Digital Sustainability Governance is the framework we introduced in January 2024 to bring an organisation’s digital strategy and its sustainability obligations into a single governance process. It covers who decides on digital and resource questions, on what evidence, with what budget and accountability, and how the results are reported.

Most organisations run these as separate agendas. Digital transformation sits with technology and operations, sustainability sits with compliance and reporting, and neither holds the decisions where the two meet. That gap has become harder to ignore as the infrastructure behind AI begins competing directly for the power and water that everything else depends on.

The six steps

1. Strategic assessment. Establish where the organisation stands against the policy and regulatory environment, identify the systems and use cases that matter, and build a sector-specific plan.

2. Mindset shift. Raise awareness at every level including the executive, train for the skills the work requires, and align incentives with the goals.

3. HR and budget policy. Assign the roles, allocate the budget and the audit function, and establish a transparent reporting line.

4. Roadmap. Monitor the organisation’s digital environmental footprint, run a data-driven risk analysis on sensitive projects, and set realistic metrics.

5. Green stress test. Fold digital sustainability into ESG and CSR objectives, set an IT policy that supports it, and build capacity for sustainable procurement, repair and recycling.

6. Communications. Report transparently, empower staff internally, and share methods across the sector.

Clear KPIs and regular measurement run through every stage. Organisations that adopt the framework gain across five areas: innovation, growth, financing, community and compliance.

The framework

Digital Goes Green, Digital Sustainability Governance: A 6-Step Journey for Organisations to Bridge Digital and Green Transition, Brussels, January 2024. Download the framework (PDF)

Working with us

Behind the framework sits an assessment toolkit and a structured questionnaire that we apply directly with organisations, covering the reference table, the checklist and the KPIs for each of the six steps. We use these in educational sessions and advisory engagements to establish where an organisation currently stands and what its roadmap should contain.

To apply DSG in your organisation, or to discuss where your digital and sustainability governance currently sits, write to us at info@digitalgoes.green.