A new initiative has been launched to promote sustainable technology practices in a bid to combat the environmental impact of the ever-growing digital data landscape. The Digital Sustainability Alliance’s mission is to reduce the carbon footprint and costs associated with data storage and computing by an impressive 80% or more, bringing together industry experts, innovators, and technology solutions in a membership-based coalition. The Alliance estimates that network traffic and data centres are responsible for 2.3% of global CO2 emissions, surpassing the global aviation industry. Projections suggest that by 2040, carbon emissions from data centres, data processing, and video could make up 14% of the world’s total, surpassing agriculture. With global data creation increasing by 23% annually, carbon-intensive technologies like generative AI are further exacerbating the problem. Ben Golub, Co-dounder of the Digital Sustainability Alliance and CEO of Storj, said: “Digital sustainability is the biggest untold story out there […] The Digital Sustainability Alliance has been formed to open the eyes of policymakers, big tech companies, and the industry to the stark reality of the carbon impacts of data consumption and the urgent need for digital sustainability.”
