The Roadmap to Sustainable Digital Infrastructure: How to Get Involved

Maps guide people on a journey and show them the path to take to an intended destination. Even with a few stops along the way, a map can add structure to a trip and help prevent people from getting lost.

Likewise, the SDIA Roadmap to Sustainable Digital Infrastructure by 2030 is a detailed guide for the journey to sustainability. We crafted a 10-year plan to align actions with measurable metrics and bring this goal to life. Launched in October 2020, the Roadmap is our vision for how we can work together and create true change across the digital sector.  

We know our destination: supporting technological advances and a prosperous digital economy while reducing the negative environmental impact of digital infrastructure.

Join the Roadmap

Our Alliance consists of organizations from across Europe, all committed to our Roadmap towards Sustainable Digital Infrastructure. Each member takes an active role in facilitating change, and draws strength from our diverse thought-leadership network spread across all parts of the digital value chain.

Commit your organization to the Roadmap and join the Alliance. In return, the Alliance commits to your success, to supporting you to reach your Sustainability goals. This support is delivered by the Alliance network, as well as our Innovation Labs and our Communication & Policy team.

Set off on the road to sustainable digital infrastructure by committing your organization to the Roadmap and participating. We’ve set the path; you set it in motion.

Understanding the road ahead

The Roadmap, and the activities for 2021, establish milestones that show what needs to get done across the sector in order to move towards less pollution, less resource consumption, less electronic waste, less energy consumption, less carbon-emissions and reduced socioeconomic costs. With the activities we have identified exact areas for action and contribution to make change easier to realize.

The Roadmap is designed as a system with interdependence between activities, outcomes, and our steering groups. Every activity relates to a metric that is measurable and a clear indicator of progress towards sustainable digital infrastructure. All activities are technology-neutral, focussed on assembling solutions that can deliver a specific outcome which has an impact on the associated metric.

Inter-industry collaboration towards tangible solutions drives the Roadmap forward

Activities are not single-contributor line items; solving them is a collaborative effort. Members, researchers, and industry experts assemble within steering groups to agree on solutions for an activity and identify challenges hindering the widespread implementation. The impact of the proposed solution is objectively measured by the associated metric of the activity.

When a solution is identified and validated, the steering groups work on identifying the barriers of success, such as a weak business case, a lack of experience or trust in the solution or a lack of technology to complete the solution. As each steering group represents a cross-section of the value chain, the barriers often can be removed through collaborating in new ways, by changing contractual relations or requirements towards each other. This collaboration is further facilitated by the Alliance.

Some barriers require broader action, and are addressed by the Alliance itself. These include policy initiatives, education & communication actions as well as the development of joint initiatives to pilot new solutions, technology development and business model innovations. With the Alliance staff, solution acceptance can be accelerated, cross-industry alignment ensured and knowledge distributed.

Steering groups represent a cross-section of the Digital Sector and collaborate to find solutions

Within each activity on the roadmap there can be many steering groups, each focussed on developing solutions that have a significant impact towards the metrics of the roadmap. Organizations from across the value chain, participate in the steering groups, bringing their existing products and technologies together, to create new innovative solutions that address the challenges of creating sustainable digital infrastructure.

Organizations that are active in our steering groups, all have committed themselves to implementing the roadmap, within their own organizations as well as across the wider sector. Together, they form the Sustainable Digital Infrastructure Alliance, supported by a wide ranging team of experts that drive the implementation of the Roadmap.

These groups are designed for high impact with manageable time commitments. Thought leaders contribute best practices, technologies and product recommendations, serving as solution-generating powerhouses. Meetings are chaired by designated members with outcomes executed and by the staff of the Alliance.

The Roadmap acts as the collaboration platform, bringing together organizations across industries and professionals across functions to collaborate, identify, and overcome obstacles for new products, technologies, and business models to successfully implement sustainability across the digital sector  – driving the business case for sustainability.

Joining the Roadmap

Finding a single missing piece can be the difference between stalling out or overcoming an obstacle. The Alliance enables thought leaders and innovators driven to achieve a sustainable digital infrastructure to come together and align on solutions.

The Alliance has begun the work on five activities for the first quarter of 2021, and has launched 8 steering groups. The activities are focused on important themes such as understanding the digital footprint, leaner cooling, and circular design.

We welcome all interested stakeholders to explore the Roadmap in more detail or reach out to us to identify the areas best suited for their contributions.

Join the Roadmap

Sustainability is a system effort, requiring collaboration across all industries that contribute to the digital economy. 

The Alliance supports every steering group with resources for communication, education, advocacy, and pilot & research and development projects. And we look forward to working with all members to support a vibrant European digital economy without consuming unsustainable levels of resources.