustainable AI Systems?
AI systems can have significant environmental impact. We are risking severe environmental and social harm if we fail to make greener AI systems.