The European Green Digital Coalition (EGDC) is an initiative of ICT companies, supported by the European Commission and the European Parliament, that aims to harness the emission-reducing potential of digital solutions across all economic sectors. It was founded on Digital Day 2021 when 26 CEOs of major technology companies signed a declaration committing to support the green and digital transformation of the EU.
The coalition's work centres on three objectives: investing in the development and deployment of green digital solutions with measurable energy and material efficiency gains; developing science-based methods to measure the net environmental impact of digital technologies; and co-creating recommendations for green digital transformation across key sectors.
A central output is the Net Carbon Methodology, a science-based framework for calculating the net climate impact of specific ICT solutions. This methodology has been developed with complementary sector-specific approaches for transport, agriculture, smart cities, energy, and manufacturing. The EGDC has also produced deployment guidelines that provide recommendations on how to maximise the positive environmental impact of digital solutions while minimising negative effects such as rebound effects and solution footprints.
The coalition's current deployment phase focuses on applying the methodology in real-world case studies, engaging financial institutions to develop sustainable finance criteria aligned with the methodology, building partnerships with complementary standards initiatives, and creating a publicly accessible repository of net carbon assessments.
The EGDC secretariat is managed by a consortium of GeSI, PwC, and Carbon Trust. For smart city practitioners, the coalition is relevant because it provides frameworks for ensuring that urban digital infrastructure delivers genuine environmental benefits.
Primary link: https://www.greendigitalcoalition.eu