• The European Commission and the Portuguese Council Presidency have announced the launch of the European Green Digital Coalition at the Digital Day 2021 event in Porto today

• The Coalition is an initiative by the European Parliament to spark transformative change towards ICT-enabled sustainability in the private sector

• DIGITAL SME is championing the inclusion of 45 SMEs in the Coalition. At today’s kickoff event, these SMEs were represented by mid-sized German smartphone producer Shift GmbH

Europe has ambitious goals for the future. Under the Paris Agreement, the Union committed itself to become climate neutral by 2050. This goal can only be achieved through a comprehensive transformation towards a green and digital economy—and the European Green Digital Coalition aims at decisively advancing the market-led transformation of the continent’s businesses.

Launching officially today at the Digital Day 2021 in Porto, the Coalition is is an initiative of companies, supported by the European Commission and the European Parliament and based on the request of the EU Council, to green the ICT sector itself and bring the emission-reducing potential of its solutions to bear on all other sectors. CEOs of the signatory companies commit themselves to

1. Invest in the development and deployment of green digital solutions with significant energy and material efficiency that achieve a net positive impact in a wide range of sectors.
2. Engage with relevant organisations to develop standardised, credible and comparable assessment methodologies for the net impact of green digital solutions on the environment and climate in priority sectors such as energy, transport, manufacturing, agriculture and the building sector.
3. Promote cross-sectoral dialogue and contribute to the development of guidelines and recommendations for the deployment of green digital solutions in different sectors, and to encourage workforce upskilling.

We are proud to have helped in the founding of the coalition and will continue to ensure adequate SME representation within it!

DIGITAL SME supports SME-inclusion into the Coalition

DIGITAL SME has called on innovative SMEs and startups to support the Coalition and send a strong message to Europe. While large multinationals often pay lip service to sustainability, many of their initiatives turn out to be greenwashing rather than genuinely impactful solutions to the climate catastrophe. On the other hand, Europe is home to many innovative SMEs and startups who have sustainability at the centre of their business philosophy.

Over 40 SMEs and startups have followed our call and signed the European Green Digital Coalition declaration, and more are expected to join in the coming months. All of them, though in different stages of maturity, are keen to support sustainable digitalisation. One SMEs stands out with its exceptional commitment to sustainability—in all of its dimensions—and has thus been accepted as a founding member of the Coalition.

Shift sets a new standard for hardware producers with its holistically sustainable business model

The German hardware-producing SME Shift was founded and is led by the two brothers Carsten and Samuel Waldeck. Sustainability is built into the DNA of the company, which pioneers the development of modular phones, tablets, and PCs. Both the materials—including the way they are produced—and the labour force used to make the devices are sourced with the well-being of humans and the planet in mind. “There is a high potential in thinking circular”, said CEO Samuel Waldeck before the Digital Day event.

Politically, Shift is a strong champion for openness and the right to repair.The family-run SME has committed itself to net zero emissions long before the deadline of 2040 set in the Green Digital Coalition Declaration, and is able to verify this via its participation in a German pilot project to accurately measure emissions throughout the production cycle.

The ICT sector is committed to green change

DIGITAL SME will work together with fellow digital associations GeSI, ETNO, GSMA, and DIGITALEUROPE to coordinate the ICT sector participation in the Coalition. As Shift CEO Samuel Waldeck put it: “If the ICT sector can take a leadership role in the change towards more sustainability, it will have an enormous impact for other sectors. We need a Sustainable Digitalisation!”

Find a detailed list of all SME signatories of the EGDC here. You can re-watch the Digital Day event here. Stay tuned for more information about upcoming initiatives by following us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, or YouTube!