Part of our work involves sharing what we learn with peers in industry, academia and civil society. On December 9th-11th, Chris, our Director of Tech & Policy will be presenting at the Green IO Conference in Paris. In this post, as Chris prepares for this event, he reflects on what he’ll be talking about and why. We also share how you can get tickets to attend in Paris, including how to request a free ticket directly from us.
Green IO: What has triggered your decision to join Green IO Paris?
Chris: We’ve been supporters of the Green IO conferences since they started, and last year our director of Operations, Hannah Smith closed out the conference with a barn storming talk, “Start at the end”. The December conference is one of the highlights of our year, and it was easy to say yes to get on a train to Paris.
If you work in the field, I think it’s fair to say that France is one of the countries with the most well developed ecosystems for people interested in Digital Sustainability, so it’s a great place to meet collaborators on projects, or just understand what the cutting edge looks like right now. We’ve linked below to the line up of speakers and events – it’s stellar!
Speaking of which, that’s why we’re running a workshop around our project carbon.txt – an initiative to make it much easier to discover the sustainability data underlying green claims online. In this workshop, we’ll be showing participants how to create them, and how to consume existing carbon.txt files in your projects.
Green IO: Can you share one of the key messages that people will get from you?
Chris: One of the key messages I think we’ll be sharing is that digital sustainability is now a site of conflict in a way it was not before. Over the last few years, we’ve seen new laws passed and some governments adopt policies that allow responsible professionals to do things they could not do before, like take into account environmental and climate justice considerations when building services, and require a level of disclosure from suppliers they couldn’t before.
We’re now seeing a backlash against this.
There are various efforts to dismantle disclosure laws in the name of competitiveness, and companies using narratives around the necessity of building generative AI services to justify new fossil-based generation, or reverse a phase out of coal.
If we want to hold onto the wins of the last few years, we’ll need to organise and figure out how to speak to the wider industry and policy world, and demonstrate the value of digital sustainability measures we’re calling for.
Green IO: What is the most surprising word that you will use during the NGO track?
Probably “substantiate” – we’re now at the point where we know how hard it can be to back up claims around digital services being more sustainable, but we also know it’s doable. We need new norms about what we need to accept green claims online.
Green IO: How can people get tickets?
Chris: Tickets are on sale now via Green IO’s partner, API Days –https://greenio.tech/conference/17/paris-2025-december.
I also have three free tickets to distribute as Green Web Foundation are one of the non-profit sponsors. If you’re able to attend in Paris on those dates and want a ticket, drop us an email. Don’t be shy to ask!
If you’re likely to be there and would like to meet for a chat, again let us know 💚
Background: about the Green IO Paris Conference
Green IO Conference in Paris takes place in CNIT – La Défense between Tues 9 Dec and Thurs 11 Dec and is organised by a long time friend of the Green Web Foundation, Gaël Duez.
This is an in-person event aimed at digital sustainability practitioners, advocates and academics exploring topics like green software, sustainable design, green cloud, responsible AI, and more. Day one is workshops and days two and three feature a packed talks agenda.
There’s a stellar line up of luminaries in the digital sustainability community.
