Show Notes
In this Backstage episode of Environment Variables, podcast producer Chris Skipper highlights the Green Software Foundation’s Software Standards Working Group—chaired by Henry Richardson (WattTime) and Navveen Balani (Accenture). This group is central to shaping global benchmarks for sustainable software. Key initiatives discussed include the Software Carbon Intensity (SCI) Specification, its extensions for AI and the web, the Real-Time Energy and Carbon Standard for cloud providers, the SCI Guide, and the TOSS framework. Together, these tools aim to drive emissions reduction through interoperable, transparent, and globally applicable standards. Learn more about our people: Chris Skipper: LinkedIn | Website Navveen Balani: LinkedIn
Find out more about the GSF: The Green Software Foundation Website Sign up to the Green Software Foundation Newsletter
Resources: Software Standards Working Group [00:18] GSF Directory | Projects [01:06] https://wiki.greensoftware.foundation/proj-mycelium [03:57] Software Carbon Intensity (SCI) Specification | GSF [04:18] Impact Framework [08:09] Carbon Aware SDK [09:11] Green Software Patterns [09:32] Awesome Green Software | GitHub [10:11] Software Carbon Intensity for AI [10:58] Software Carbon Intensity for Web [12:24]
Events: Developer Week 2025 (July 3 · Mannheim) [13:20] Green IO Munich (July 3-4) [13:35] EVOLVE [25]: Shaping Tomorrow (July 4 · Brighton) [13:51] Grid-Aware Websites (July 6 at 7:00 pm CEST · Amsterdam) [14:03] Master JobRunr v8: A Live-Coding Webinar (July 6 · Virtual) [14:20] Blue Angle for Software / Carbon Aware Computing (July 9 at 6:30 pm CEST · Berlin) [14:30] Shaping Progress Responsibly—AI and Sustainability (July 10 at 6:00 pm CEST · Frankfurt am Main) [14:41] Green Data Center for Green Software (July 15 at 6:30 pm CEST · Hybrid · Karlsruhe) [14:52]
If you enjoyed this episode then please either: Follow, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts Follow and rate on Spotify Watch our videos on The Green Software Foundation YouTube Channel! Connect with us on Twitter, Github and LinkedIn! TRANSCRIPT BELOW: Chris Skipper: Welcome to Backstage, the behind the scenes series from Environment Variables, where we take a look at the Green Software Foundation's key initiatives and working groups. I'm the producer and host, Chris Skipper. Today we are shining a spotlight on the Green Software Foundation's Software Standards working group. This group plays a critical role in shaping the specifications and benchmarks that guide the development of green software. Chaired by Henry Richardson, a senior analyst at what time, and Navveen Balani, managing Director and Chief Technologist for Technology Sustainable Innovation at Accenture, the group's mission is to build baseline specifications that can be used across the world, whether you're running systems in a cloud environment in Europe or on the ground in a developing country. In other words, the Software Standards Working Group is all about creating interoperable, reliable standards, tools that allow us to measure, compare, and improve the sustainability of software in a meaningful way. Some of the major projects they lead at the Green Software Foundation include the Software Carbon Intensity Specification, or SCI, which defines how to calculate the carbon emissions of software; the SCI for Artificial Intelligence, which extends this framework to cover the unique challenges of measuring emissions from AI workloads; the SCI for Web, which focuses on emissions from websites and front end systems; the Realtime Energy and Carbon Standard for Cloud Providers, which aims to establish benchmarks for emissions data and cloud platforms; the SCI Guide, which helps organizations navigate energy carbon intensity and embodied emissions methodologies, and the Transforming Organizations for Sustainable Software, or TOSS framework, which offers a broader blueprint for integrating sustainability across business and development processes. Together t
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