The green future of digital archiving

The advent of digitalisation has transformed the way we store and manage data, information and documents. It is essential to clarify some fundamental distinctions, first and foremost the distinction between electronic archiving, digital preservation and e-archiving, concepts which, although they all fall within the scope of digital archiving and are therefore often confused, 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 storage medium, including a wide range of options: USB drives, external hard drives, servers and virtual machines, or cloud services such as Google Drive or AWS. This method makes it possible to store, organise and manage documents and data in electronic format.

Digital archiving removes the need for physical space, replacing it with virtual storage that provides rapid access to data and documents using the relevant search keys. In a digital archive, files are generally organised and stored efficiently and effectively, providing greater control over documents and facilitating their rapid retrieval when required, while reducing the time, space and archiving costs associated with their management.

Compliant digital preservation

It is crucial to distinguish electronic archiving from legally compliant digital preservation, a regulated archiving procedure with specific organisational, functional and technical characteristics. Italian legislation in this area has a long and complex history, as, in seeking to ensure the preservation of information and legal certainty of digital transactions, it has long provided for the concept of digital document preservation.

Legally compliant digital preservation is the orderly safekeeping of digital assets, designed to prevent alterations, damage, theft or breaches of their legal status. The aim is to keep the structural characteristics of documents unchanged by organising them in a digital archive that ensures their accessibility and preserves their evidential value over time, despite technological obsolescence and changes in format. It comprises a set of activities aimed at defining and implementing the overall policies of the preservation system, as well as overseeing its management in accordance with the organisational model.

If we start from the premise that digital preservation is intended to preserve the record of information over time and maintain the document’s evidential value unchanged, we can understand why this has also become essential at European level.

The role of the eIDAS Regulation and the definition of e-archiving

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

The definition therefore includes both the principle of ‘reliable storage’ (electronic archiving) and the need for a system capable of preserving the record of data and documents and their associated elements, such as electronic signatures and seals or electronic time stamps. This definition aims to ensure interoperability between national archiving services, which have until now been heterogeneous.

e-archiving

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

While digital archiving is widespread, compliant digital preservation and e-archiving are less widely adopted—except where required by law—with the risk of relying on solutions that do not ensure the long-term protection of documents.

All these practices present significant challenges in terms of environmental sustainability, mainly due to the exponential growth in data and documents, and the resulting need for storage solutions that are reliable in terms of security and resilience. This entails higher energy consumption by data centres and an increase in greenhouse gas emissions. Addressing these issues requires careful consideration and concrete action to provide physical or virtual servers and cloud systems capable of creating what, in a broader sense, we can define as a sustainable digital archive. What can we do?

The benefits of sustainable digital archiving

Before examining the challenges, I believe it is important to recognise the potential benefits of e-archiving as a digital archive, in the broadest 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, transport and disposal of paper.
• Managing a digital archive, with varying levels of performance and legal compliance, makes it possible to retrieve data or documents and reuse them over time, and in some cases confirms their time reference, integrity and authenticity.
• An e-archiving strategy that is also green provides both environmental sustainability benefits and cost savings: streamlining processes, accessing government incentives and obtaining certifications can significantly increase a company’s economic value and undoubtedly help to improve its image. Lower costs and greater efficiency can then make it possible to pursue more aggressive commercial strategies, resulting in revenue growth.

The challenges of environmental sustainability in digital archiving

Despite the clear potential benefits, there are numerous challenges across different areas. We will examine those relating to environmental sustainability.

1. Data centre energy consumption: data centres, which house stored data and documents, require large amounts of energy to operate and remain cool, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions, particularly when the energy comes from non-renewable sources.
2. Technological obsolescence and electronic waste: rapid technological development accelerates the obsolescence of hardware used for data storage, generating increasing amounts of electronic waste that contains hazardous materials and requires appropriate disposal and recycling processes.
3. Environmental costs of long-term storage: long-term storage requires infrastructure supported by effective business continuity plans and sustained energy consumption.

It is essential to consider the environmental costs and identify sustainable solutions to ensure the long-term accessibility and integrity of data and documents.

e-archiving and green

Strategies for green e-archiving

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

• energy-efficient hardware;

• renewable energy;

• optimised management of data and documents (for example, by avoiding unnecessary duplication and fragmentation), in order to minimise energy consumption.

A practical guide to biocompatible digital storage

Strategies for addressing sustainability challenges in e-archiving could include:

• Optimising the energy efficiency of existing data centres – renewable energy (solar, wind and hydroelectric) to power data centres and significantly reduce dependence on fossil fuels; advanced cooling technologies and energy efficiency optimisation.
• New low-environmental-impact data centres – maximum energy efficiency with minimal environmental impact through the use of sustainable construction materials; location in areas with climates suited to the facility or with easy access to renewable energy sources; use of next-generation natural cooling systems, supporting the development of a more environmentally sustainable and responsible business model.
• Extending or optimising the hardware lifecycle – appropriate maintenance; hardware repair and reuse; adoption of circular economy and reuse models; use of high-efficiency hardware with intelligent energy management algorithms.
• Resource virtualisation – multiple virtual machines on the same physical server, reducing the number of servers required through efficient data and document management, using specific techniques such as compression, which reduces the storage space required and the associated energy consumption.
• Reducing electronic waste: responsible recycling and disposal of electronic waste, together with the adoption of more durable and repairable hardware.
• Development of energy-efficient storage solutions: research and development of new storage technologies that can help reduce the energy consumption and environmental impact of electronic archiving.
• Standards and certifications – adoption of environmental standards and certifications, such as ISO 14001 and ISO 50001, to ensure careful management of energy resource depletion, carbon emissions and energy consumption, as well as improvements in energy efficiency, demonstrating an effective reduction in energy consumption and improving our environmental performance in digital archiving.
• Collaboration and sharing of best practices – sharing best practices among organisations, research institutions and technology providers to support innovation in sustainable e-archiving.

The future of digital archiving

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

• new materials for new, more efficient and sustainable IT tools and components;
• artificial intelligence to optimise energy-use processes and make them more efficient;
• new renewable energy sources and new technologies for cooling to improve thermal efficiency.

Towards sustainability: collaboration, innovation and responsibility

Sustainable e-archiving can be achieved through a collective commitment and a holistic approach.

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

However, extensive collaboration is required among all the parties involved: on the one hand, new processes, new technologies and new energy sources to support digital archiving; on the other, an informed choice of a responsible provider that is transparent about both its processes and its level of sustainability.