Member Story
"The biggest companies in the world were independently solving the same problem"
How Jeff Sandquist of Microsoft, Sanjay Podder of Accenture, Erica Brescia of GitHub, and leaders from Thoughtworks and Goldman Sachs discovered they were working on the same problem — and founded the Green Software Foundation to solve it together.
Organisations involved
5
Founding organisations — Microsoft, Accenture, GitHub, Thoughtworks, and Goldman Sachs
70+
Member organisations spanning technology, consulting, financial services, and academia
130,000+
Practitioners trained through the Green Software Practitioner course
17
Active projects spanning standards, tools, frameworks, and training
The Problem
Every company was starting from zero, independently — with no shared language, no common standards, no way to collaborate
In 2020, multiple organisations were independently trying to figure out how to reduce software’s environmental impact. None of them knew the others were working on the same problem. At Microsoft, Jeff Sandquist’s team had discovered “a deep lack of knowledge specifically regarding software and sustainability.” At Accenture, Sanjay Podder had published in the Harvard Business Review. At GitHub, Erica Brescia wanted every developer to be “green by default.” At Thoughtworks, the view was that “issues like climate change can only be resolved through global solidarity.”
The common thread was clear: no commonly agreed standards, practices, metrics, or tools existed to measure and minimise software-related carbon emissions. Each company was building its own approach in isolation. The problem couldn’t be solved by any one of them alone — and the moment they found each other, it became obvious they needed a coalition.
“Whether you’re a nonprofit with ten people or an organisation the size of Microsoft with 100,000 people, we all carry an equal voice. That is really important to us.” — Jeff Sandquist, Corporate Vice President, Developer Relations, Microsoft
The Journey
From five companies talking about the same problem to a global movement of 70+ members
Parallel efforts converge
2019–2020
Microsoft's Jeff Sandquist launched a dedicated green software team within Developer Relations and published the Principles of Sustainable Software Engineering — the first comprehensive training on the topic. Accenture's Sanjay Podder published "How Green is Your Software?" in the Harvard Business Review. Thoughtworks, GitHub, and Goldman Sachs were exploring the same space. None of them knew the others were working on the same problem. As Jeff Sandquist recalled: "It turned out that a number of other organisations were also looking at the same space. First off Accenture reached out, then Thoughtworks, then our partners at GitHub. We were all talking about the same space."
Read how the Green Software Foundation began →The Green Software Foundation is founded
May 2021
The five founding organisations — Microsoft, Accenture, Thoughtworks, GitHub, and Goldman Sachs — established GSF as a non-profit under the Linux Foundation. The structure was deliberately egalitarian. As Jeff Sandquist explained: "Whether you're a nonprofit with ten people or an organisation the size of Microsoft with 100,000 people, we all carry an equal voice." Three working groups were established: Standards (what do we measure?), Community (who builds and adopts?), and Innovation/Tooling (how do we make it easy?).
Bloomberg — Microsoft Teams Up With Accenture, Goldman on Greener Software →NTT DATA joins as steering member
September 2021
NTT DATA became the first organisation to join the steering committee beyond the five founders, bringing global technology services expertise and a commitment to sustainable IT delivery.
Meet our steering committee — NTT DATA →Rapid growth and first outputs
2021–2022
The SCI specification development began. The Carbon Aware SDK was conceived. The Green Software Practitioner course was built. CarbonHack22 attracted 395 participants and demonstrated measurable carbon reductions. By the end of 2022, GSF had grown to 38 member organisations.
Green Software Foundation Q1 2022 Report →UBS joins as steering member
April 2022
UBS joined as a steering member, bringing the enterprise financial services perspective. UBS would go on to co-lead the Real Time Cloud standard through Pindy Bhullar and deploy the Carbon Aware SDK on production banking systems.
UBS joins the Green Software Foundation as a steering member →Google joins as steering member
June 2023
Google joined the steering committee, adding platform-scale cloud expertise and a deep commitment to carbon-free energy. Google's participation strengthened the foundation's work on AI sustainability and cloud carbon measurement.
Meet Savannah Goodman of Google →Siemens joins as steering member
October 2023
Siemens joined the steering committee, bringing industrial technology expertise and connecting green software to the operational technology and manufacturing sectors.
