On September 25, 2015, 193 countries at the UN General Assembly adopted the 2030 Development Agenda. This agenda outlined 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which show areas of action for a sustainable and better future for humankind. As a dedicated supporter of the SDGs, HPI, in its role as a leading research and educational institution, is committed to achieving these goals with its “clean-IT-initiative.”

The HPI bundles its research and teaching activities in the clean IT initiative. In this way, HPI contributes to the development of climate-friendly digital solutions and AI applications through first-class training offers, and the sustainable and energy-efficient use of IT systems and research contributions. These solutions support all areas of social and economic life, especially health, sustainable mobility and the promotion of equality.

With its focus on excellent research in the field of digital engineering and the design thinking approach,  HPI promotes the sustainable design of digital transformation. Because what is researched and taught in IT today determines the sustainability of the IT systems that we will use tomorrow!

“With the start of a clean-IT-initiative we want to send a signal, internally and externally that sparks increasing awareness for the topic of sustainability in the development and use of innovative IT technology.”

_{HPI director Professor Christoph Meinel at the World Economic Forum in Davos}

An overview of all projects which HPI contributes to as part of the SDGs, for example: the more energy-efficient use of AI algorithms, promoting women in STEM subjects, or switching to 100 percent green electricity, can be found here ⇒ www.hpi.de/sdgs

The topic of sustainability is also the focus of the Industry 4.0 conference on February 20, 2020. This year's conference, which focuses on “Smart Energy - Energy Digital Optimized,” deals with the question of what potential the digital transformation offers to contribute to better energy efficiency.

In a special episode of the HPI knowledge podcast „Neuland,“ Prof. Christoph Meinel, Director of the Hasso Plattner Institute, and Ann Rosenberg, Senior Vice President and Global Head of SAP Next-Gen, talk about the contribution of new digital technologies to realizing the SDGs.

The new episode "Role of the SDGs in Digital Transformation" can be heard here ⇒ https://podcast.hpi.