• Banishing the bane of bufferbloat

    Bufferbloat affects everyone who uses the Internet, resulting in frustratingly slow web browsing, laggy video calls, and overall poor quality of experience for Internet users and there's a lot of work underway in the IETF to address it.

    • Bjørn Ivar TeigenIETF Participant
    23 May 2023

  • IETF 116 post-meeting survey

    IETF 116 Yokohama was held 25-31 March 2023 and the results of the post-meeting survey are now available on a web-based interactive dashboard.

    • Jay DaleyIETF Executive Director
    26 Apr 2023

  • Reducing IETF Meeting Scheduling Conflicts

    With many IETF participants active across a number of active working groups and limited time slots in an IETF meeting week, we aim to arrange sessions in the agenda to minimize conflicts that prevent participants from joining sessions that are of interest to them. In each post-meeting survey we ask meeting participants to comment on the scheduling conflicts they experienced in the meeting agenda and we then use this information to improve the meeting agenda.

    • Alexa MorrisIETF Managing Director
    1 Apr 2023

  • Messaging Layer Security: Secure and Usable End-to-End Encryption

    The IETF has approved publication of Messaging Layer Security (MLS), a new standard for end-to-end security that will make it easy for apps to provide the highest level of security to their users. End-to-end encryption is an increasingly important security feature in Internet applications. It keeps users’ information safe even if the cloud service they’re using has been breached.

    • Nick SullivanMLS Working Group Chair
    • Sean TurnerMLS Working Group Chair
    29 Mar 2023

  • IETF Administration LLC 2023 Budget

    The IETF Administration LLC has finalised its 2023 budget following a community consultation.

    • Jay DaleyIETF Executive Director
    20 Mar 2023
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Next steps towards a net zero IETF

  • Greg WoodIETF LLC Director of Communications and Operations

22 Mar 2023

Built with input from the IETF community, we now have an initial approach and tools for calculating the IETF’s carbon footprint and a strategy for carbon offsetting. For 2023, we will implement this approach with data already available and seek to further improve it for future years.

IAB workshop on environmental impacts

Last year, after introducing the project to measure and offset the carbon emissions of the IETF with a goal of potentially reaching net zero emissions, IETF LLC staff and Secretariat worked with a consultancy to develop a method for calculating the carbon footprint of the IETF’s meetings and ongoing operations. The project included a close review of the IETF operations to develop a calculator based on established international best practice. 

For offsetting, input from the IETF community helped shape an approach that adhered to well-established international standards and aligned with preferences expressed by IETF participants that offsets should create significant social co-benefits and correspond geographically with IETF activities. 

The full report provides much more information about the calculation methodology and details about the carbon offsetting strategy we expect to take this year, as well as how both were developed.

Throughout 2023, we will keep IETF participants informed about carbon footprint calculations and the steps we are taking to offset emissions related to IETF activities. Importantly, and as noted at the outset of the project, emissions reductions by changing how the IETF operates, such as by reducing the number of in-person IETF meetings, are out of scope for this effort as those should be community-led discussions. We do hope to explore ways we might achieve more accurate calculations, for example by participants possibly providing additional information about their travel to IETF meetings.

All IETF participants are invited to the “C02 measurement and offsetting” side meeting at 8:30 JST on 30 March 2023 (23:30 UTC on 29 March) during the upcoming IETF 116 meeting to continue the discussion and explore each of these topics. Further details, including remote participation information, are available on the IETF 116 side meeting wiki. Further discussion is encouraged on the admin-discuss mailing list.

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