Siemens joins the GSF steering committee →SCI achieves ISO standard status
April 2024
The SCI specification achieved ISO 21031:2024 status — the first ISO standard for measuring software carbon intensity. This milestone validated the foundation's consensus-based standards process on the international stage.
Read about the SCI achieving ISO standard status →Leadership transition — Gadhu Sundaram elected Chair
January 2025
NTT DATA's Gadhu Sundaram was elected Chair, succeeding Sanjay Podder. The transition signalled a shift from creation to global adoption. Gadhu brought three decades of technology delivery experience and a personal connection to sustainability: "I had the privilege of growing up in one of the world's top ten biodiversity hotspots, the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. My community has lived in harmony with nature for thousands of years, embodying a sustainable way of life. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of exploring the woods and encountering incredible wildlife — I saw my first leopard at the age of six."
Read about Gadhu Sundaram's election as GSF Chair →SSIA merges with GSF, Cisco joins as steering member
March 2025
The Sustainable and Scalable Infrastructure Alliance (SSIA) merged with the Green Software Foundation, bringing Cisco as a new steering member along with additional expertise in infrastructure sustainability.
SSIA joins the Green Software Foundation →From about 100 people to a global movement
Ongoing
At founding, Jeff Sandquist estimated there were "about 100 people in the world who are knowledgeable in the subject." By 2025, 130,000+ engineers had completed the Green Software Practitioner course. HCLTech had reached around 100,000 employees with sustainability training. Avanade had certified ~1,000 practitioners in a 60,000-person organisation. GSF now had 17 active projects, 10,000+ community members across 36 meetup groups in 19 countries, and formal collaborations with W3C and the GHG Protocol.
Introducing the GSF 2025 Annual Report →As large as Microsoft was, we can't do it alone. We need to collaborate with every other organisation out there. That includes our partners, our competitors, our customers, everybody. We all need to get together and work together because this isn't about one organisation reducing its emissions. This is about the whole world reducing its emissions.
Jeff Sandquist, Corporate Vice President, Developer Relations, Microsoft
Who came together
The people who made it happen
Jeff Sandquist
Corporate Vice President, Developer Relations
Microsoft
Built the first green software team at Microsoft, published the Principles of Sustainable Software Engineering, and co-conceived the foundation after discovering others were working on the same problem.
Sanjay Podder
Managing Director and Global Lead for Technology Sustainability Innovation
Accenture
Published "How Green is Your Software?" in Harvard Business Review, connected with Jeff Sandquist to found GSF, and served as the foundation's first Chair through the ISO milestone.
Erica Brescia
Chief Operating Officer
GitHub
Brought the open source community's perspective and articulated the vision for "green developers by default" — making sustainability a default part of every developer's workflow.
Dan Lewis-Toakley
Green Cloud Lead & Senior Developer Consultant
Thoughtworks
Represented Thoughtworks as a founding steering committee member, passionate about building a large and diverse movement of green software practitioners around the world.
Sarah Hsu
Associate, Site Reliability Engineering
Goldman Sachs
Represented Goldman Sachs as a founding member, championing the idea that sustainability is reliability over time and advocating for green software in educational curricula.
Gadhu Sundaram
Vice President of Application Services
NTT DATA
Joined as a steering member in September 2021, was elected GSF Chair in January 2025, and now leads the foundation's transition from creation to global adoption.
Yusuke Kobayashi
Senior Manager, R&D / Green Innovation
NTT DATA
Steering committee member from NTT DATA, working to establish standards that correctly reflect reduction efforts in software development and help all developers know whether they are building green software.
Toru Shimogaki
Head of Green Innovation Office
NTT DATA
Steering committee member who championed the insight that software used by hardware and data centres has great power to contribute to climate change issues.
Kin Chiu
Executive Director and Sustainable Technology Lead
UBS
Represented UBS on the steering committee from April 2022, driving toward a common definition and measure of what constitutes "green" software.
Vinjosh Varghese
Data Engineer
UBS
Current UBS steering committee member, contributing to Green AI and sustainable technology initiatives.
Ben Logan
Global Technology Lead
UBS
Current UBS steering committee member, bringing global technology leadership perspective to the foundation's strategic direction.
Savannah Goodman
Data and Software Climate Solutions Lead
Led Google's engagement with the GSF from June 2023, contributing to and learning from the broader ecosystem of green software.
