UK Government partners with Greenpixie to boost digital sustainability
The UK Government has partnered with Greenpixie, a UK-based cloud startup, to enhance both the accessibility and sustainability of its digital services.
This collaboration will specifically focus on the environmental footprint of the government's new One Login service, designed to provide millions of Britons with a secure and streamlined way to access various central government services.
Greenpixie, established in 2021, will assist in tracking the energy and water consumption involved in powering the servers that support One Login. Every time a user accesses the service, the technology will provide real-time data on resource usage, allowing the Government Digital Service (GDS) to measure the environmental impact of its engineering decisions.
The data gathered will enable the GDS team to assess how its choices affect the emissions from the cloud computing infrastructure that powers One Login. Armed with this information, the team can make strategic adjustments to minimise the service’s environmental impact, especially as the platform expands to accommodate more users in the coming months.
Minister for AI and Digital Government, Feryal Clark, said: “While we make the most of technology to overhaul public services, we must make sure we are leading by example in protecting our climate.
“Our work with Greenpixie will help give us the insight we need to keep a tight grip on environmental impacts as we use technology to save citizens valuable time and money while using our services.”
Working with Greenpixie is the latest development in the Government Digital Service’s work to build on its leadership in cloud sustainability by prioritising efficient cloud infrastructure which minimises waste where possible. This has included techniques such as the adoption of serverless architecture and a change in processor code.
With the help of Greenpixie, the One Login team will have the observability needed to undertake even more sophisticated cloud sustainability techniques, which will lead to significant carbon avoidance as the product continues to scale.
Greenpixie’s CEO, John Ridd, said: “One Login is continuing to iterate, develop, and improve its sustainability practices every day. It’s a privilege to assist the team on their mission to create the greenest digital service in government.”
