Green IO Newsletter - May 2026

Building a greener digital world, one byte at a time

Hello responsible technologist!

Same attendance at Green IO New York as last year. My first instinct was disappointment. Then someone pointed out: holding your ground while sustainability retreats from the US mainstream is not nothing. I'll take it.

What I won't take is AI as dogma. Three out of four subway ads on my way to the venue mentioned the word. Not a business case — a reflex. Our speakers complicated that picture in both directions. Masheika Allgood and Shaolei Ren put hard numbers on what the AI build-out costs communities in water, air, and land. Nada Tarkhan closed the day showing the other side: GenAI, used with intention, mapping urban heat risk and feeding climate policy. Controversial force for sustainability — yes, exactly that.

A few days after the conference, Tzviya, Kate, Niki, and Susannah sat down together and recorded the most careful, generous debrief of a Green IO event I have ever come across, on the Environment Variables podcast. Thank you, all four of you — sincerely. Please listen to it. Their conversation kept returning to something Andrea Learned said in Green IO #76: you cannot shift social norms from the shadows. Kate's work on serverless carbon observability, Niki's on Kubernetes-scale energy measurement are exactly the kind of hands-on progress that matters — yet the organisations behind it too often greenhush. Amsterdam (June 9–10) and Munich (July 8–9) are built for that work to become loud.

Gaël

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What’s been happening lately in the Green IO community?

🎙️ Podcast episodes

#E79 AI & Sustainability: follow the money! with with Boris Gamazaychikov and Sasha Luccioni Watch | Listen

#E78 Can AI be applied for Sustainability? It’s complicated… with Jeremy Tamanini Watch | Listen

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🔔 Never miss an episode!

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🎤 Green IO conferences in 2026

Got something to share? We welcome inspirational talks, new research, latest use cases, new tools … CFP are still open for Green IO London and Paris!

Amsterdam, June 9^th - June 10^th
First conference in the Netherlands! It will all be about “Making Sustainability Practical“. Still a dozen of tickets available here.

Munich, July 8^th - July 9^th
"From measuring to achieving: industrializing IT Sustainability" will be discussed between experts and practitioners from all the DACH region. Register here.

London, Sept. 30^th - Oct. 1^st
“Follow the energy” is this year’s theme for the n°1 Green IT conference in the UK. Save the date! Apply to be a speaker here, get your early bird tickets here.

Paris, Dec. 2^nd - Dec 3^rd
Big news! Green IO Paris doubles its size in 2026 with 2 tracks: an English-speaking and a brand new French-speaking one. Two languages. One mission. Expect another edition with a wide European line-up as well as the entire French ecosystem. The call for speakers is now officially open - apply here! Early bird tickets are available here.

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# Couldn’t attend? # Listen # Watch # Read # Tools # Study # Participate # Attend

What else has popped up on our Tech & Sustainability radar?

Listen… We’re all ears

Plenty to listen to this month, especially if you are travelling to any of the many Green IT events programmed in the coming weeks, or it’s too hot to do anything else apart from sit under a shady tree.

#E3 of Sustainable IT Talks takes a closer look at what sustainable computing is all about, including the role of AI. #E11 of CSE’s podcast dives in to Green Industrialization for the Global South, and, in general, their Carbon Politics series of podcasts is one to keep an ear out for, as it concentrates on the intersection of the climate and the development agendas, and the related challenges and opportunities for the Global South.

TWiGS 143: The New Push for Comparable AI Carbon Data, is a thoughtful look at the challenges behind modern computing and the opportunities to rethink how software is designed and operated. Plus, TWiGS #E144 was recorded live from Green IO - listen here on how sustainability is now becoming a real priority in the Tech industry. And, #EV 145 asks the question: Is using LLMs for Tech Standards work actually greener?

# Watch… Sometimes the video is worth the environmental footprint

Making AI (truly) sustainable is Sacha Luccini's recent talk as part of the ‘AI for Resilient Futures’ Turing Lectures 2026 series.

