Sustainable IT Charter
The Responsible IT Charter is a public commitment offered by the Institute for Sustainable IT to organisations that want to place their digital practices on a sustainable footing.
It is available in several languages at charter.isit-europe.org.
What it is for
The charter is an entry point. It requires neither prior measurement nor audit. It asks for an explicit, public commitment, from which verifiable actions then follow.
That order is deliberate. An organisation that starts with measurement often stops there. An organisation that commits first holds an internal mandate to act.
Its themes
- Reduce the environmental footprint of equipment and services, acting first on how long they stay in use.
- Build accessibility and inclusion into service design.
- Weigh the social conditions of manufacturing in purchasing decisions.
- Train teams and share practice beyond the organisation's own walls.
What it is not
It is neither a certification nor a label. Nothing is audited and no score is awarded. For a structured assessment the Institute runs a label scored out of 1000; for a measurement of the information system's footprint, the WeNR campaign.
Treating a charter as a label invites a fair charge of greenwashing. Signing states a principle of action, not a result.
