Demand is accelerating
Architecture choices increasingly influence energy demand, infrastructure scale and hardware turnover.
An open method for sustainable digital decisions
Understand the impact before you choose the architecture.
SDAF helps teams frame a consequential digital decision, compare functionally equivalent options across energy, carbon, lifecycle, circularity and cost, and turn the evidence into a transparent recommendation.
Open, vendor-neutral and designed to complement—not replace—established standards and specialist methods.
The vision
Environmental impact should be a visible, evidence-backed and accountable part of every digital architecture decision.
- Open framework
- Public methodology
- Zenodo publication
- DOI registered
- Evidence-qualified
- Lifecycle-oriented
Why this matters now
Digital infrastructure is expanding faster than its consequences are being made visible.
AI, cloud platforms and data-intensive services are increasing demand for compute, energy, water and hardware. At the same time, organizations face greater scrutiny over environmental claims, investment choices and supply-chain impacts.
Evidence is under scrutiny
Decision owners need to distinguish measured data from supplier claims, benchmarks, assumptions and unknowns.
Timing changes the outcome
The best opportunity to avoid impact is before architecture, procurement and lifecycle choices become difficult to reverse.
What SDAF means
Sustainable Digital Architecture Framework
SDAF is an open, vendor-neutral reference framework for making evidence-based, transparent and defensible sustainability decisions about digital systems.
Why it exists
Architecture, procurement and lifecycle decisions can lock in environmental consequences long before they appear in a sustainability report. SDAF brings those consequences into the decision while there is still time to change the outcome.
What it does
It provides a structured, repeatable route from requirements and comparable evidence to a traceable, reviewable decision. Sustainability becomes part of architecture, procurement and lifecycle choices—not only something reported afterwards.
Who it is for
Leaders, architects, sustainability and finance teams, procurement, engineering, operations, risk, governance and assurance can use the same decision structure across projects, services, portfolios and supply chains.
What it is not
SDAF does not prescribe a technology, supplier or calculation tool. It does not replace legislation, standards, certification schemes or specialist methods; it helps teams apply them coherently within a decision.
Who uses SDAF
One decision structure, viewed through different responsibilities.
SDAF gives technical, sustainability, commercial and governance stakeholders a shared basis for understanding the same decision.
Compare strategic technology options and make sustainability part of architecture governance.
Embed functional equivalence, boundaries and environmental criteria while solutions can still change.
Improve evidence quality, methodological consistency and the traceability of environmental claims.
Evaluate suppliers, acquisition routes, lifecycle effects, cost and retention choices consistently.
Understand trade-offs, uncertainty and approval conditions before committing investment.
Enterprise integration
Keep the governance you already have. Make sustainability visible within it.
SDAF does not require sustainability to initiate a decision or create a parallel approval process. It brings environmental, financial, lifecycle and evidence consequences into the forums where application, architecture, cost, procurement and asset decisions already happen.
Adoption principle
Sustainability Visibility Over Sustainability Priority
Sustainability does not need to be the primary decision driver. It does need to remain visible, evidence-backed and reviewable throughout the decision.
Application portfolio management
Architecture governance
FinOps
Procurement
Asset lifecycle management
SDAF makes visibleEnvironmental · Financial · Lifecycle · Evidence
Governance outcomeA transparent, reviewable recommendation
Why SDAF is different
An evidence-based decision architecture for sustainable digital outcomes.
SDAF complements accounting and reporting approaches by bringing comparable evidence into the architecture decision itself.
| A common sustainability assessment | SDAF |
|---|---|
| Often applied after decisions | Informs decisions before impacts are locked in |
| Individual environmental metrics | Energy, carbon, lifecycle, circularity and cost |
| Comparability may be unclear | Functional equivalence and boundaries defined first |
| Assumptions can disappear into results | Evidence, assumptions, uncertainty and confidence remain visible |
| Point-in-time recommendation | Governed path from decision framing to assurance |
Start with the method
SDAF is a decision method—not just a calculator.
It makes the logic behind a sustainability claim visible: what is being compared, what is inside the boundary, which evidence supports the result and how uncertainty affects confidence.
Define a fair comparison
State the intended outcome, functional unit, reference flow, system boundary and equivalent service before comparing options.
Comparable by designMeasure what changes
Consider operational energy, carbon, lifecycle effects, circularity and cost across the parts of the system that the decision can influence.
Lifecycle visibilityMake a defensible decision
Keep actual data, derived values, benchmarks, assumptions and unknowns distinct so the result carries an honest level of confidence.
Evidence before claimsThe framework
The method moves through five governed phases.
