Expanding CFIT’s Scope to Digital Infrastructure
Digital infrastructure is rapidly becoming the layer where economic priorities, public values and procurement decisions converge. At the same time, it remains one of the least visible and least coordinated domains for public action. Since its launch, the Circular & Fair ICT (CFIT) Pact has focused on workplace ICT as a practical starting point for sustainable procurement. This foundation remains strong. Recognising the pace of digitalisation, CFIT participants have seen the need to look beyond devices to the systems behind them, leading to a scope extension of the Pact.
This extended scope reflects where digital services are actually produced and where their impacts materialise. Data centres, cloud services, software and artificial intelligence form the environment in which resources are consumed, supply chains intersect and value is created. In collaboration with Max Schulze from CFIT's supporting organization Leitmotiv, CFIT has worked to understand this environment as a system rather than a set of separate components. A visual developed through this work traces the connections from inputs such as energy, water and raw materials, through infrastructure and digital resources, to the services organisations depend on. It underlines that procurement decisions are not isolated acts, but interventions in a wider system with tangible downstream effects.
Adopting this perspective is becoming increasingly important. Public organisations are operating in a landscape where sustainability objectives sit alongside demands for cost efficiency, resilience, risk management and greater transparency in digital supply chains. These considerations are not separate tracks; they converge within digital infrastructure, influencing how procurement is defined and carried out.
Within CFIT, this has led to a shift from exploration to implementation. Participants are building a shared understanding of digital infrastructure and translating this into practical procurement guidance and tools. At the same time, they are preparing for more coordinated engagement with market actors, recognising that clearer and more aligned demand can help steer the market. This work feeds into the CFIT Recommendations, which bring together existing practices into a more consistent and usable framework, supporting organisations in strengthening their approach while acting in greater alignment with one another.
An important milestone in this process will be the annual CFIT meeting in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in June. CFIT participants will use this moment to further develop the Recommendations and define priorities for the next phase, followed by engagement with stakeholders and market parties later in the year. Step by step, this positions public organisations not only as individual buyers, but as collective actors with the ability to shape the direction of digital infrastructure.
This is a timely moment for public organisations to explore joining CFIT and contribute to this next phase of work. Organisations interested in participating are encouraged to get in touch with the CFIT Secretariat to learn more about how to engage and collaborate.
