Sustainable Data Culture

Research · Focus topic

Data and AI have an ecological footprint of their own, and they can also make sustainability measurable. The WCI studies how organisations, cities and initiatives can build a data culture that is both useful and sustainable.

CompletedModel developmentWorkshop format and learning concept for a sustainable data culture

NowImplementation conceptHow organisations put the model into practice

23–26 Oct 2026BCBT HackathonThe implementation concept is developed further in the theme cluster

Planet & Pixels

Planet & Pixels is the programme for a sustainable data culture. Fujitsu and Fsas Technologies are partners of the programme; CIOnet, the network for CIOs and IT leaders, is a partner of the campaign. More about Planet & Pixels →

Holger Holland and Annette Brunsmeier (Fujitsu) presenting Planet & Pixels at RWTH Aachen — Holger Holland and Annette Brunsmeier (Fujitsu) presenting the project on sustainable data culture and Planet & Pixels at RWTH Aachen, AIP conference, 11 June 2024

From World Cleanup to Digital Cleanup

A cleanup works as a critical impulse: people see the waste, act together and change habits. The model transfers this logic from parks and beaches to servers, shared drives and cloud storage. World Cleanup and Digital Cleanup sit side by side, connected with the circular economy and with the data centres that store what we keep.

Illustration: a planet with World Cleanup, Digital Cleanup, circular economy, data centres and renewable energy

Illustration: a hand holding an e-reader above a pile of books, next to library shelves

Illustration: a wooden bookshelf next to a digital book box in a park

Analogue and digital storage raise the same question: what do we keep, and why? Illustrations (AI-generated): Planet & Pixels

Why it matters: the databerg

Most stored data is never used again. In the Veritas Global Databerg Report (2016; 2,550 respondents in 22 countries) only 15% of stored data was classed as business-critical, 52% as dark data of unknown value and 33% as redundant, obsolete or trivial (ROT). Every unused file still needs storage, energy and cooling. A sustainable data culture therefore links three dimensions: planet, people and profit, measured through CO₂, energy and data.

Illustration: data iceberg with business-critical data above and dark, redundant, obsolete and trivial data below the waterline

Illustration: triangle of CO2, data and energy around planet, people and profit

Illustrations: Planet & Pixels. The iceberg shows the principle; figures from the Veritas report are given in the text.

Illustration: a person in a narrow street with walls of e-mail icons and overflowing bins — E-mail overload · Illustration (AI-generated): Planet & Pixels

The model: 5S Digital

The model adapts the 5S method from the Toyota Production System (Kaizen) to digital work. The University of Helsinki transferred 5S to research data in 2019 (5S-Data); the Thuringian competence network for research data management (TKFDM) described the method for research data management in 2021. Planet & Pixels takes the next step: a cleanup as the starting impulse, then five steps that turn tidying up into a routine.

Diagram: Cleanup as critical impulse leads into the 5S Digital cycle: Sort, Set in order, Shine, Standardize, Sustain

1Sort

Delete what is no longer needed: dark data and ROT data. This frees storage and keeps the focus on critical data.

2Set in order

Structure folders along the real work areas and name files consistently, so files are found quickly.

3Shine

Keep the order through regular reviews. Structures that do not work become visible and can be adjusted.

4Standardize

Turn good practice into shared rules and guidelines; use existing community standards where they exist.

5Sustain

Make the rules a daily routine, until they are followed without a second thought.

The five steps as a comic

Comic language makes the method easy to pass on. The Thuringian competence network for research data management (TKFDM) tells the five steps as a short story from everyday research.

Comic strip on the 5S step Sort — 1 · Sort

Comic strip on the 5S step Set in order — 2 · Set in order

Comic strip on the 5S step Shine — 3 · Shine

Comic strip on the 5S step Standardize — 4 · Standardize

Comic strip on the 5S step Sustain — 5 · Sustain

Comics: Thüringer Kompetenznetzwerk Forschungsdatenmanagement (2021), Die 5S-Methodik im Forschungsdatenmanagement, doi:10.5281/zenodo.4494258, licence CC BY-NC 4.0.

Change from both directions

Lasting change needs both directions: top-down through regulation such as the EU Taxonomy and commitment from top management, and bottom-up through employees who take part, make suggestions and carry the routine.

Illustration: office building with top-down change from EU Taxonomy and top management and bottom-up change from an employee movement

The learning concept

Habits change through practice and repetition, not through plans. The learning concept therefore keeps every step simple, makes progress visible with a habit tracker at the workplace and uses comic language for the workbook, so that the content is easy to pass on. The before-and-after picture sums up the goal: from an overflowing data cupboard to an ordered one that saves time, money and energy and gives AI clean data to work with.

Illustration: overflowing data cupboard before, ordered data cupboard with a relaxed AI after the cleanup

Illustration: a cluttered, dark workplace next to a calm, ordered workplace — The digital workplace before and after · Illustration (AI-generated): Planet & Pixels

The format builds on experience from World Cleanup Day: with “World Cleanup Day macht Schule” and its small waste primer (Müllfibel), pupils prepare, carry out and evaluate their own cleanup. The digital workbook follows the same pattern for the workplace.

A pupil reading the World Cleanup Day macht Schule waste primer

Pupils in World Cleanup Day vests carrying waste bags along a park path

World Cleanup Day macht Schule: the waste primer (Müllfibel) and the cleanup · Photos: Planet & Pixels

Where the topic comes up at the WCI

World Cleanup Day

Scientific support for the movement, including how cleanup data is collected, verified and used.

WCRI

The World Cleanup Responsibility Index needs reliable, comparable data. To the WCRI

LIFE COMPASS

EU LIFE proposal on the climate impact of AI-driven digital systems and on MRV frameworks. To the project

Impact measurement

Methods for measuring and verifying impact in Cluster 4.4. To the cluster

Coming up

OCT 2026

We Create Future Stage #4: Intelligence in the Loop

AI and sustainable data culture at the interface of digital and textile · CIC Berlin

23–26

OCT 2026

Get involved

Companies, cities and researchers who want to work on a sustainable data culture with us can reach us at [email protected].

Sources

Veritas Technologies (2016): Global Databerg Report. Summary: IDM, 18 March 2016.
Thüringer Kompetenznetzwerk Forschungsdatenmanagement (2021): Die 5S-Methodik im Forschungsdatenmanagement, Version 1.0. doi:10.5281/zenodo.4494258.
University of Helsinki: Organizing data folders with the 5S-Data method.