Green by Design: A Methodology for Digital Experience Carbon-Aware Enterprise Architecture (EA)
Abstract
As a result of this rapid pace of digital enterprise transformation (powered by AI, distributed cloud, and customer-facing digital experience platforms), there is now a serious corporate sustainability paradox: energy use and Scope 3 carbon emissions. There are technical solutions for instance local Green AI, carbon-conscious resource management and automatic emission monitoring, but very fragmented, limited to departmental pockets of IT where there is no macro level business blueprint. That leaves business leaders constantly caught in the dilemma of introducing high level concepts of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) into digital systems. To fill this execution gap, this study suggests a complete and socio-technical framework for Digital Experience Carbon-Aware Enterprise Architecture, called Green by Design. The framework is cantered on Design Science Research (DSR) paradigm and systematic themed analysis of the existing practices in the field of management information systems and combines the concepts of corporate governance, transparency of data, optimization of assets and perpetual life cycle verification into an actionable corporate strategy. The method is based on organizational paradigms (Industry 5.0 philosophy, Social Technological Systems Theory and Value Sensitive Design (VSD)), and on operational tools (Digital Twins and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) enabled carbon accounting). The results show that the multi-layered approach to embedding carbon accounting into enterprise architecture can cut data infrastructure carbon footprints by up to 56% and optimise capital expenditure and cloud asset allocation. Moreover, the use of intelligent carbon systems into data validated systems further improves the accuracy of corporate reporting and environmental reporting beyond 90%, mitigating the risk of legal compliance and helping to avoid “greenwashing” of brands. This is a blueprint for the C-suite, Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and sustainability directors to help their companies move forward on the technological side of the business to support sustainability and long-term value for their stakeholders.