The green future of digital archiving

The advent of digitalization has revolutionized the way we archive and manage data, information, and documents. It is essential to clarify some fundamental distinctions—first and foremost, the difference between electronic archiving, digital preservation, and e-archiving. While these concepts all belong to the realm of digital archiving and are therefore often confused, they are in fact distinct

Electronic Archiving vs. Compliant Digital Preservation

Electronic Archiving

Electronic archiving refers to a method of storing one or more files on any type of digital medium, including a wide range of formats: USB drives, external hard disks, servers, virtual machines, or cloud services such as Google Drive or AWS. This method allows for the storage, organization, and management of documents and data in electronic format.

Thanks to digital archiving, there is no longer a need for physical storage space, which is replaced by a virtual space offering quick access to data and documents through corresponding search keys. In a digital archive, files are typically organized and stored efficiently and effectively, allowing for greater control over documents and enabling their rapid retrieval when needed—while also reducing time, space, and storage and management costs.

Regulatory-compliant digital preservation

It is crucial to distinguish electronic archiving from regulatory-compliant digital preservation, a regulated archiving procedure with specific organizational, functional, and technical characteristics. Italian legislation has a long and complex history in this area, because, in its effort to ensure the memory of information and legal certainty in digital transactions, it has long included the concept of digital preservation of documents.

Regulatory-compliant digital preservation is an orderly safeguarding of digital assets, designed to prevent alterations, damage, theft, or violations of their legal status. The goal is to preserve the structural characteristics of documents, organizing them in a digital archive that ensures their accessibility and unaltered probative value over time, despite technological obsolescence and format changes. It is a set of activities aimed at defining and implementing the overall preservation system policies, as well as managing it in relation to the organizational model.

Starting from the assumption that digital preservation aims to protect the memory of information over time and maintain the unaltered probative value of the document, we understand why this has become essential at the European level as well.

The Role of the eIDAS Regulation and the Definition of e-Archiving

The eIDAS Regulation No. 910/2014 of July 23, 2014 as amended on May 20, 2024, by Regulation (EU) 2024/1183, introduces for the first time the definition of “e-archiving“. It is a trust service focused on the reliability of documents and data, preserving the source of origin and ensuring durability, readability, integrity, confidentiality, and proof of origin. This is achieved through the creation and management of a service and a process that “allows for the reception, preservation, consultation, and deletion of electronic data and documents in order to ensure their durability and readability, as well as to preserve their integrity, confidentiality, and proof of origin throughout the retention period.”

The definition, therefore, includes not only the principle of “reliable storage” (electronic archiving) but also the need for a system capable of preserving the memory of data and documents and their ancillary elements, such as electronic signatures, seals, or time-stamps. This definition aims to ensure interoperability among national archiving services, which have so far been heterogeneous.

E-archiving, electronic archiving, and digital preservation: diffusion and risks

While digital archiving is widespread, regulatory-compliant digital preservation and e-archiving are less commonly adopted—unless there are regulatory obligations—posing the risk of relying on solutions that do not ensure long-term protection of documents.

All of these practices present significant challenges in terms of environmental sustainability, primarily due to the exponential increase in data and documents, and the consequent need for reliable storage in terms of security and robustness. This implies greater energy consumption in data centers and an increase in greenhouse gas emissions. Addressing these issues requires careful consideration and concrete actions to ensure physical or virtual servers and cloud systems can create what, in a broader sense, we can define as a sustainable digital archive.

But what can be done?

The advantages of sustainable digital archiving

Before examining the challenges, I think it is important to recognize the potential benefits of e-archiving understood as a digital archive, in the broader sense of the term defined above.

