DiNa: Boosting Digital Sustainability in ITK SMEs

In November 2024, the Federal Association of IT SMEs (BITMi) launched the second phase of the funding project “Digital Sustainability in the IT and Communications SME Sector” – abbreviated DiNa. The aim is to promote innovative approaches such as Green Coding.

Sustainability plays an increasingly important role in the digitalization of Germany, not only for ecological reasons but also for economic ones. Therefore, the Federal Association of IT SMEs (BITMi), with the support of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), initiated the funding project “DiNa – Digital Sustainability in the IT and Communications SME Sector” on September 1, 2024.

As part of the Central Innovation Programme for SMEs (ZIM), the project, with a duration of two years, currently involves ten IT and communications companies as well as six associated research partners and entered its second phase in November 2024. According to BITMi, the goal is to specifically promote innovative approaches such as Green Coding, as well as sustainable software and hardware solutions, to conceive and promote joint projects.

Green Coding can save a lot of CO₂

Green Coding involves using bits and bytes sparingly to keep the CO₂ footprint of software as low as possible. To illustrate this: a Word document with 40 keystrokes takes up 13 kilobytes, or 325 times more storage space than an equally long editor text. The popular programming language Perl requires 80 times more energy than “C,” according to Wirtschaft Digital Baden-Württemberg.

Approximately 0.2 grams of CO₂ are emitted with every internet search query, which amounts to 408,800 tons per year or the equivalent of 41 million trees, as quoted by an expert specializing in Green Coding on the portal. Even in the minimal percentage range, developers can have a significant impact on these emissions.

The second phase of the DiNa project will incorporate “valuable experiences and insights” from the first phase “to further optimize and strategically expand the network collaboration,” according to the BITMi press release.

The federal association also aims to invite more companies to join the DiNa network and benefit collectively from the collaboration.

Digital sustainability also targets fair competition

“We are delighted that with the approval of the second project phase, we can now work intensively for another two years to advance sustainability in the digital realm,” said Janek Götze, project manager of DiNa.

The stated goals of the project are:

• to promote the sustainable development of products and services,
• to facilitate access to funding for sustainable innovation projects,
• to support the qualification of sustainability officers in companies,
• to provide practical support and tools for developers,
• to increase the visibility of sustainability initiatives in the ICT industry.

A key focus of the project is the comprehensive assessment of the sustainability of digitalization initiatives, as well as the comparison of analog and digital processes.

Socio-economic aspects should also be considered to create fair competitive conditions, comparability, and transparency in the various sustainability approaches.

Scientific partners of the DiNa funding project include, among others, the Öko-Institut e.V., the JARO Institute for Sustainability and Digitalization e.V., the Environmental Campus, the HTW Berlin, and the Borderstep Institute for Innovation and Sustainability.

Source of title image: Adobe Stock / Claudine

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