X-Road's environmental footprint is being identified by NIIS, Gofore and the Stockholm Environment Institute

The EU is fighting climate change and has put forward a plan to further cut emissions by 2030. By 2050, Europe aims to become the world's first climate-neutral continent.

Running a software also has a carbon footprint, and in order to contribute to climate neutrality, it is fundamental to determine the extent of the environmental footprint and the possibilities for reducing it.

The Nordic Institute for Interoperability Solutions (NIIS) is including sustainability in the different areas of its operations: the environmental footprint of the organisation, sustainable procurement, sustainable development process, sustainable solution X-Road® and sustainable use of X-Road. Sustainability is one of the NIIS' values.

X-Road® is open-source software and ecosystem solution that provides unified and secure data exchange between organisations. Until now, sustainability has not played a significant role in the development of X-Road. Therefore, NIIS has initiated a project with Gofore Plc and the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) to identify the extent of X-Road's environmental footprint and submit proposals for reducing the environmental footprint.

The short-term goal is to focus on the direct and tangible environmental impact of the X-Road software. The long-term goal is to make X-Road the most sustainable data exchange solution in the world. Before starting to make X-Road more sustainable, the current situation must be assessed, and the next steps defined based on the assessment's results.

The study results are the basis for future decisions in the activities of NIIS to systematically take into account the environmental aspect and reduce negative impacts as much as possible, thereby contributing to the achievement of European and global climate goals.

"It is necessary to focus on the strategic view and to point out the most critical opportunities for X-Road to contribute to climate goals, which are technically possible and necessary for making strategically wise future decisions and investments", says Ville Sirviö, CEO of NIIS.