Carbon-cutting code: green software is a boardroom priority

Article

As digital infrastructure becomes core to business operations, enterprises must look beyond hardware to tackle Scope 2 emissions. Discover how energy-aware coding, carbon-smart cloud routing, and intelligent workload placement are transforming software into a powerful lever for sustainability.

Categories: Sustainability, Digitalisation, Artificial intelligence and machine learning

23 Sep 2025

5 Mins

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Key takeaways

Scope 2 emissions from cloud and compute are rising with digital transformation
Software efficiency now plays a key role in corporate sustainability
Enterprises are cutting emissions via; smarter code and algorithms, carbon-aware cloud infrastructure choices, dynamic, energy-conscious workload placement

The carbon cost of software: Why code is now part of your ESG strategy

Until recently, sustainability discussions in IT focused almost entirely on hardware and data centre efficiency. Software was considered “clean,” as if it didn’t draw power directly, but that myth has since been debunked.

The ICT sector already contributes 3.9% of global greenhouse gas emissions—more than double the 1.6% recorded in 2007—and could reach 14% by 2040. Training a single AI model can emit as much CO₂ as five cars over their lifetimes.¹

The scale of the problem means CIOs and CSOs can no longer treat software as an afterthought in their ESG strategies.

Sustainable coding

Green or sustainable coding is about writing and running software in ways that reduce its energy and resource footprint without compromising performance.² This means:

Optimising algorithms for lower compute cycles
Reducing data loops and unnecessary processing
Minimising application footprint in terms of memory, CPU, network, and storage usage
Choosing efficient languages such as C and C++ instead of Python that has been shown to consume between 76× energy than C across similar workloads¹

The benefits go beyond the environment. Cleaner code often leads to simpler architectures, faster runtimes, lower operating costs, and extended device lifecycles.

Three ways enterprises are cutting emissions through software

1. Smarter code: less energy, more impact

Optimising algorithms, reducing data loops, and using memory efficiently all contribute to lower runtime power consumption.

AI model training can be fine-tuned with more efficient frameworks or pruning techniques that reduce compute cycles.
Batching tasks and caching data effectively lowers cloud resource calls and redundant processing.
Lightweight backend processes save energy in high-volume transactional environments like finance and e-commerce.

2. Carbon-aware cloud routing: infrastructure with intelligence

Not all cloud data centres are created equal. Their carbon intensity varies depending on regional grid mix, time of day, and energy efficiency measures. Enterprises that route workloads through cloud regions powered by cleaner energy can significantly reduce their carbon footprint.

Modern platforms support location-shifting—selecting regions with greener electricity in real time. They can also incorporate time-shifting, running non-urgent workloads during periods when renewable energy share is highest.³
Routing decisions can balance both performance and carbon signals, so sustainability doesn’t come at the cost of speed.³
Singtel’s Paragon platform enables this orchestration at scale—matching workload requirements with carbon-optimised compute across regional data centres.⁴

3. Smarter workload placement: Dynamic and emissions-aware

Where and when your workloads run matters. By dynamically shifting tasks based on carbon intensity forecasts and available compute efficiency, businesses can take a proactive approach to sustainability.

High-carbon tasks can be deferred or moved to off-peak hours when renewable energy is more available.
Paragon-enabled orchestration helps enterprises match workloads with infrastructure offering the lowest environmental impact—without compromising SLAs.⁵

Integration with SD-WAN and IoT insights provides additional layers of control, enabling granular optimisation based on device, region, and business priority.⁶

The enterprise opportunity: software-led sustainability in action

Forward-looking organisations are already embedding these principles into operations.

At Singtel, our approach to sustainable software operations includes:

Green infrastructure backbone – Through Nxera and Digital InfraCo, Singtel is building AI-optimised, energy-efficient data centres across Asia, including Singapore’s Tuas facility powered by a S$643 million green loan.⁷
Enterprise sustainability programmes: Singtel’s sustainability programme, SPEED, help businesses track and optimise energy and emissions in real time, bridging software performance with ESG goals. SPEED, which stands for Smart technologies, Purpose-driven innovations, Enhanced capabilities, achieving Effective Digital transformation, is a first-of-its-kind sustainability initiative by a telco in Singapore.⁶

Software efficiency is emerging as a new dimension of digital responsibility

The software industry was expected to reach US$1 trillion in 2024. In 2025, we’ve moved past that mark—and with it, the urgency to cut its carbon footprint.¹ Writing efficient, sustainable code is no longer just the right thing to do. It’s a competitive differentiator, a cost saver, and a critical ESG lever. With Singtel, enterprises can embed tech-driven sustainability directly into digital operations. The greenest software is also the smartest software

Are you ready for tech-driven sustainability?

References:

EY, Tech Trend 02: Sustainable coding is the need for a greener tomorrow, 2024
IBM, Why green coding is a powerful catalyst for sustainability initiatives, 2023
Climatic, A Guide to Carbon-Aware Computing, 2025
TelecomTV, Singtel strikes green AI and datacentre partnerships, 2024
GMI Cloud, Singtel and GMI Cloud partner to expand GPU capacity in the US and Globally to accelerate AI adoption, 2024
Singtel, Singtel first telco in Singapore to launch a sustainability programme for enterprises, 2025
Reuters, Singtel secures $476 million green loan to develop data centre, 2025

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