Making digital sustainability business as usual in government

Digital sustainability is no longer a niche concern for specialists or a “nice to have”. It is quickly becoming a core capability for modern digital government: essential to resilience, value for money and the credibility of public services.

That was the message from a panel session “Making Digital Sustainability Business as Usual” at the GDSA Summit, chaired by Dr Hannah Scott, head of sustainability at Imperial College London, with panellists Cate Warman-Powell, commercial deputy director for technology – IT hardware & services at the MOD, CGI chief sustainability officer, Mattie Yeta and Chris Adams, director of technology and policy at the Green Web Foundation.

For a digital government audience battling operational pressure and tight budgets, the panel focused on what works in practice: procurement levers, leadership incentives, skills and governance, and how to keep up with rapid innovation without losing control of sustainability outcomes.

What “business as usual” looks like: procurement, platforms and practical wins

A recurring theme was that government can bake sustainability into the system – especially through procurement and contract management – rather than relying on isolated project-level initiatives.

Warman-Powell pointed to Defra’s work embedding “additional digital sustainability elements” in key contracts, describing two examples: “a mobile voice and data services contract,” and “the future end services contract… [which] enabled a scalable… blueprint for us at government to use.”

At MOD, she highlighted an agreement with Google for a secret community cloud, with an emphasis on measurable outcomes: “providing really measurable emission data and monitoring,” alongside commitments around renewable energy and net zero targets. She said that sustainability requirements are possible “no matter the classification sensitivity from a digital environment.”

She also made the case for using digital to avoid carbon-intensive activity, describing growing use of “synthetic environments, modelling and use of digital twins” to reduce physical training impacts: “moving to virtual… can only be positive from an environmental perspective.”

For government leaders, sustainability becomes “business as usual” when it’s built into standard patterns – the frameworks, contract templates, and service blueprints teams use every day.

The biggest barrier: skills gaps in the “in-between” space

If sustainability is to become routine, the panel argued that capability needs to catch up – particularly among the people tasked with delivery.

Adams offered a simple test to illustrate the challenge: “Can you raise your hand if you’re a sustainability expert?… Can you raise your hand if you’re a technology expert? Can you raise your hand if you’re both? It’s kind of hard, right?

“We can have targets set by the people that are saying we have to get to this, but if it’s your job to deliver this, it’s really, really difficult.”

The panel’s practical answer was resourcing and support for the “middle layer”: time to develop skills, access to peers, and a community of practice that acts as a “force multiplier.” Events like GDSA matter, said Adams, because they help teams build capability when expertise isn’t available in-house.

Keeping up with AI and emerging tech without losing the plot

Innovation is moving faster than many governance models can handle – particularly with AI accelerating adoption pressure and compute demand.

Yeta described the pace as “phenomenal,” listing “AI… blockchain… quantum computing,” and argued the challenge isn’t just technical – it’s organisational. How do you support teams “in the context of transforming our organisation,” while also “bringing people along the journey,” and “thinking about sustainability within AI”?

At CGI, she said, that question drove the creation of a programme called SEEDS (Sustainability Exploration and Environmental Data Science), which has been designed to help teams explore emerging tech “in a safe to fail environment.”

From “cost” to operational excellence

A persistent barrier, noted Warman-Powell, is “the perception… is that sustainability means that it’s going to cost more.”

But she argued that a “proportional approach” to requirements – focusing on “what’s going to drive the greatest impact for that particular requirement”- can deliver both savings and better market access, including for SMEs.

The panel also underlined a shift in how senior leaders need to see the topic. Warman-Powell described moving from compliance to outcomes such as “resilience, value for money and… operational excellence.” And Yeta noted growing maturity at board level, including integration with financial and climate disclosure conversations, and the need to “quantify and attribute… value evaluation in the context of sustainability.”

What this means for digital government leaders

The panel’s message was practical and direct:

• Make sustainability routine through procurement and standards, not one-off initiatives.
• Invest in capability, especially for people who must translate targets into delivery.
• Treat emerging tech as a sustainability governance challenge, not only an innovation opportunity.
• Build the business case in delivery language – resilience, performance, and value for money.
• Shift from “exception” to “expectation” so sustainability becomes the default choice.

Or, as Dr Scott noted: if digital emissions and e-waste are accelerating, then embedding sustainability across services and estates is not optional – it’s part of what “modern digital government” now requires.