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Why was ecoCompute Conference born?
In our increasingly digital world, software plays a pivotal role in daily life powering everything from communication and entertainment to transportation and healthcare. However, this digital convenience comes with a significant, often overlooked and invisble environmental cost.
Moreover, for companies committed to climate action, aligning with the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) is fast becoming a baseline expectation. The SBTi provides a clearly defined pathway for companies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Paris Agreement. But while many organizations focus on emissions from physical operations, few account for the growing footprint of their digital systems—including software.
Why should one care?
Maybe a graphic says more than a thousand words:
Whether you’re motivated by climate responsibility, operational efficiency, or building tech that’s more inclusive and future-ready, sustainable computing is a win-win. ecoCompute is where those who care about the impact of their code come together to drive real change.
The recent rise in global commitments and initiatives for sustainable development—such as the Global Investors for Sustainable Development (GISD) Alliance’s pledge to integrate the SDGs across their portfolios—now requires companies to conduct SDG assessments and craft robust response strategies. According to KPMG’s 2024 Survey of Sustainability Reporting, 75% of the world’s largest companies and 75% of the top 100 companies in each country now report on the SDGs, indicating a stabilization in adoption following rapid growth in previous years
This is why the ecoCompute conference was created.
We want to shine a spotlight on the often invisible environmental footprint of our digital world. While the carbon cost of flying or manufacturing is widely recognized, the emissions caused by inefficient software, data-intensive applications, and energy-hungry infrastructure remain largely hidden. ecoCompute brings together developers, researchers, policymakers, and industry leaders to confront this blindspot head-on.
For example, hardware developers have efficiency features but many are often not aware of them. There are also many good software techniques to shift the load to where the sun shines, however, the infrastructure in data centers are not equipped to implement these techniques. Our goal is to attempt to piece the puzzle together by putting all the puzzle pieces (and that means developers, researchers, data center professionals, policy makers and industry leaders) under one roof.
Through talks, workshops, and collaborative sessions, the conference aims to put experts and thought leaders in the same room to exchange insights and best practices.
So Why Should You Join?
Whether you’re a software developer, hardware designer, or data center professional, ecoCompute offers more than just talks—it’s about collaborating to find cross-disciplinary solutions for challenges we face in ensuring tech is sustainable.
- Hands-on Workshops: Dive deep into practical, actionable techniques you can apply immediately in your work
- Expert Panels: Hear from thought leaders who are actively shaping the future of sustainable computing
- Networking Opportunities: Connect with like-minded professionals who are just as committed to innovation and sustainability and take the next steps for more progress in sustainable software design.
- Best Practices: Learn concrete strategies for incorporating sustainability into your work, from energy-efficient software to optimized hardware design. Look at our past speaker lineups and workshops to see how we’ve helped others in the field.
Going beyond technocratic solutions
While ecoCompute is still a tech conference at its heart, we would be remiss if we assume that sustainability is a one-dimensional issue. Even digital sustainability is never just a technical question - it is social, political and even cultural. That’s why we created the Community Track: a space where NGOs, activists, policymakers, researchers, and engaged citizens can come together with developers and engineers.
- By bringing these voices into the conversation, we can spark new impulses and make sure the solutions we build are not only efficient, but also fair, inclusive, and future-proof.
- This mix of perspectives is essential: without it, we risk solving technical problems while overlooking issues of justice, governance, and inclusion.
- By weaving together themes like sustainable digitalization, community building, political advocacy, and even critical reflections on the pitfalls of digitalization, the Community Track shows that sustainable computing is about more than greener code or efficient hardware; it’s about shaping a digital future that works for both people and planet.