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Toward a Sustainable Software Architecture Community: Evaluating ICSA's Environmental Impact

Mahyar T. Moghaddam, Mina Alipour, Torben Worm, Mikkel Baun Kjærgaard

Abstract

Generative AI (GenAI) tools are increasingly integrated into software architecture research, yet the environmental impact of their computational usage remains largely undocumented. This study presents the first systematic audit of the carbon footprint of both the digital footprint from GenAI usage in research papers, and the traditional footprint from conference activities within the context of the IEEE International Conference on Software Architecture (ICSA). We report two separate carbon inventories relevant to the software architecture research community: i) an exploratory estimate of the footprint of GenAI inference usage associated with accepted papers within a research-artifact boundary, and ii) the conference attendance and operations footprint of ICSA 2025 (travel, accommodation, catering, venue energy, and materials) within the conference time boundary. These two inventories, with different system boundaries and completeness, support transparency and community reflection. We discuss implications for sustainable software architecture, including recommendations for transparency, greener conference planning, and improved energy efficiency in GenAI operations. Our work supports a more climate-conscious research culture within the ICSA community and beyond

Toward a Sustainable Software Architecture Community: Evaluating ICSA's Environmental Impact

Abstract

Generative AI (GenAI) tools are increasingly integrated into software architecture research, yet the environmental impact of their computational usage remains largely undocumented. This study presents the first systematic audit of the carbon footprint of both the digital footprint from GenAI usage in research papers, and the traditional footprint from conference activities within the context of the IEEE International Conference on Software Architecture (ICSA). We report two separate carbon inventories relevant to the software architecture research community: i) an exploratory estimate of the footprint of GenAI inference usage associated with accepted papers within a research-artifact boundary, and ii) the conference attendance and operations footprint of ICSA 2025 (travel, accommodation, catering, venue energy, and materials) within the conference time boundary. These two inventories, with different system boundaries and completeness, support transparency and community reflection. We discuss implications for sustainable software architecture, including recommendations for transparency, greener conference planning, and improved energy efficiency in GenAI operations. Our work supports a more climate-conscious research culture within the ICSA community and beyond

Paper Structure

This paper contains 29 sections, 3 equations, 3 figures.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Background
  3. GenAI in Software Architecture: its Good and Bad
  4. Carbon Cost of GenAI
  5. Measuring Sustainability of Events
  6. Research Methodology
  7. Data Collection and Scope
  8. Detecting GenAI Usage
  9. Estimating Energy and Emissions for GenAI Inference
  10. Traditional Conference Emissions
  11. Transportation
  12. Accommodation
  13. Venue Energy
  14. Catering
  15. Materials and Waste
  16. ...and 14 more sections

Figures (3)

  • Figure 1: Net-zero framing for the ICSA community.
  • Figure 2: Research methodology.
  • Figure 3: The comparison of worldwide regions participants (full conference) emissions (kg CO$_2$eq) and the share of various emission contributors for each region. The smaller chart shows the percentage of emissions by region, indicating that, for local and neighboring countries, participants' lodging and catering dominate, whereas for others, travel accounts for the largest share.