IDED (formerly known as SDIA) announces the launch of the Open Data Hub — a central resource to enhance transparency, trust, and data availability. It aims to support research, industry, and society in building a sustainable digital economy.

Sustainability Needs Data

From the European Green Deal to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the pressure to make sustainability a core business strategy has never been greater. Consumers increasingly prioritize sustainable offerings, while studies show that sustainability practices reduce costs and enhance competitiveness. The basis for this is transparency — and transparency requires reliable data.

This is where the digital sector's central challenge lies: the lack of reliable, real-time data from data centers, connected devices, and the entire digital value chain that can be used to assess environmental impacts and sustainability goals. The Open Data Hub aims to fill this gap.

What is the Open Data Hub?

The Open Data Hub is a publicly accessible portal that provides standardized, anonymized, and aggregated datasets. Inspired by established platforms in other sectors — such as ENTSO-E in the energy sector, electricityMap, or Climate TRACE — it enables industry-wide reporting without disclosing sensitive business information.

The hub will launch in 2022 as a public beta. Initially, the focus will be on data centers — where the virtual world meets the physical. In the long term, it is designed for all actors in the digital value chain.

All lifecycle metrics from the SDIA Roadmap are captured: emissions, energy consumption, electronic waste, resource usage, environmental pollution, embedded carbon from server hardware, and more. This results in Server-Idle-Coefficient (SIC) and Datacenter-Idle-Coefficient (DIC) values, as well as CO₂ equivalent calculations for data center operators, IT hardware suppliers, network and fiber providers, regulators, and researchers worldwide — laying the foundation for a digital CO₂ footprint that encompasses the entire value chain.

Added Value for All Involved

• Voluntary Transparency, leveraging aggregated data to protect critical business information — setting a new standard for regulators and policymakers.

• New Industry Benchmarks based on performance and energy efficiency data.

• Industry-Wide Research Promotion through reliable data for science and development.

• A Comprehensive Understanding of IT Infrastructure — a potential competitive advantage that turns a challenge into an opportunity.

• Innovation Drivers through new business models based on increased utilization, cost reduction, and efficiency gains.

• Access to New Products and Services developed based on the Open Data Hub.

For launch partners, we are also planning an official transparency certificate (similar to established industry standards like the EPEAT ecolabel), automated compliance tools, reporting dashboards, and support for third-party integrations.

Become a Launch Partner

As a launch partner, you will automatically become a leader in transparency in your market — and actively shape the development of the Open Data Hub. You enhance your customers' trust, open up sustainability-oriented markets, and contribute to evidence-based policy. If you want to learn more or become a launch partner, contact us.