The closing panel of the GDSA Summit posed the question: how do we move from sustainability momentum to mainstream?
Deputy CEO of the Institute of Sustainability and Environmental Professionals (ISEP), Martin Baxter, opened with a reminder that sustainability only moves when people show up and stay engaged. He also argued that collaboration – and tearing down the silos that block “real system change” – is now the critical task.
Founder and CEO of Circularity First, Anthony Levy, welcomed the way circularity is moving from theory into practice.
“People talk about circularity by default, by design, but that it’s taken us the first decision, and it’s embedded all the way through… that that’s becoming a real thing in those organisations.”
However, he also pointed to the challenge of “trying to get the intricacies of what happens in the supply chain technology… So much of what happens before we get technology in our hands… that’s where a lot of the impacts and the complexities lie.”
That theme echoed an earlier panel on social risk and modern slavery: the sustainability footprint of digital isn’t confined to what happens in a datacentre or office – it runs upstream into materials extraction, manufacturing and global supply chains.
Momentum building across government
Defra’s head of digital sustainability, Tom Parry, noted how quickly the GDSA community has grown. He said the Alliance has expanded activity and outputs, and the conversation is becoming more tangible.
“This year, we’ve been able to refer to stuff that has been delivered and produced by the working groups,” he said, noting growing visibility through podcasts, LinkedIn and published recommendations.
When asked what has accelerated engagement, Parry pointed to outreach beyond the usual circles: “We make sure that we go out to third sector academic organisations,” he said.
Industry wants to lean in – but needs stronger signals
Angela Cross, UK sales director – central government and defence at Dell, captured a tension many suppliers will recognise: the willingness to act exists, but it’s uneven and too slow.
“There are so many people in this room that care about this topic and want to drive it. We are creating change – just not at the speed we need,” she said.
Cross argued that government’s biggest lever is to turn expectations into routine requirements, so sustainability becomes inseparable from “risk profiles” and procurement governance.
“What if… the pressure came through in the process to go the sale has to be genuinely sustainable,” she asked, “and layer it… in the governance so that the suppliers have to turn up being innovative and creative.”
“We have to challenge ourselves more,” said Levy. “It’s a peer to peer challenge.” But he also acknowledged the reality of market incentives: “The pressure is on delivery… on shareholders.”
The question, he suggested, is whether government can create enough consistent demand-side pressure, paired with support, to change what becomes “mainstream”.
2030 and beyond
Looking ahead to 2030–2035, Levy outlined the challenge in two parts: energy and materials.
“We are going to be in quite a tricky place with energy availability and cost over the next five years,” he warned, pointing to rising datacentre demand alongside broader electrification priorities.
But it’s materials where he sees the longer-term crunch: “We’ve now got two fastest growing sectors competing for the same resources. The digital sector… and the clean energy sector, are chasing after the same materials.”
Cross described how manufacturers are moving towards modular, upgradeable devices to reduce the need for full replacement. Dell’s “Project Luna”, she said, was designed as “a laptop that you could literally take apart… fully modular.”
The implication for government is that procurement can help create markets for products designed to be repaired, upgraded and kept in service longer.
Digital inclusion
The panel also returned to the theme of digital poverty and exclusion. Levy warned of the risk as services become more digital by default: “As those tech cycles become shorter, becomes more expensive for people to keep up… we’ve got to be really careful not to leave people behind.”
Parry highlighted a balancing act of aligning device donation programmes with a wider “sweating” strategy – keeping devices longer without “just giving stuff that used to be useless.”
Cross added that circularity programmes can support inclusion at scale: “We have thousands of laptops… they can have a second [life]… and we need to… make that accessible, so that… an older device doesn’t necessarily limit their ability to access… tools and applications.”
Solutions exist – now to scale
Asked whether he was optimistic, Baxter said many of the solutions are already known. The work now is adoption.
Said Levy: “The solutions that we need are already there. We just… bring more people with us.”
“What this has started is amazing,” added Cross. “How do we get everybody else really running with us and make it that priority… that everybody’s looking to do things differently and better.”
