Net-zero carbon Wales 2040: A vision of the future A summary of a workshop discussion held in Cardiff on 25 March 2019. Net-zero carbon Wales 2040 brought together expertise from academia, government and industry to consider how science and the assets of Wales could be harnessed to develop the country as a world leader in low carbon technologies.

Summary of research

We set out to answer 3 questions with this desk research:

1. What’s working well? What could be improved?
2. What do these examples mean for you?
3. What examples of good practice exist in Wales + UK in relation to tech net zero?

Q1: What’s working well? What could be improved?

• There is a significant body of work already done on aspects of this topic within UK Government. This work has been led by DEFRA and has been fed into various policy, guidance and framework resources such as The Technology Code of Practice which now includes an entry covering how to Make your technology sustainable. Awareness of this work and how it could be applied could be improved within the Welsh public sector.

• There is a strong community across parts of the UK public sector led by the Sustainable Technology Advice & Reporting (STAR) group. The STAR group has a broad membership, including representatives from across government who:

  • share tools, techniques, and best practice on sustainable technology
  • act as a departmental lead for technology sustainability matters
  • provide support to the wider community as required
  • complete their organisations annual sustainability reports

  A similar “best practice” community focusing on sustainability in digital technology for Wales would be a valuable forum to raise awareness of activity in this space. Collaboration and interaction with activity at the UK level would be highly beneficial and recommended.

• Most of the activity is focused on reducing the carbon footprint of technology.

• There is a lot more to learn and do on using digital technology to reduce carbon footprint. While there are many examples of using digital technology

Q2: What do the examples below mean for you?

• Taking a step back to look around and at the bigger picture is essential.
• Cross departmental and organisational collaboration is critical for impact.
• Procurement practices, policies and implementation play a significant role.
• Scrutinising supplier and vendor net zero and sustainability credentials is becoming the norm.
• Considering not reaching Tech Net Zero as a business risk may be beneficial.
• Measurement and accounting.

Q3: What examples of good practice exist in Wales + UK in relation to tech net zero? 👇🏻