Supported by IMDA, the guidelines provide sustainable software design and hardware management principles, sustainable metrics, and development tools and recommendations for creators of sustainable by design applications.
SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – October 3, 2023 – Today, Microsoft and Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) announced
digital sustainability guidelines Accelerate education and awareness for businesses and developers as they create sustainable applications by design. Created with support from the Green Software Foundation (GSF), the guidelines are part of a
global private-public partnership between IMDA and Microsoft which will drive the development of green by design software solutions for a sustainable digital future from Singapore to the world.
According to
GitHubdeveloper communities have grown considerably, with
more than 85 million software development projects started worldwide in 2022. Meanwhile, United Nations findings indicate that
the software industry is responsible for almost three percent of global carbon emissions – almost similar to the aviation industry. As the software industry’s carbon footprint continues to grow alongside the demand for technology in today’s digital age, carbon-efficient software that minimizes emissions by design becomes more essential than ever.
“Maintaining the foundations of a resilient and digitally inclusive future is a shared responsibility. These guidelines represent a collective desire to create a positive impact on the environment, by equipping developers with principles and tools to create applications that are inherently more sustainable. “Convenient ways of tracking and reporting emissions ensure that we don’t just view sustainability as an aspiration, but actively work towards our net zero emissions goals,” said Jeth Lee, General Counsel, Microsoft Singapore. .
The Digital Sustainability Guidelines provide educational insights and practical information for businesses and developers committed to reducing carbon emissions through their work and creating long-term sustainable impact at scale.
The guidelines clarify the relationships between hardware and software sustainability principles and measures. It provides simple guidance on integrating energy efficiency, carbon awareness and material efficiency into engineering and software development processes. Applying these principles ensures that applications and solutions are energy-efficient and carbon-friendly by design. For example, this might include running software tests and updates for an application at a time of day that can consume less grid energy and consume less embodied carbon.
Beyond the applicability of the principles, the guidelines also provide tools and solutions to help businesses and developers track, report and reduce carbon emissions or greenhouse gases (GHGs) created during the creation, execution and maintenance of any application or solution, thereby reducing embodied carbon, GHG and carbon emissions over their lifetime. Some of these measurement tools and solutions include
Carbon Aware SDK and the
Microsoft Sustainability Manager.
“The launch of these guidelines will help advance Singapore’s efforts to become a major hub for digital sustainability in this region. Greening the ICT sector is important to IMDA and we will continue to work closely with partners such as Microsoft, the Green Software Foundation to enable developers and businesses the ability to understand energy efficiency, awareness carbon and the development of green software. We will continue to bring positive change to our environment, in Singapore and beyond our shores,” said Chee Wei Nga, Director of Emerging Technologies Office, BizTech Group, IMDA.
“We are focused on impact-driven solutions that give software makers a clear path to decarbonization and energy efficiency. With the Digital Sustainability Guidelines, practitioners have an additional informative resource to produce sustainable results,” said Asim Hussain, Executive Director and Chairman of the GSF.
The document will be available from Microsoft
here and on the
IMDA website And
Green Software Foundation.
These jointly developed guidelines were applied across the
Singapore GreenTech Challenge where developers co-innovated to develop carbon-efficient solutions.
Evercomm,
WeavAir And
ReClimate emerged victorious from the challenge. Working with IMDA, Microsoft diagnosed the issues facing industries and sought solutions through IMDA’s extensive network of start-ups, technology providers and research institutes. Tested by winners and participants, the challenge unveiled a series of new principles and tools for organizations to better address today’s pressing sustainability issues.
Recognizing the urgent need to drive positive climate change to solve the global carbon problem, Microsoft is committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2030 and eliminating from the environment all carbon that the company has emitted directly or through use of electricity since its creation in 1975. . For more information on Microsoft’s progress and learnings as it accelerates its efforts to achieve its global net-zero emissions goals, visit
Microsoft 2022 Environmental Sustainability Report.
To follow Microsoft’s journey to build a digitally resilient and inclusive Singapore, visit
Microsoft News Center Singapore.
Hashtag: #Microsoft
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
