The Environmental Impact of Digital

Abstract

Energy consumed by data centres has nearly doubled since 2022 and is due to double again by 2030 – global data centres already consume more electricity than Japan. Our changing digital landscape has a significant impact on our environmental plans – providing both opportunity and risk.

This talk will explore the impact of digital on environmental plans, plans to date within Oxford’s Gardens, Libraries and Museums (GLAM) and intentions for this academic year.

Biography

Jon Ray is the Gardens, Libraries and Museums (GLAM) Environmental Sustainability Lead at the University of Oxford. Jon has extensive experience in leading sustainability initiatives with recent focus on carbon reduction strategies, sustainable procurement, staff engagement, biodiversity net gain and environmental sustainability strategies. Currently, he leads work to achieve goals of carbon net zero and biodiversity net gain for the University’s gardens, libraries and museums. Previously, as Director of Environmental Sustainability at Wiley, Jon was working on the company’s Carbon Net Zero strategy, plans for sustainable supply chain and championing initiatives to engage staff in climate awareness.

Abstract

This talk will introduce the Digital Humanities Climate Coalition (DHCC), a collaborative and cross-institutional initiative focused on understanding and minimising the environmental impact of Digital Humanities research. The DHCC, launched in 2021, is a Community Interest Group of the UK-Ireland Digital Humanities Association, and includes participants based at Higher Education institutions, DH Centres, and GLAMs across the UK, Ireland, and Northern Europe. The talk will explore the rationale that underpins the DHCC, the community developed resources the DHCC have published, the impact of that work, the activities the DHCC have planned, and how you can get involved in the group.

Biography

James Baker is Professor of Digital Humanities at the University of Southampton and Director of Southampton Digital Humanities. A historian by training, today James works at the intersection of history, cultural heritage, and digital technologies. James is a Software Sustainability Institute Fellow, a Trustee of the Programming Historian, and a founding member of the Digital Humanities Climate Coalition. Prior to joining Southampton, James held positions of Senior Lecturer in Digital History and Archives at the University of Sussex and Director of the Sussex Humanities Lab, Digital Curator at the British Library, and Postdoctoral Fellow with the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art.

Abstract

The world of sustainability is built on facts delivered through research and using data to then determine the best possible solution, mitigation or repair for the loss. In the digital sustainability space we are lacking the key value driver of facts and it has left us stumbling around in the dark a bit trying to understand where to begin, how to improve and most importantly, how to communicate the impact of our digital emissions on the planet and our businesses.

In this talk, Andri Johnston will share the journey at Cambridge in working with data to surface these missing facts, especially around cloud emissions reporting, and how they are using key pieces of data around their digital emissions alongside education to create digital sustainability culture change in an extremely fast changing digital landscape.

Biography

Andri Johnston has worked across trade, education and academic publishing in the digital space for over 10 years. Her personal passion for sustainability finally connected with her day job when she discovered Digital Sustainability. As the Digital Sustainability Lead for CUP&A she and her team do product level carbon emissions reporting using the DIMPACT tool, and train teams on implementing digital sustainability guidelines in product development. She is leading the business on visualising Scope 3 technology emissions targets and understand the wider sustainability impact of Gen AI in the education and publishing space. She's passionate about creating open conversations and learning spaces around digital sustainability in the publishing and media industry.

Abstract

We speak of the “cloud” as if it floats above us, immaterial, instantaneous, and weightless. In the 1990s, Negroponte celebrated the “weightless” digital economy, promising that bits could triumph over atoms. Yet the cloud is grounded and planetary in scale, supported by energy-intensive and extractive systems. The web is inseparable from our industrial past, geopolitical networks, and the planetary consequences of digital expansion. Decades earlier, Turing described the blur between the physical and digital realms as a “convenient fiction,” highlighting the persistent tension between imagined immateriality and material reality. As UNCTAD observes, the promise of digital dematerialisation has not yet materialised.

Drawing on doctoral research and work with organisations central to climate discourse, including United Nations agencies, this talk examines the evolution and ecological impact of digital platforms. Taking a retrospective and holistic perspective, it challenges assumptions of digital immateriality and explores how lessons from the past can guide sustainable web design practices, policy, and organisational practices for the web’s future

Biography

David Mahoney is a PhD candidate at The University of Edinburgh’s Institute for Design Informatics. His principal research interest is reducing the environmental impact of the internet and improving accessibility, aligning technological potential with environmental stewardship. He is the founder of Overbrowsing, an applied research group focused on advancing sustainable web practices.

Abstract

As Artificial Intelligence becomes woven into our daily research, teaching, and administrative work, the environmental impacts of these technologies remain largely unseen. While concerns on data centres’ significant energy and resource consumption are growing, broader environmental impacts are still unknown. To unpack the oft-overlooked impacts, this talk will explore AI’s environmental footprint across three scales. Direct impacts include the embodied and operational energy and resource use of AI infrastructure throughout its life cycle, along with its associated carbon emissions. In this impact level, we consider the environmental impacts of AI development, training, and inference. Indirect impacts arise from the ways AI reshapes our behaviours and activities - driving data storage, computation, and consumption in ways that amplify digital demand. Systemic impacts reach even further still, encompassing broader norm changes, potential path dependencies, and changes in our social, cultural, and economic structures. Understanding how these impacts may transpire in our everyday use of AI will help us rethink how we design, deploy, and engage with AI in ways that align technological innovation with environmental sustainability.

Biography

Felippa Amanta is a DPhil student at the Environmental Change Institute, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford. She is part of the ERC-funded iDODDLE project (Impacts of Digitalised Daily Life on Climate Change), where her research examines the environmental impacts of digitalisation in everyday life. Before joining Oxford, Felippa worked in policy research and advocacy with a focus on digital policy and governance. Her current work bridges social sciences, public policy, and digital technology studies, seeking ways to align technological progress with climate responsibility through a people-centred perspective.