GTSW Event: Greener AI and Embedding Sustainability in the Digital Enterprise

Join Green Tech South West for a special one to round off the year for GTSW, this session will be their 50th event!🥳

When: Thursday, December 4th, 6:00pm to 8:00pm

Where: Scott Logic, 1st Floor, 1 Redcliff Street, Redcliffe, Bristol, BS1 6NP

RSVP on meetup HERE.

They’re delighted to be welcoming Oliver Cronk and James Camilleri (Scott Logic) and Joanne Thurlow (Bristol Waste) to GTSW.

‘Greener AI: What Matters, What Helps, and What We Still Don’t Know’

A Talk on the Environmental Impact of Large Language Models and AI Systems.

As AI adoption accelerates, so do concerns about its environmental footprint. This session explores the sustainability challenges and opportunities posed by large language models (LLMs), drawing from a wide-ranging literature review of academic and industry sources.

Attendees will gain insights into the lifecycle emissions of AI, from energy-intensive training to the often-overlooked impact of inference at scale. The talk discusses key frameworks used by researchers to assess the impact of LLMs, and the tools they used for measuring AI’s footprint.

Beyond the numbers, the session highlights practical strategies for “Green AI and critical challenges faced by the industry.

Whether you’re a technologist, policymaker, or sustainability advocate, this talk will equip you with a balanced, evidence-based understanding of AI’s environmental impact, and what we can do about it.

About Oliver

Oliver Cronk is the Technology Director at Scott Logic, leading on emerging and sustainable tech R&D. He also runs a podcast and global architect community called Architect Tomorrow. Oliver has extensive experience in a variety of systems engineering, architecture and strategy roles across software, energy, government, telecoms, banking and professional services. Oliver spent 4 years working at an Environmental consultancy working with UK and European government agencies. Oliver is leading on the Tech Carbon Standard – an open source approach to reduce ICT impact and InferESG – an AI Workflow Agent platform for Sustainability teams.

About James

James Camilleri is a Lead Software Developer at Scott Logic, where he designs and delivers large-scale .NET systems for enterprise clients and leads research teams into sustainable software engineering. With over fifteen years’ experience across fintech, authentication, and identity management, he has led multi-disciplinary teams across the UK, Europe, and India. James contributed to the Tech Carbon Standard , co-authored a guide to Agile retrospectives for Scott Logic’s Practitioner’s Guides and is a contributor to the Scott Logic Blog. His current focus combines technical architecture with sustainability research to help organisations make greener, data-driven technology decisions.

From Footprint to Framework: Embedding Sustainability into the Digital Enterprise

How can technology become a force for sustainability rather than a strain on the planet?

In this talk, Joanne Thurlow, Head of IT & Data at Bristol Waste and Executive Director of The ESG Institute (.org), explores how IT leaders can transform their organizations from digital consumers into sustainable digital innovators.

Drawing on real-world experience from Bristol Waste’s journey to embed sustainability into enterprise IT, Joanne highlights the hidden environmental footprint of technology — from legacy systems and cloud emissions to hardware reuse and data strategies — and reveals the pivotal role IT plays in achieving ESG goals.

She shares practical insights on how digital transformation, sustainability, and emerging technologies can converge to create measurable impact, while introducing The ESG Institute’s mission to accelerate awareness, learning, and advisory support across the tech sector.

About Joanne

Joanne Thurlow is Head of IT & Data at Bristol Waste and Executive Director of The ESG Institute (.org), where she champions the integration of sustainability into digital transformation. With a global background leading technology programs across energy, waste, and industrial sectors, Jo focuses on embedding ESG principles into IT strategy, data, and operations.

She is passionate about turning complex transformation challenges into modular, measurable, and manageable solutions — helping organizations move from ambition to action. A frequent keynote speaker and advocate for sustainable technology, Joanne empowers IT and business leaders to harness digital innovation as a catalyst for positive environmental impact.

*** Schedule
🔓 18.00 – Scott Logic doors open for in-person attendees
👋 18.30 – Event welcome from organisers Ellen and Mike
📢 18.40 – 60 second intros – a chance for in-person and online attendees to introduce themselves, ask for help or share something interesting
💚 18.50 – Oliver & James (Scott Logic)
💚 19.15 – Joanne (Bristol Waste)
❓ 19.35 – Q&A
🗓️ 19.50 – Round-up and close
20.00 – In person attendees can continue networking at LeftHanded Giant

Event will be recorded and available with slides shortly after.
This event is made possible by kind sponsorship from:

ADLIB Recruitment

Bristol Digital Futures Institute