Addressing Sustainability-IN Software Challenges
Coral Calero, Félix O. García, Gabriel Alberto García-Mireles, M. Ángeles Moraga, Aurora Vizcaíno
TL;DR
The paper addresses the challenge of operationalizing software sustainability from the IN perspective across economic, human, and environmental dimensions. It synthesizes existing literature, defines the three Sustainability-IN dimensions, and identifies gaps—particularly the under-exploration of economic and human facets and the dominance of environmental concerns. It proposes concrete future directions, including harmonized vocabulary, holistic assessment frameworks, and Enterprise Architecture–driven strategies (e.g., GREAN, EIRA) to guide sustainable software enterprises. The contribution is a structured roadmap for the software engineering community to pursue sustainable software products and organizations, aligned with SDGs and responsible management of resources, people, and energy. This work aims to catalyze cross-disciplinary collaboration and practical actions that translate sustainability concepts into software practice and governance.
Abstract
In this position paper we address the Software Sustainability from the IN perspective, so that the Software Engineering (SE) community is aware of the need to contribute towards sustainable software companies, which need to adopt a holistic approach to sustainability considering all its dimensions (human, economic and environmental). A series of important challenges to be considered in the coming years are presented, in order that advances in involved SE communities on the subject can be harmonised and used to contribute more effectively to this field of great interest and impact on society.