• Digital archiving, or “e-archiving,” can significantly reduce the use of natural resources such as trees, water, and energy, as well as the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production, transportation, and disposal of paper.
• The management of a more or less efficient and legally compliant digital archive allows for the retrieval and reuse of data or documents over time, and in some cases, it confirms their timestamp and their immutability and authenticity.
• A green e-archiving strategy not only provides environmental sustainability benefits but also cost savings: streamlining processes, accessing government incentives, and obtaining certifications can greatly increase a company’s economic value and undoubtedly serve as a catalyst to enhance its image. The reduction in costs and increased efficiency can then lead to the ability to implement more aggressive business strategies, resulting in revenue growth.

The challenges of environmental sustainability in digital archiving

Despite the potential and obvious benefits, there are numerous challenges in various areas. Let’s examine those related to environmental sustainability.

• Energy consumption of data centers: Data centers, which host stored data and documents, require a lot of energy to operate and cool, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions, especially if the energy comes from non-renewable sources.
• Technological obsolescence and electronic waste: The rapid evolution of technology leads to the accelerated obsolescence of hardware used for storage, generating a growing amount of electronic waste that contains hazardous materials and requires proper disposal and recycling processes.
• Environmental costs of long-term preservation: Long-term preservation requires infrastructure with effective business continuity plans and prolonged energy consumption.

It is essential to consider the environmental costs and find sustainable solutions to ensure the accessibility and integrity of data and documents over time.

Strategies for a green e-archiving

Green cloud storage combines cloud technologies and eco-sustainable practices to reduce environmental impact, based on:

• efficient hardware;

• renewable energy;

• optimized data and document management (for example, avoiding unnecessary redundancies and dispersions) in order to minimize energy consumption.

Practical guide for biocompatible Digital Archiving

Strategies to address sustainability challenges in e-archiving could include:
Optimization of energy efficiency in existing data centers – Renewable energy (solar, wind, and hydroelectric) to power data centers and significantly reduce reliance on fossil fuels; advanced cooling technologies and optimization of energy efficiency.

• New low environmental impact data centers – Maximum energy efficiency with minimal ecological impact through the use of eco-sustainable construction materials; placement in areas with climates favorable to the structure or with easy access to renewable energy sources; use of next-generation natural cooling systems, promoting the development of a more ecological and responsible business model.
• Extension of hardware life cycle or optimization – Proper maintenance; repair and reuse of hardware; adoption of circular economy and reuse models; use of high-efficiency hardware with smart energy management algorithms.
• Virtualization of resources – Multiple virtual machines on the same physical server, reducing the number of servers needed through efficient data and document management, using specific techniques like compression, which reduces the space required for storage and associated energy consumption.
• Reduction of electronic waste production – Recycling and responsible disposal of electronic waste, as well as adopting more durable and repairable hardware.
• Development of low-energy consumption storage solutions – Research and development of new storage technologies that can help reduce energy consumption and the environmental impact of e-archiving.
• Standards and certifications – Adoption of environmental standards and certifications, such as ISO 14001 and ISO 50001, for responsible management of energy resource depletion, carbon emissions, and energy consumption, as well as improving energy efficiency, to certify actual energy consumption reduction and enhance environmental performance in digital archiving.
• Collaboration and sharing of best practices – Sharing of best practices among organizations, research institutions, and technology providers to foster innovation in sustainable e-archiving.

The future of digital archiving

The future of e-archiving is oriented towards sustainable innovation, with:

• New materials for new IT tools and components that are more efficient and sustainable;
• Artificial intelligence to optimize energy-related processes in order to make them more efficient;
• New renewable energy sources and new cooling technologies for greater thermal efficiency.

Towards sustainability: collaboration, innovation, and responsibility

Sustainable e-archiving is achievable through collective commitment and a holistic approach.

By addressing the challenges related to energy consumption, technological obsolescence, and the environmental costs of long-term preservation, we can ensure that e-archiving becomes a truly sustainable practice, benefiting the environment and future generations.

However, a strong collaboration among all stakeholders is necessary: on one side, new processes, new technologies, and new energy sources to support digital archiving; on the other, a conscious choice of a responsible and transparent provider, both in terms of its processes and its level of sustainability.