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Environmental impact of digital technology: the Senate's information mission calls for "an ecological digital transition".

Published on 29 June 2020
Update on 26 September 2022
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Summary

The Senate information mission on the environmental footprint of digital technology presented its roadmap for "an ecological digital transition" on June 24.

Based on an unprecedented study assessing the carbon footprint of digital technology in France, it makes 25 proposals concerning both equipment and usage. Several of these proposals are aimed at local authorities, including integrating environmental issues into their digital strategy, contributing to the reuse market via public procurement, and encouraging the establishment of data centers in France, by focusing on their complementarity with renewable energy sources.

Most of the figures available today," recalls the fact-finding mission, " establish that the digital sector would be responsible for 3.7% of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the world in 2018 and 4.2% of global primary energy consumption. 44% of this footprint would be due to the manufacture of terminals, data centers and networks and 56% to their use. This environmental impact also concerns mineral resources and water. The growth of digital technology is resulting in the use of an increasing quantity of metals, which are still very rarely recycled. "While these findings are well supported by figures on a global scale, existing work on a national scale is currently patchy," the fact-finding mission deplores.

According to the results of the study commissioned by the Senate's Committee on Regional Planning and Sustainable Development, digital technology is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions in France (15 MtCO2eq, or 2% of total emissions in 2019), which could increase considerably in the coming years if nothing is done to reduce its impact (+60% by 2040, reaching 24 MtCO2eq).

In 2040, if all other sectors achieve carbon savings in line with the Paris Agreement commitments and if no public policy for digital sobriety is deployed, digital could account for nearly 7% (6.7%) of France's greenhouse gas emissions, a level well above that currently emitted by air transport (4.7%1).

This growth would be driven in particular by the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) and emissions from data centers. The collective cost of these emissions could rise from 1 to 12 billion euros between 2019 and 20402.

The results of the study also show that terminals account for a very large share of the environmental impacts of digital technology (81%), even more than on a global scale.

The manufacture and distribution (the "upstream phase") of these terminals used in France generate 86% of their total emissions and are therefore responsible for 70% of the total carbon footprint of the digital industry in France.

For the Committee on Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development, "reducing the carbon footprint of digital technology in France should (...) in particular involve limiting the renewal of terminals, whereas the lifespan of a smartphone is currently 23 months".

"This is not only an environmental imperative, but also an economic one: by moving away from the disposable model - which is fueled by imports that are a burden on the country's trade balance - to a circular model - based on an industrial ecosystem capable of offering reconditioned terminals and repair solutions - public policies can promote the sustainable creation of jobs that cannot be relocated and are located in the regions.

At the end of this fact-finding mission, the Commission for Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development formulated 25 proposals concerning both equipment and uses.

1. Make digital users aware of their environmental impact

By improving knowledge on a subject that is still too little documented and too little known by the general public:
  • Launch a major awareness campaign encouraging users to adopt eco-responsible digital gestures (e.g. favouring Wifi downloading over video streaming via the mobile network);
  • Better inform users of the carbon footprint of their digital devices and uses by implementing a mobile application;
  • To make available to the public a database allowing to simply calculate the environmental impacts of digital technology;
  • Train the new generations to be digitally sober (by making digital sobriety one of the themes of environmental education at school, by creating modules in engineering and computer science schools relating to the evaluation of the environmental impact of digital technology and the eco-design of digital services);
  • Create a research observatory on the environmental impacts of digital technology (in order to conduct research on the impacts of emerging technologies);
By asking public and private actors to integrate the environmental issue in their digital strategy:
  • Include the environmental impact of digital technology in the CSR report of companies and create a tax credit for SMEs and VSEs for measuring the environmental impact of digital services;
  • To provide local authorities with a methodological framework for the environmental assessment of smart projects;

2. Limit the renewal of terminals, whose manufacture and distribution represent 70% of the carbon footprint of the digital industry in France