A beginner can follow the sequence from the initial question to an assured recommendation. Experienced practitioners can go deeper into the eight-part framework, evidence trail and methodological controls.
Starting point: a decision that needs to be madeOutcome: a defensible recommendation
- 01
Orient
Define the decision, purpose, ownership and sustainability intent.
- 02
Baseline
Set the functional unit, boundaries, reference flow and equivalent service.
- 03
Evaluate
Compare energy, carbon, lifecycle, circularity and value using traceable inputs.
- 04
Architect
Translate the evidence into an owned technical recommendation and conditions.
- 05
Assure
Challenge confidence, sensitivity, completeness and reproducibility before release.
MethodParts I–V
Foundations
Purpose, principles, terminology, applicability and normative structure.
Lifecycle
The controlled five-phase assessment lifecycle from Orient to Assure.
Measurement
Boundaries, evidence quality, methods, uncertainty, confidence and traceability.
Decision-Making
Evidence sufficiency, stability and the defensible decision record.
Lifecycle & Circularity
Lifecycle burdens and circularity benefits without double counting.
Integrity & controlPart VI
Governance & Assurance
Oversight, independence, conformance and assurance requirements.
Adoption & exchangeParts VII–VIII
Enterprise Operationalization
Roles, systems, controls, capability and operating cadence.
Ecosystem Interoperability
Controlled evidence exchange across organizations and methods.
From framework to assessment
SDAF explains the method. SDAF Studio guides the assessment.
The website introduces the purpose, principles and evidence behind SDAF. Studio is the separate workspace for applying them and building a reviewable decision record.
Use its six-step workflow for early solution evaluation or detailed estate comparisons across multiple sites, DR capacity, active and idle instances, product carbon footprints, acquisition choices, hardware retention, energy, Scope 2, TCO and simple ROI.
- Inventory CSV/JSON and PCF file support
- Official grid-factor source register
- Actual, derived, benchmark, assumed and unknown classifications
- Proposal and final implementation reports
Assessment data is saved in your browser. No additional account or software licence is required.
S SDAF StudioIllustrative assessment
Frame the decisionEstablish the baselineCompare the optionsSet sites & factorsValidate the evidenceDevelop recommendation
Live comparison
Multi-site server refresh
Energy−41%
Scope 2 LB−38%
TCO−16%
Primary siteMeasured
DR idle estateAssumed
Grid factorBenchmark
The thinking behind SDAF
Explore why the framework exists, the principles behind it and the perspective of its founder.
About SDAFWhy trust SDAF
Open enough to inspect. Structured enough to challenge.
SDAF does not ask users to accept a hidden score. The method, source material, evidence classifications, assumptions and release history can be reviewed independently.
Open methodology
The complete repository, supporting documents, diagrams and change history are available for review.
Browse GitHubFixed Version 1.0 release
Zenodo provides the authoritative publication record and a persistent DOI for citation.
Open ZenodoAligned where governed
GHG Protocol Scope 2 and relevant ISO lifecycle, carbon, PUE and circularity standards inform the applicable methods.
Confidence stays visible
Actual, derived, benchmark, assumed and missing evidence remain distinct. Incomplete required evidence cannot support a conclusive result.
Read & download
Start with the document that fits your role.
Use the framework documents for the method and the Enterprise Integration Playbook for organizational adoption. Zenodo provides the persistent, citable publication records; GitHub carries the open release history and review discussion.
For enterprise adoption
Enterprise Integration Playbook
Embed SDAF into APM, architecture governance, FinOps, procurement and lifecycle decisions.
Open the citable publication For sponsors and reviewersPlaybook Executive Summary
The integration proposition, operating model, decision gates, roles and pilot approach in a concise briefing.
Open the public review release For leadersExecutive Summary
Purpose, audience, application and organizational value.
Read on GitHub Five-minute orientationOne-Page Overview
A concise introduction to SDAF and its principal components.
Read on GitHub For first-time usersQuick Start Guide
Practical guidance for conducting a first SDAF assessment.
Start here Choose a pathwayReader’s Guide
Navigation routes for different roles, needs and interests.
Find your route Visual briefingIntroducing SDAF v1.0
A presentation-led overview for briefings and discussions.
View briefing Authoritative releaseComplete framework
The fixed, citable Version 1.0 publication and full framework.
Open on ZenodoOpen framework · shared progress
Help shape SDAF.
SDAF is intended to grow through practical use, constructive challenge and shared learning. If you apply it, find a gap, want to run a pilot, contribute evidence or explore standards alignment, your perspective is welcome.