Software testing environments produce 120% more carbon emissions than production environments.
As the financial services space automates more testing and employs more data-intensive GenAI tools, the danger is the sector will end up not reducing emissions.
This key topic was discussed by Richard Bishop at the QA Financial Forum London (QAFF), which took place this week in the City of London.
Bishop, Lead Quality Engineer at UK’s Lloyds Banking Group, has over 20 years’ experience as a software tester. He has moved from “hands-on” testing to a role advising and mentoring software testers and developers, helping them to get the most from LBG’s investments in software testing and test management tools.
At this week’s conference in London, Bishop explained how Lloyds is rolling out dashboards and metrics to align quality engineering benchmarks with targets for lower CO2 emissions and why he believes we should be talking about “sustainability in projects” rather than “sustainability in testing”.
Following the event, QA Financial sat down with Bishop to go over net zero efforts in the software testing space, and at Lloyds Banking Group specifically.
QA Financial: Benchmarking sustainability and ‘‘green software’’ projects. Why is this ‘a thing’, and how can QA teams go about this?
Richard Bishop: Benchmarking sustainability in software projects is crucial because information technology is a significant contributor to global carbon emissions. The IT sector is responsible for 2-3% of global emissions, which is comparable to the airline industry. As organisations strive to reduce their environmental impact, understanding and improving the sustainability of software development processes becomes essential.
QA teams can start by measuring the carbon footprint of their test environments using tools and dashboards to track energy consumption and emissions. By establishing benchmarks, teams can identify areas for improvement and set realistic targets for reducing their carbon footprint. Implementing energy-efficient practices, optimising resource usage, and using cloud services with lower emissions are all practical steps that QA teams can take. Regularly reviewing and updating these benchmarks ensures continuous improvement and alignment with broader sustainability goals.
QA Financial: As we automate more testing and employ more data-intensive GenAI tools, is there a danger we won’t be reducing emissions? After all, software testing environments produce more carbon emissions than production environments.
Richard Bishop: Yes, there is a significant risk that increased automation and especially the use of data-intensive GenAI tools could lead to higher emissions. Automation and AI require significant computational power, which can increase energy consumption. However, this can be mitigated by optimising the efficiency of these tools and processes.
“The IT sector is responsible for 2-3% of global emissions, which is comparable to the airline industry.”
– Richard Bishop
For example, using energy-efficient hardware, taking a risk-based approach to testing and scheduling tests during off-peak hours can help reduce the overall carbon footprint. Embedding sustainability metrics into the development and testing lifecycle helps to ensure that environmental impact is considered at every stage, balancing the benefits of automation and the use of Gen AI tools with the need to reduce emissions.
QA Financial: Lloyds Banking Group is working to align quality engineering benchmarks with targets for lower CO2 emissions. Can you tell us a bit more about that?
Richard Bishop: Yes, Lloyds is working hard to integrate sustainability into their quality engineering processes. By aligning quality benchmarks with CO2 reduction targets, we hope to create a more sustainable software development lifecycle. This involves setting specific, measurable goals for reducing emissions in test environments and tracking progress through detailed dashboards. The dashboards provide insights into energy consumption and emissions on a per-platform or per-project basis, helping teams to make data-driven decisions to improve sustainability.
QA Financial: Finally, you said earlier we should be talking about “sustainability in projects” rather than “sustainability in testing”. Can you explain that?
Richard Bishop: Focusing on “sustainability in projects” rather than just “sustainability in testing” broadens the scope of environmental responsibility to remove the idea that sustainability is “someone else’s problem”. This helps to ensure that sustainability is considered at every stage of software development, from initial design and development through test stages and then during deployment and maintenance phases. Our dashboards help teams to make more informed decisions about resource allocation, energy consumption, and environmental impact. Ultimately, this leads to more sustainable software products and processes, contributing to Lloyds Banking Group’s overall environmental goals.
Richard Bishop spoke at the QA Financial Forum London on September 11. More information can be found here.
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