At the EGI2025 Annual Conference in Santander, held from 2–6 June, EBRAINS joined its GreenDIGIT partners - particularly the other leading Digital Infrastructures (EGI, SoBigData, and SLICES) involved in the project - to address how digital research infrastructures can play a leading role in reducing environmental impact.
On 3 June, the GreenDIGIT project hosted both a consortium meeting and public sessions, bringing together technical experts and developers to tackle the urgent challenge of making scientific computing more energy-efficient and environmentally sustainable - as the demand for computational resources continues to increase.
Tackling the Carbon Footprint of Research Infrastructures
During the public session “Lowering the Environmental Impact of Computing”, GreenDIGIT partners showcased progress in greening digital infrastructures, highlighting innovations from new carbon emission analysis methods to practical applications within the physics community to make research infrastructures more sustainable.
In two practical tutorials attendees learnt about:
Key European regulations shaping the future of green computing - such as energy efficiency directives, sustainable procurement rules, and environmental standards - and how these apply to data centres and digital infrastructures. Prof. Dr. Yuri Demchenko, University of Amsterdam, stressed how the GreenDIGIT project aligns with the sustainability standards set by the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) Roadmap 2026.
New web-based tools for researchers, including a Jupyter Notebook plugin developed by GreenDIGIT. The Jupyter Notebook enables researchers to write code, analyse data, and see results instantly, document their work, and share the findings with others - all in one place. This tool features a dashboard that helps scientists track energy consumption and make them aware of the carbon footprint of their web-computing workflows.
The discussions of the GreenDIGIT consortium meeting focused on the development of an Environmental Impact Assessment Methodology and Guidelines, and a self-assessment questionnaire to help research infrastructures evaluate their sustainability and policy compliance.
EBRAINS’ Contribution
On 3 June, EBRAINS presented the White Paper: Digital Research Infrastructure Lifecycle Model to the consortium and shared the printed version with the EGI 2025 participants.
EBRAINS, Europe’s Digital Infrastructure for Brain Research, actively contributes to the project by helping to develop tools and best practices that promote more energy-efficient scientific computing - without compromising research quality - reinforcing our commitment to innovation that advances science while supporting a more sustainable future for all.
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