Sustainability by design
Embedding environmental responsibility into every stage of digital delivery
At DDaTS, sustainability is not a standalone activity or a reporting exercise. It is built into how we design, build, run and improve digital, data and technology services. We focus on practical, measurable actions that reduce environmental impact while supporting resilient, high‑performing services.
Our approach aligns with UK public sector sustainability expectations and recognised industry standards, and helps organisations progress towards Net Zero, responsible technology and long‑term value.
How we embed sustainability across the lifecycle
Sustainability is managed as a continuous cycle, with feedback from live services informing future design and delivery decisions.
Each stage is supported by open source tools that provide evidence, insight and improvement opportunities rather than retrospective reporting.
Our sustainability principles
These principles guide how we make decisions throughout delivery. They ensure sustainability is practical, measurable and aligned to service outcomes rather than treated as a standalone objective.
Design for efficiency first
Make early architectural and design choices that minimise energy use, data movement and waste, recognising that the biggest sustainability gains come from decisions made in discovery.
Measure real usage, not assumptions
Use evidence from live systems and delivery pipelines to understand actual energy consumption and carbon impact, avoiding proxy measures wherever possible.
Optimise continuously
Treat sustainability as an ongoing improvement cycle, using operational insight to refine designs, configurations and ways of working over time.
Balance sustainability with performance and resilience
Make trade‑offs between cost, carbon, reliability and security explicit, ensuring services remain robust, secure and user‑focused.
Use open standards and transparent data
Prefer open source tools, open data and recognised standards to support transparency, comparability and informed decision‑making.
Build sustainable capability
Enable client teams to understand, measure and improve sustainability outcomes themselves through knowledge transfer and shared ownership.
Open source tools we use
Discovery and design
We assess sustainability early, when design decisions have the greatest impact.
Cloud Carbon Footprint – estimates carbon emissions for different cloud architecture options.
Software Carbon Intensity (SCI) specification – an open standard from the Green Software Foundation used to design carbon‑efficient systems.
Build and test
We capture the environmental impact of engineering activities during development.
CodeCarbon – measures energy consumption and estimated CO₂ emissions from code execution and testing.
CI energy estimation tools – open source plugins and scripts integrated into build pipelines.
Deploy and operate
We measure real‑world energy use once services are live.
Kepler – CNCF project for measuring energy consumption of Kubernetes workloads.
Scaphandre – measures real‑time energy consumption of servers, processes and containers.
Prometheus exporters – collect sustainability metrics alongside performance and reliability data.
Optimise and improve
We continuously reduce impact based on operational insight.
Carbon Aware SDK – enables workloads to run when and where carbon intensity is lower.
ElectricityMap (open data) – provides regional carbon intensity data to inform deployment and scheduling decisions.
Sustainable delivery model
Sustainability is embedded into delivery governance rather than treated as an add‑on.
Sustainability considerations included in discovery, design and assurance activities.
Trade‑offs between cost, performance, risk and environmental impact made explicit.
Continuous improvement cycles used to reduce waste and improve efficiency over time.
Social sustainability and responsible technology
We recognise that sustainable outcomes depend on people, skills and ethical practices.
Inclusive and accessible service design by default.
Knowledge transfer and capability building to support long‑term self‑sufficiency.
Responsible data and AI practices, with transparency, bias awareness and human oversight.
Governance and assurance
Clear ownership for sustainability within delivery teams.
Alignment with client sustainability policies and reporting requirements.
Regular review of risks, controls and improvement actions.
Looking ahead
We continue to evolve our sustainability practices as technology, standards and client needs change. Our focus remains on delivering measurable, practical improvements that support Net Zero goals, responsible innovation and long‑term value from digital services.