Jonathan Turnbull
Program Manager
Current Google steering committee Vice-Chair, contributing to the Green AI Committee and the foundation's strategic direction.
Carolin Rubner
Head of Research Group, Sustainable Software Engineering
Siemens
Siemens steering committee member from October 2023, bringing research expertise in sustainable software engineering and a deep personal connection to environmental stewardship.
Navveen Balani
Managing Director and Chief Technologist, Technology Sustainability Innovation
Accenture
Current Accenture steering committee member and Software Standards Working Group Chair, leading the SCI, SCI for AI, Impact Framework, and Software Energy Efficiency projects.
Christopher Liljenstolpe
Data Center Architecture & Sustainability
Cisco
Cisco steering committee member and Hardware Standards Working Group Chair, joining when the SSIA merged with the GSF in March 2025.
Santiago Fontanarrosa
VP of Technology, Sustainable Business Studio
Globant
Globant steering committee member who championed adopting a carbon-oriented mindset with a renewed design approach to sustain transitions and curb emissions.
Matthew Kropp
Managing Director and Partner
BCG GAMMA
BCG GAMMA steering committee member who pushed to make it "stupidly simple" to measure the climate impact of code and to elevate the conversation across the industry.
Elise Zelechowski
Global Head of DEI, Sustainability, and Social Change
Thoughtworks
Thoughtworks steering committee member who advocated for building a shared understanding and empowering technologists with best practices and standards.
In their words
"Early in 2021, as I was researching the green software development space, I came across some work from Jeff Sandquist and his team at Microsoft. We connected and quickly realised that we were both asking the same question; trying to solve the same problems. We knew we wanted to collaborate. "
Sanjay Podder
Managing Director, Accenture
"The reality is, every line of code impacts our planet, and a carbon-negative future depends on building carbon-consciousness into software development workflows from the first line of code until decommissioning. "
Erica Brescia
Chief Operating Officer, GitHub
"Building software will be the responsibility of everyone on the development team, much like when we look at security, or performance or reliability today. "
Jeff Sandquist
Corporate Vice President, Developer Relations, Microsoft
"We can think of sustainability as reliability over time. We want to guarantee that the present needs are met without compromising any future demands. "
Sarah Hsu
Associate, Site Reliability Engineering, Goldman Sachs
"Our familiar IT systems and services emit carbon. I want to spread this knowledge to help people understand and choose greener software. "
Yusuke Kobayashi
Manager, Green Innovation Office, NTT DATA
"As the father of two young children, and someone who works in a technology organisation that enables and creates software, I feel a responsibility to ensure that this digital world isn't delivered at the expense of the natural world. "
Kin Chiu
Executive Director and Sustainable Technology Lead, UBS
"Google joined GSF to contribute to and learn from the broader ecosystem of green software. We have worked hard to make our software products green — through energy-efficient data centres paired with clean energy procurement and through providing tools to our consumers for reducing their digital footprint. "
Savannah Goodman
Data and Software Climate Solutions Lead, Google
"In the pursuit of sustainability, isolation is costly. We share a common belief that collaboration and collective intelligence will drive systemic shifts toward sustainability in tech. "
Peter Korte
Chief Technology Officer and Chief Strategy Officer, Siemens AG
"As an avid Girl Scout, I learned about nature and built a deep connection to the environment. I'm excited to contribute privately and with my work at Siemens. "
Carolin Rubner
Head of Research Group, Sustainable Software Engineering, Siemens
"We have the opportunity to make this industry net zero — this is not a hard-to-abate sector. But it takes measurement, awareness, and empowerment for technologists to be able to get there. "
Matthew Kropp
Managing Director and Partner, BCG GAMMA
"I had the privilege of growing up in one of the world's top ten biodiversity hotspots, the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. My community has lived in harmony with nature for thousands of years, embodying a sustainable way of life. "
Gadhu Sundaram
Chair, Green Software Foundation; Vice President, NTT DATA
"At Globant, we understand technology's impact on the environment and share the responsibility to support projects oriented to making our products and software greener. "
Santiago Fontanarrosa
VP of Technology, Sustainable Business Studio, Globant
"The Green Software Foundation initiatives will improve the tech ecosystem for all by building a shared understanding and empowering technologists with best practices and standards to measure their sustainability performance. "
Elise Zelechowski
Global Head of DEI, Sustainability, and Social Change, Thoughtworks
Related articles
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