--- title: "What is sustainability?" url: "https://www.bekk.christmas/post/2022/10/what-is-sustainability" authors: ["Ane Mengshoel"] published: "2022-12-10" updated: "2024-11-07T13:05:28Z" language: "en-US" type: "article" tags: ["Bærekraft"] --- # What is sustainability? A brief introduction to the topic, and why it is relevant also for the IT industry. ## In short Sustainability means meeting today’s needs without harming future generations, and digital work has a real impact on climate and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. In IT, this can mean storing less data, writing more efficient code, using cloud services powered by renewable energy, making design choices that reduce energy use, and helping organizations use data to make better, more sustainable decisions. - **For:** IT professionals and software developers _AI-generated_ Did you know that your digital work impacts climate change? And that you are in the position to reduce the environmental footprint by thinking sustainability at work? > Sustainability consists of fulfilling the needs of current generations without compromising the needs of future generations, while ensuring a balance between economic growth, environmental care and social well-being. _Source:_ [_Santander Scholarships_](https://www.becas-santander.com/en/blog/what-is-sustainability.html) ![This figure shows three circles which somehow overlaps. The circles are labelled environment, economics and society. The area which overlaps is where you find sustainabilty.](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/ah2n1vfr/bekk-blogg-prod/da7ac3ab261e4d4002c85a6993516a2d6760584b-1783x1133.png) _The three pillars of sustainability_ The use of digital technologies affects the UN Sustainable Development Goals. > The Sustainable Development Goals or Global Goals are a collection of 17 interlinked global goals designed to be a "shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. _Source:_ [_Wikipedia_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_Development_Goals) Read more about the goals at [United Nations](https://sdgs.un.org/goals) website. ![The picture shows the 17 Sustainable Development Goals](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/ah2n1vfr/bekk-blogg-prod/9b90ce85bc9ceff95324a50bb62d34323deceab3-1739x1079.png) Below you'll find a few things we in the IT industry can do to meet the sustainability goals. #### Reduce the amount of data stored All data in the clouds are stored in data center storages. These use a large amount of energy. Less data stored means less energy used for storage. _Why not arrange_ [_a digital cleaning day_](https://www.miljofyrtarn.no/miljotips/digital-ryddedag/) _at work?_ #### Consume less energy by writing clean code Cleaner and more efficient code means less processing, and your computer algorithms will consume less energy. In general you should set up an architecture using only the resources needed. The code also becomes more sustainable to maintain. _Read more about_ [_how to build sustainability into your software architecture_](https://www.redhat.com/architect/sustainable-software-architecture) _and_ [_how to write green code_](https://www.kode24.no/artikkel/11-punkter-for-gronnere-kode-viktig-a-tenke-pa-hvordan-man-lager-lokkene-sine/77980702)_._ #### Make sure your cloud is "run" by renewable energy Of course you still need to store a certain amount of data, but you can make sure that the data center is run by renewable energy. _For the growth in data traffic to be sustainable, they_ [_need renewable energy_](https://www.statkraft.com/newsroom/news-and-stories/archive/2018/data-centres-the-new-power-intensive-industry/)_._ #### Make sustainable design decisions This can be everything from reducing the size of photos on a website and to choose a default font, to give the user the possibility to choose dark mode in order to improve battery life and reduce carbon emissions. _Here's an article about_ [_the world's most sustainable fonts_](https://www.fastcompany.com/90605005/these-are-the-worlds-most-sustainable-fonts)_, while_ [_Lighthouse_](https://developer.chrome.com/docs/lighthouse/overview/) _can help you to analyze the page load on your website._ #### Help other companies to utilize their data in order to make sustainable decisions Through our work, we can help our clients to better understand their data and how these can be interpreted. This can improve the quality of the foundation that decisions are based on, also those affecting the climate. Data can for instance be used to detect inefficiencies in production and further contribute to optimalization in production, reducing the amount of possible waste. If you want to read more about the topic, here's [a Sustainability Guide For Software Companies](https://greenbusinessbureau.com/industries/software-industries/sustainability-guide-for-software-companies-getting-started-guide/). ## Relevant resources recommended by the author - [https://www.bekk.christmas/post/2022/3/burde-vi-som-utviklere-tenke-p%C3%A5-b%C3%A6rekraft](https://www.bekk.christmas/post/2022/3/burde-vi-som-utviklere-tenke-p%C3%A5-b%C3%A6rekraft)