# Breaking New Ground

The open source movement has revolutionized the way digital products are developed through transparent and collaborative creation. However, its impact and potential for one of the greatest transformations of our time remains largely unknown: the development of technologies, economies and cultures that protect natural resources and ecosystems for current and future generations. One year ago we revealed in our [first report](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/protontypes/open-source-in-environmental-sustainability/main/OpenSourceSustainabilityEcosystem_080423.pdf) the potential of the open source model to address the most pressing challenges of this transition: trust, global adoption, and innovation in sustainable technology.

The experience of the last three years has shown us that we must continue to evolve as a community in order to fulfil our goals. Therefore, the Open Sustainable Technology Community, in collaboration with [Ecosyste.ms](https://ecosyste.ms/) and [OpenCorridor](https://opencorridor.org/), has joined forces under the [Linux Foundation Energy](https://lfenergy.org/) umbrella with a common mission:

> **To strengthen the global open source ecosystem in climate and sustainable technology.**

Joining Linux Foundation Energy enables us to broaden our reach within the OSS community for environment and climate and establish a form of governance that is neutral, fostering further development. This move will facilitate easier collaboration with various non-profit and for-profit organizations, while ensuring that our community remains free, collaborative, and innovative.

Linux Foundation Energy exemplifies the successful collaboration between industry and academia, working as equals to develop open source technology for the energy transition. This collaborative model provides us with valuable experience, resources, and a network that enhances our work across academia and the broader climate and sustainable technology community.

That is why we are breaking new ground in the years ahead, while preserving what we have already achieved:

1. **Reveal scientific analyses and datasets on the state and impact of open source on sustainability.** We will focus on identifying critical open source projects, pinpointing gaps that require attention, and supporting communities in need. Central to our efforts is a [directory of projects](https://opensustain.tech/), which serves as a benchmark for measuring and ensuring the accountability of open source contributions to sustainability.

2. **Connecting open source communities and businesses, projects and people.** Our latest innovation [ClimateTriage](https://climatetriage.com/) serves as a bridge connecting open source projects that are accessible to beginners and impactful in their scope, with individuals possessing diverse skill sets. This platform enables us to offer specific support to projects in their initial stages, ensuring they have a solid foundation for long-term maintenance and growth, thereby nurturing the community from an early stage.

3. **Exploring open source strategies for clean energy and sustainable business development.** Our publication offers over 20 [recommendations](https://report.opensustain.tech/chapters/overall.html), which represent only a fraction of the potential applications of open source in these fields. Open source has the potential to revolutionize the trust, distribution, and creation of environmentally impactful information and technology. Furthermore, it facilitates the broader and more precise definition of [open sustainability](https://report.opensustain.tech/chapters/principles.html), a concept critical to our future endeavors.

4. **Providing detailed news and updates about open projects and communities in the field of sustainability and climate change.** Initial tests using machine learning based on our curated dataset have shown that we are able to identify projects in sustainability more accurately, automatically and earlier in their development. This gives us the opportunity to focus what is new in the ecosystem and to create better content about our insights.

5. **Developing an infrastructure for human and AI collaboration in sustainability software and data.** Our aim is to create interfaces that facilitate seamless interaction for both humans and AI systems with our sustainability-focused resources. This infrastructure will support novel uses of large language models and other machine learning tools with our high-quality datasets. A key innovation we anticipate is a chatbot capable of recommending open projects, communities, tutorials, raw data, or scientific papers tailored to specific environmental challenges. Additionally, enhanced machine learning-driven classification of projects will empower developers to more easily identify relevant dependencies and collaborators within the ecosystem for their particular topics.

7. **Bringing the relevance of open source projects in sustainability to a new audience.** Our [first experiments](https://github.com/protontypes/open-sustainable-technology/issues/182) with all project images are already creating a unique experience of how open source is transforming sustainable development. Through such developments, public speeches and targeted marketing for the whole ecosystem, a wide range of people can be made aware of why transparent forecasting and modeling is vital for a sustainable future.

8. **Help people find educational resources appropriate to their skill level on how to use, develop and apply open source to sustainable use cases and businesses.** We aim to offer a variety of tutorials and training materials, tailored to accommodate different skill levels, covering a broad spectrum of scientific and business topics. These resources are designed to impart essential skills and knowledge about open source tools and their applications. Additionally, teaching how to integrate various open source tools is not just instructive but also provides a practical approach to creating comprehensive frameworks, utilizing the best available resources and tutorials within the ecosystem.

Curious and want to know more? We welcome developers, scientists, artists, writers, journalists, entrepreneurs, and citizens alike. **Join our regular community calls to learn more how you can make an impact through open source action.[Add "Join the Community Page"]**