Co-Design Framework for Green ICT Ecosystem: A Tale from the Finnish Green ICT Ecosystem

Abstract

Information and communication technology has been hailed for playing a crucial role in achieving the UN sustainable development goals. That notwithstanding, the realization of this agenda depends on the convergence of sustainable use and deployment of ICT with strong commitment from local and global partnerships and corporations. Thus, to achieve the 17 UN SDGs, local efforts and realities must be incorporated. Like many other countries, the Finnish government has set an ambitious goal to be a carbon-neutral nation by 2035. However, research on how such an ambitious target could be achieved is lacking. As such, the overarching objective of this study was to suggest a pathway for building a Green ICT Ecosystem. We reflect on our experience in building a green ICT ecosystem with the involvement of key ICT ecosystem stakeholders to adopt Green ICT practices. The lessons learned from creating a green IC ecosystem showed the importance of understanding stakeholders' diverse needs and challenges and consolidating numerous Green ICT approaches and strategies. We proposed a framework to serve as a guide for replication in other countries. To the best of our knowledge, this framework will likely be the first study to provide a blueprint for creating a Green ICT ecosystem to advance the convergence of ICT and stakeholder collaboration in archiving sustainable development.