Welcome to the Green Software Foundation
The intersection of software and sustainability
We’re on a mission to build a trusted ecosystem of people, standards, tooling and best practices for green software.
This Orientation page provides a comprehensive introduction to GSF. We outline a clear path for how and where you can get involved and positively impact our community. This will help you drive advocacy, awareness, and sustainable software design and development at your organization.
Table of Contents
- Welcome to the Green Software Foundation
- Code of Conduct
- What is Green Software?
- Introducing the Green Software Foundation
- Mission
- Vision
- Who we serve
- Theory of Change Strategy
- How is the Green Software Foundation Structured?
- Consensus
- Governance
- Steering Committee
- Working Group Chairs
- Committees
- Working Groups
- Projects
- GitHub
- Become a Green Software Leader
- Get Started
- Frequently Asked Questions
Code of Conduct
What is Green Software?
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If you want to engage meaningfully in the GSF, even if you are someone very experienced in the green software space, we strongly recommend you complete our training course.
- It’s short. You can complete it in 2 hrs.
- You’ll be more able to engage in conversations across the rest of the GSF if you know the principles of green software and the language we use to describe green software concepts.
Take our training to align your understanding with the GSF’s definition of Green Software.
Introducing the Green Software Foundation
Mission
Build a trusted ecosystem of people, standards, tooling and best practices for green software.
Vision
A future where software has zero harmful environmental effects.
Who we serve
Software practitioners and anyone in software adjacent roles across industries.
Theory of Change Strategy
- We need changes in Tech Culture, to ensure the environmental impact of software is made a priority.
- We need changes in Knowledge, to ensure the environmental impact of software is studied, taught & understood.
- We need changes in Tooling, to ensure the environmental impact of software is easy to apply.
How is the Green Software Foundation Structured?
Consensus
The Foundation functions via consensus. We work hard to reach an agreement on outputs so we can speak with one voice.
- Consensus means there needs to be agreement on every decision.
- Working Groups, Committees and some Projects in the Foundation function via Consensus.
- We value fairness. Every working group member has a voice, and we encourage members to use it.
- If you do not agree to a decision clearly state this by using the words “I object” either verbally or in writing.
- If we don’t have consensus we may proceed to a super majority vote, 66% of members need to agree to the decision.
- Individuals might be asked what choice they vote for but votes are per organization and each Steering and General Member organization has one vote each.
- More details regarding Decision Making are in our Policies & Procedures section.
- Through our committees, working groups, and projects, we converge 60+ member organizations.
Governance
Read about our Governance Structure in more detail
Steering Committee
The Steering Committee (SC) is the overall body responsible for governing the Foundation. Every Steering Member nominates a Primary and Alternate to represent them in the steering committee calls. The Steering Committee focusses on the long term strategy of the Foundation. They decide the OKRs of the Foundation as a whole. They approve the Foundations Budget. The Steering Committee are the only body that can change the Foundations Charter.
- The Chair (Sanjay Poddar) and Vice-Chair (Chris Lloyd-Jones) of the Foundation are the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Steering Committee.
- The Executive Director is appointed by and reports to the Steering Committee.
- The rest of the staff report to the Executive Director.
Working Group Chairs
The Working Group Chairs (WGC) a collective made up of all the chairs of all our working groups, are the body responsible for more technical, tactical, day-to-day aspects of running the Foundation. They largest roles is in the review of new project proposals and lifecycle changes to existing projects.
Committees
Exclusive, member-only leadership bodies with a defined scope, and some level of devolved decision making power in their area, guided by the foundation’s Steering Committee.
Committees are exclusive, member-only leadership bodies with a defined scope, and some level of devolved decision making power in their area, guided by the foundation’s Steering Committee.
They provide guidance across all of our WGs and Projects for their particular area.
Committees have limited seats - each Steering member has a seat, and General members tend to have a limited number of seats available via elections. Your GSF Member Lead will be able to nominate you for a seat.
