Efforts towards environmental protection, sustainability and energy efficiency are supported by the use of environmental management systems. These require a variety of heterogeneous data in order to fulfil the planning, management and control of environmental tasks. Such data can be stored and processed in a target-orientated manner primarily by company environmental information systems (BUIS). The performance of currently implemented BUIS does not always fulfil the requirements of the sustainability debate. IT has a decisive role to play in sustainable corporate development. The topic of digitalisation will play a decisive role here. BUIS must increasingly focus on product development as part of environmentally integrated production and strategic decision-making. BUIS are more powerful than their widespread use today shows, for example as an end-of-pipe solution for the subsequent documentation of environmental key figures or as an instrument for establishing legal compliance. It is becoming increasingly important to recognise cause-and-effect relationships in good time in order to assess and proactively counteract the environmental impact of one's own actions within the company (but also beyond company boundaries) from an abstract point of view. Significant potential for preventive environmental protection will otherwise remain unutilised.

The workshop is intended as a forum for providing information on the current status of corporate environmental information systems and for presenting new ideas and solutions and discussing them intensively in a panel of experts from science and practice. Of course, work reports that also address partial results and, above all, unresolved problems are also very welcome.

In addition to the elements of a classic symposium, the event will focus in particular on the exchange between science and practice through integrated workshops.

The event will focus on the following topics:

1. Green IT

This topic area focuses on the resource-saving use and semantic modelling of (corporate) ICT infrastructures with the aim of using energy more efficiently through software and hardware optimisation.

2. material flow management

This subject area focuses on the visual preparation of material and life cycle assessments, indicator systems for life cycle assessment and eco-controlling, simulation with a focus on incomplete or incorrect data.

3. green production

The focus is on business process management (green business process management) and its automation, the creation of transparency for internal management, quality management in the processes and the necessary key figures for decision support.

4. green logistics

The focus is on creating environmentally friendly and resource-efficient logistics processes. In particular, the focus will be on sustainable mobility, the development of key performance indicator systems for control and optimisation and the management of hazards, e.g. in the transport sector. The management of sustainable supply chains will also be considered.

5. IT-supported sustainability management and communication

Sustainability in corporate management, in internal and external communication, e.g. sustainability reporting and dialogue, the use of social media, the development of indicators for sustainable tourism as well as case studies and best practices are a further topic area of the event.

6. green software

Sustainable information management with green business intelligence and green IS is an important pillar of this topic area. (Operational) environmental information systems serve as a data basis for the preparation of key figures and are of particular importance in internal management as decision support.

7. material efficiency & recycling

Key issues for increasing material efficiency and conserving resources are another focus of the event. One focus is on strategic resources and the reuse and recycling of materials as a contribution to the sustainable use of resources.

8. sustainable energy supply

The focus here is on issues relating to the design of an affordable, reliable and sustainable future in the energy sector with low greenhouse gas emissions and using energy sources and technologies for use in an operational context.

9. AI and BUIS

Possibilities for the application of data science and AI against the background of operational environmental informatics are to be discussed. Particular attention could be paid, for example, to the extraction of environmentally relevant information from unstructured data sources.

10. open data in the context of corporate environmental information systems

Public data as a basis for sustainability, open data as an instrument of democratic participation (citizen participation), automated specialist processes for environmental monitoring and reporting, as well as analyses of large amounts of data.

11. case studies/teaching concepts for teaching sustainability

The possibility of presenting case studies and teaching concepts (including digital formats, of course) for teaching sustainability in relation to corporate environmental information systems should be presented and discussed here. How can teaching be organised in order to impart the necessary technologies and methods to students in a practical way?

Submissions
-Contributions should not exceed 8-10 pages and should be written in German or English. Short papers comprise up to 4-6 pages.
The LNI format templates of the GI are to be used: gi.de/lni
-The contributions will be published in the series "Lecture Notes in Informatics". (e.g. indexed by Web of Science)

The review process takes place in a combined peer-reviewing process and with the help of external experts. We cordially invite you to actively contribute your ideas to an exchange on current and future research questions in environmental informatics. We also expressly welcome contributions from researchers and practitioners who have not yet published in the field of environmental informatics and whose topics can be located in the interdisciplinary approach of the workshop. The active participation of young researchers would be desirable.

Important dates

17.05.2021: Submission deadline for paper/workshop contributions / Deadline Call for Papers - Submission Deadline for Abstracts / Papers

30.06.2021: Camery ready Submission deadline for LNI contributions / Deadline Full Paper Submission

31.07.2021: Deadline Input Programmheft

The workshop will take place as part of the INFORMATIK 2021 conference of the Gesellschaft für Computing Science (GI) (29 September to 1 October 2021) in virtual space.

Web: informatik2021.gi.de

Workshop leader

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jorge Marx Gómez (department spokesperson)
University of Oldenburg (COAST)


Prof. Dr. Volker Wohlgemuth
Berlin University of Applied Sciences


Dr. Thomas Klenke
University of Oldenburg (COAST)


Dr.-Ing.Ing. Andreas Solsbach
University of Oldenburg


Barbara Rapp
University of Oldenburg


The workshop is actively supported by the Environmental Computing Science Expert Committee, the Division of Corporate Environmental Information Systems of the German Informatics Society and the Center for Environmental and Sustainability Research at the University of Oldenburg (COAST).