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Increase sustainability throughout the lifecycle of your technology.
To meet point 12 of the Technology Code of Practice, your plans should include how you aim to increase the sustainability of your technology project or programme by meeting the outcomes defined in the Greening Government ICT and Digital Services Strategy.
The Central Digital and Data Office is currently collecting feedback on the Technology Code of Practice. The aim is to improve the content and make sure it meets user needs. If you want to add your feedback, please complete this short survey.
Government departments should have support from a designated digital sustainability lead. If you need further support or more information, you can contact the cross-government Sustainable Technology Advice & Reporting (STAR) team by emailing [email protected]. The STAR team coordinates cross-government reporting on sustainability. They also share advice and best practice with government organisations.
The benefits of increasing your project’s sustainability include:
As well as short term planning for your project’s requirements, you should aim to create a long term plan on how to increase the sustainability of your technology or service across its entire lifecycle.
At the start of your project, you should consider these questions:
You should consider how your project or programme can work towards meeting the Greening Government ICT and Digital Services Strategy. To meet the Strategy’s main objectives, you should:
To help meet these objectives, from 30 September 2021 suppliers for new procurements worth more than £5 million per year must commit to reaching Net Zero by 2050, and publish a Carbon Reduction Plan. You can read more details in ‘Procurement Policy Note 06/21: Taking account of Carbon Reduction Plans in the procurement of major government contracts’.
Your project’s energy requirements will affect your project’s sustainability. To improve this and significantly reduce your costs you should:
If you’re creating user facing services, you can design them to use less energy if you:
You should also consider how your project will measure, manage, and improve its sustainability during the project, and after it has become business as usual. Discuss with the STAR team and decide how you can:
Buying a service or managed service is usually the most sustainable option. If you have purchased physical equipment or infrastructure for your project, you should consider how to maintain and dispose of them. When assessing options for disposal, you should consider:
You can contact the STAR team by emailing [email protected] for specific advice or help identifying opportunities for reusing physical technology.
When you’re buying physical equipment or infrastructure, you should consult with your organisation’s commercial and sustainability leads to understand what sustainable procurement options are available. You can also contact the Crown Commercial Service to find out how to buy more sustainably.
When discovering your project or programmes requirements, consider if you can:
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