We have several other committees in the process of being formed including the
- Communications Committee
- Green AI Committee
Working Groups
Are the main focus of activity in the Foundation:
- They are member-only, consensus-driven collectives led by members supporting GSF projects throughout its entire lifecycle.
- Every Project in the Foundation belongs to one of the Working Groups.
- Each Working Group is led by 1 or more Chairs with support from GSF Staff.
Our Working Groups each have clearly defined areas of scope:
Community WG
- Facilitate broad adoption of Green Software standards and best practices through the creation of partnerships, content, events and programs.
- Ensure diverse participation of stakeholders in the development and implementation of Green Software.
Open source WG
- Direct open-source, open-data and academic research in areas that advance the field of green software.
- Sponsor key open-source and open-data projects to give confidence they will be supported and maintained for the long term.
Policy WG
- Engaging with external bodies and campaigns, commenting on existing or proposed policy related to green software as well as creating our own policy proposals.
- Managing projects related to the green certification of products and services.
- Ensure the Foundation’s trademarks are being used correctly and in a context that doesn't diminish the Foundation's value.
Standards WG
- Develop a series of baseline specifications for Green Software.
- Ensure that the specifications can be implemented in an interoperable fashion on the computing platforms in widespread use in both developed and developing regions.
Projects
The term “project” within Green Software Foundation refers to a collaborative endeavor to deliver a work item. Projects have a focused team led by members delivering a specific tool, standard or resource.
If a set of individual members believes in a project and can gather support from others, if the project speaks to the GSF's theory of change, then GSF will work to support that project and the team to deliver it the best they can.
All projects must comply with their Working Group charter.
Project Types
Document Projects - Consensus-based. They produce a document, such as a requirements or use cases document, a whitepaper, or analysis.
Software Projects - Maintainer-based. They develop a new capability, refactor, or remove an existing capability for the Green Software Foundation technology releases.
Launching a Project
- Join the Working Group where you think your new project idea would best fit
- Raise an agenda item, to discuss your suggested project idea within the WG
- Raise your proposal to the Working Group.
- The proposal should be submitted to a Working Group using the New Project Proposal issue template.
- Any GSF Member may raise a project proposal idea.
Read the process in more detail in our Project Lifecycle.
GitHub
- GitHub is where we manage almost every aspect of the Foundation.
- It’s where people collaborate on documents and code.
- It’s where people have discussions about our projects and green software.
- It’s where we project manage all our work through GitHub Issues and GitHub Projects.
Become a Green Software Leader
Your dedication to sustainability and decarbonizing software profoundly influences our approach to building knowledge, tooling, and culture to green software.
Get Started
Register and Subscribe to become fully involved with the GSF.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I join a WG or Project?
Follow the steps in our Getting Started Page.
How do I escalate issues at the WG or Project level?
You can raise an agenda item for the next WG or Project call, reach out to the Chair/Lead, or the GSF PM for that WG or Project
How do I become a WG Chair?
Our WG Chairs are nominated via elections. The term is 2 years. See Working Group Chair elections for more detail.
How do I become a Project Lead?
Our Project Lead position is given to the proposer of the project idea, so to become a PL you can Launch a new project.
Occasionally a PL position for an existing project becomes available if the volunteer steps down or their member organization leaves the GSF. See Project Lead Appointments for more detail.
How do I share my experience & perspective to drive adoption?
Raise an issue on the project repo, to add an agenda item to a future Project call to discuss your experience & perspective
How do I speak about green software?
We’d love for you to advocate for Green Software by speaking at events or conferences. We have plenty of resources and presentation decks to support you. Reach out to us at help@greensoftware.foundation.
How do I network with other members of the GSF?
Join our WGs, Project or our Committees.
What project management support do I get in the GSF?
Each project has a Project Lead and a Project Manager who work together to ensure the project runs smoothly and reaches its goals. The Project Manager organizes and monitors the project, while the Project Lead acts more like a subject matter expert. The exact distribution of responsibilities will depend on the specific project and the skills required to meet project objectives.
Getting Started 
Registration & Subscription
Become a Green Software Leader