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Last updated 04 March 2026 by Loïc Lannelongue and Anica Araneta
We’re thrilled to have you join the community of research groups and institutions tackling the environmental impacts of their computing activities.
These guidelines will walk you through the process of applying for a Green DiSC certification. Please take the time to review this document before you start filling out the submission template.
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Useful Contacts and Links
- Contact the Green DiSC Team at info@greendisc.org
- Visit the webpage for announcements: https://www.software.ac.uk/GreenDiSC
- Green DiSC questions? Join the online ESCS forum: https://forum.escs-community.org
- Sign up for the newsletter: https://zcmp.eu/mwMp
You can apply for Green DiSC either as a central team, research group, or research computing infrastructure (RCI) team. If you’re certain about which application you should be making, great! Feel free to proceed to the next section.
If you’re unsure about which one to do, our general rule of thumb is this: if you run compute or do research yourself/within your team, then you should be certified as a research group (this is the default level for Green DiSC). Meanwhile, if your team has more of a facilitator role, enabling and supporting groups doing research and/or computation, you should apply as a central team. But if your team provides a service managing HPC infrastructure to support research done by other groups in your institution, you should apply as an RCI team.
We understand that many institutions can have gray areas so if you are still unsure about this, you can email us at info@greendisc.org and we can help.
- In your institution folder, rename folders and files to replace
<institution’s name>by the actual name. This is to ensure that the scope and ownership of each folder is clear. - In the
Shared resourcesfolder, complete the information document (Key information for Green DiSC at institution X) with your contact details, and anything else that you may find useful.
After we’ve added you to the workspace for your team, we will let you create subfolders for each group joining from your institution moving forward (this way you don’t have to wait on us!). Individual groups should enrol nonetheless (process below).
If the group is already doing Green DiSC, and you just want to attach them to your institution, email us! Otherwise:
- Add them to the spreadsheet
List of enrolled groups. - Have them complete the onboarding form here (and tell them to indicate that they are connected to you): https://forms.gle/PBruBq5Z7xNT665C8
- (This step is a bit clunky because for some absurd reason Google Drive doesn’t let you simply duplicate a folder… you may want to download the template folder and just reupload it as many times as needed) Create a folder similar to
GX-Demo group, rename the new folderG<number>-<group name>(e.g.G1-John Doe’s lab), and add to it these two documents (same as the demo folder):Link to general guidelines (group)Key information for Green DiSC in <group's name>
- Give editing permissions to the group’s representative to this new folder (
⚠️ groups shouldn’t have access to your whole institution folder, see below). - Give viewing permissions to the group’s representative to the folder
Shared resources for <institution's name>.
You can manage access to a particular folder by doing right click → share → share → add their email address.
You are free to organise access as you see fit, and you are responsible for restricting access to subfolders appropriately. Here are some recommendations:
- Only the central team should have access to the entire institution’s Green DiSC space.
- Individual groups should have viewing access to the
Shared resources for <institution's name>. - Individual groups should have editing access to their own group’s folder.
We’re glad that your institution is taking the first steps towards more environmentally sustainable digital computing.
The objective of the application phase for either Bronze, Silver, or Gold is to document the activities and initiatives that your team has done and is doing to tackle the environmental impact of computing activities. Using the Green DiSC criteria as a roadmap, identify the initiatives, policies, processes, and inventory hardware, data resources, computing pipelines, and training materials to understand and show where your team is currently and where there is still room for improvement.
Important
Make sure to share your answers with all the groups enrolled in your institution so that they can use these to facilitate their application (this way they can focus on what is within their control).
The best place for any questions about the criteria, or how to implement them, is the Green DiSC category in the ESCS forum. And why not have a look in case you can answer questions from others?
The Criteria and Submission Template has three sections to fill up: the cover page, the tracker, and the submission template for each criterion. The cover letter summarises key information about the applicant which you should complete before submitting your application. The tracker allows you to monitor the status of each criterion as you and your team accomplish the criteria over a period of time, as well as allow you to assign different parts of the application to members of your team. Filling this up is completely optional, but it may help you track your progress if you take long breaks between criteria. Finally, the criteria and submission template - the main bulk of this document - will contain your responses and supporting evidence for the criteria.
Tip
Watch out for this symbol! 📣 If you see this symbol on a criterion, this means that research groups from your institution that you work with can reach out to you (if they have or are also applying to Green DiSC) about the evidence that you provide and what additional information you can share to help facilitate their application as a group.
When filling out the responses, provide clear and complete but succinct answers that show whether you’ve achieved the criteria and how you’ve done so. Provide supporting evidence that directly and explicitly demonstrates the criterion. Make sure files can be opened by others and links are accessible, otherwise provide screenshots instead. Avoid sharing or linking to general documents and websites where it is unclear how the information supports the relevant criterion. When possible, highlight explicit sections of supporting evidence to strengthen your response and make reviewing easier. If any information is sensitive or confidential, you may anonymise or black out these parts in documents.
Make sure to take note of the next deadline for submission (check the webpage for updates!). When you’re ready to submit, save this file as a .docx file and email it to us with your supporting documents at info@greendisc.org. Once we receive it, expect an acknowledgement email confirming your submission.
After the deadline, we will allocate peer reviewers for your application and give everyone a few weeks to complete the reviews. Then we will give you sufficient time to respond to your reviewers’ comments and make required adjustments (if any), and the final outcome will be communicated to you around 10 weeks after the deadline, with certificates awarded shortly after.
Teams are expected to apply for recertification 2 years after their last audit. The recertification process will be of course lighter touch, mostly to check that the actions are still in place and align with updated criteria. The Green DiSC team will be publishing guidelines on the recertification process in the coming months.