‘Can AI go Green’ with Robert Keus of GreenPT is the focus of EcoSend #S7E3.

Bonus: In cased you missed it (we did), here is the Michael Faraday Prize Lecture 2025 winner Professor Michael John Wooldridge’s lecture ‘This is not the AI we were promised’.

# Read… Our coffee-break reading this month

Keep up to date with the changes on ISO 9001 (new version to be published later this year), as Quality Management is now expected to strengthen areas on digital transformation & AI integration as well as ESG / sustainability alignment.

Fiona Leibundgut has published a nice piece on the importance of precise AI & sustainability communication, and this discussion paper from Circularity proposes how, in the era of data center hyper-growth, circular economies can unlock business value, reduce material risk and future proof the sector. Plus, Social Licenses for data centers, and why, as shown in the growing number of blocked projects (see also Green IO April Newsletter), without them, growth may just stall …

And, although we already know how rife data harvesting is, check out the taken. website. It brings the issue into sharp focus, neatly illustrating how enormous amounts of personal data are gleaned, which then build up a very individual and traceable user profile…

Plus, on a more philosophical note, the Center for Humane Technology has published an AI Road Map: How We Ensure AI Serves Humanity, and Oxford University’s Institute for Ethics in AI has published an interesting White Paper entitled : The Need for and Feasibility of an International AI Bill of Human Rights. A topic that even Pope Leo XIV has broached in his latest publication, as in his words, “technology is never neutral, because it takes on the characteristics of those who devise, finance, regulate, and use it.”

# Tools… Skill-up for a sustainable future

The Green Metrics Tool now has a Yearly CO₂ Run Simulation.

GWF have launched AI model cards in carbon.txt and an AI Model Sustainability Directory, plus check out their update for SCI for Web standard.

Boavizta have updated the opensource environmental impact API to include GPU modeling and improved energy calculation accuracy (V2.2.0).

Electricity Maps have developed Grid Analyst, an AI Agent with direct access to their grid database to help obtain real-time historical generation mix, prices, forecasts, cross-border flows, and carbon intensity across 30+ European bidding zones - sign up for the closed beta here.

Plus, GSF has launched its SCI Self-Certification program, Cambridge Sustainable Computing Lab has developed a Green Algorithms HPC dashboard, and Wholegrain Digital has a free checklist, for both businesses and for individuals, to support the reduction of digital carbon emissions in everyday actions.

# Study… We’re never too old to learn

Some key research studies this month:

From computation to environmental cost the resource burden of artificial intelligence

From Cradle to Cloud: A Life Cycle Review of AI’s Environmental Footprint

How Interface Design choices Lead to Indirect Environmental Impacts Through Use Intensification.

The Net Climate Impact of AI: Balancing Current Costs with Future Climate Benefits

# Participate… One byte at a time

The Ethical AI Alliance is looking for looking for community-led AI initiatives as research partners on a major international research project. Initiatives from Africa, Asia, Latin America are strongly encouraged to reach out here.

CNCF Sustainability is rising from its ashes and is live again!

# Attend… Meet fellow responsible technologists

ICT4S 8-12 June 2026, Bern (CHE)

Digital 113 : Comment intégrer l’IA dans l’accessibilité d’un nouveau site, 5 June 2026, on line (FR only).

The Paris Conference (AI & digital ethics) 11-12 June 2026, Paris (FRA)

Sustainable IT Days, 17-18 June 2026, Al Hoceïma (MAR)

Climate Innovation Forum (London Climate Action Week), 22 June 2026, London (UK)

SustainableIT Impact Summit 2026 (London Climate Action Week), June 23 2026, London (UK)

Pixel Pioneers Bristol, 19 June 2026, Bristol (UK)

Agilists4Planet, 9-10 July 2026, Online

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One last positive thought!

For anyone who is interested in the natural world, David Attenborough turned 100 this month, and the BBC has collated archive material from his truly astounding career. Inspirational.