By taxing the negative externalities linked to their manufacture
  • Introduce a carbon tax at European borders to internalize the environmental cost of imported terminals;
By fighting against programmed and software obsolescence
  • Reinforce sanctions for programmed obsolescence (e.g. through a more systematic use of name and shame);
  • Reinforce the fight against software obsolescence (e.g. by dissociating corrective updates from evolutionary updates, which are incidental and can accelerate the obsolescence of the terminal);
By promoting reuse and repair:
  • Reinforce the ambition in terms of repair and reuse by a reduced VAT rate on the repair of terminals and the acquisition of reconditioned electronic objects and the inclusion of ambitious objectives in the specifications of eco-organizations;
  • Activate the lever of the public order to contribute to the reinforcement of the markets of reuse and repair (for example by adding a clause of reuse or a lot of reuse in the invitations to tender of purchases of equipment);
  • Make aid for digitalization of companies within the framework of the recovery plan conditional on the integration of an environmental ambition, favouring, for example, the acquisition of reconditioned terminals over the purchase of new equipment;

3. Develop and promote ecologically sound digital practices

By defining data as a resource requiring sustainable management:
  • Provide for a legislative consecration of data as a resource requiring sustainable management
  • By regulating the supply of telephone packages:
Prohibit as a preventive measure mobile packages with unlimited data access and make pricing proportional to the volume of data in the package mandatory;
  •  Limiting the impact of video use:
  • Regulate video streaming, which accounts for 60% of global Internet traffic (through an obligation to adapt the quality of the downloaded video to the maximum resolution of the terminal or through the introduction of a tax on the largest data transmitters, in order to encourage more reasonable data injection on the network)
By improving the eco-design of digital sites and services:
  • In the short term, support administrations in the eco-design of digital sites and services (for example, by launching a call for expressions of interest to identify the most exemplary solutions in the eco-design of digital services);
  • Make eco-design of public and larger private sites mandatory in the medium term;
By allowing a " regulation of the attention
  • Provide for mandatory reporting by content providers on cognitive strategies used to increase usage;
  • Prohibit certain practices such as automatic video launch and infinite scrolling

4. Move towards less energy-intensive data centers and networks

By improving the energy performance of data centers, which are responsible for 14% of the digital industry's carbon footprint in France:
  • Encourage the installation of data centers in France and make the existing tax advantage conditional on environmental performance criteria;
  • Strengthen the complementarity between data centers and renewable energies (e.g., make data centers levers of energy flexibility to store electricity from intermittent renewable energy installations);
By further improving the sobriety of networks, which are responsible for 5% of the digital carbon footprint in France:
  • To achieve the objectives of the French broadband plan to improve fiber connectivity, the least energy-consuming network;
  • Engage in a reflection to reduce the power consumption of the boxes;
  • Assess the environmental footprint of 5G.
 

 

 

Référence :

Sources

Environmental impact of digital technology: the Senate's information mission calls for "an ecological digital transition".

The Senate information mission on the environmental footprint of digital technology presented its roadmap for "an ecological digital transition" on June 24.

Based on an unprecedented study assessing the carbon footprint of digital technology in France, it makes 25 proposals concerning both equipment and usage. Several of these proposals are aimed at local authorities, including integrating environmental issues into their digital strategy, contributing to the reuse market via public procurement, and encouraging the establishment of data centers in France, by focusing on their complementarity with renewable energy sources.

Most of the figures available today," recalls the fact-finding mission, " establish that the digital sector would be responsible for 3.7% of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the world in 2018 and 4.2% of global primary energy consumption. 44% of this footprint would be due to the manufacture of terminals, data centers and networks and 56% to their use. This environmental impact also concerns mineral resources and water. The growth of digital technology is resulting in the use of an increasing quantity of metals, which are still very rarely recycled. "While these findings are well supported by figures on a global scale, existing work on a national scale is currently patchy," the fact-finding mission deplores.

According to the results of the study commissioned by the Senate's Committee on Regional Planning and Sustainable Development, digital technology is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions in France (15 MtCO2eq, or 2% of total emissions in 2019), which could increase considerably in the coming years if nothing is done to reduce its impact (+60% by 2040, reaching 24 MtCO2eq).

In 2040, if all other sectors achieve carbon savings in line with the Paris Agreement commitments and if no public policy for digital sobriety is deployed, digital could account for nearly 7% (6.7%) of France's greenhouse gas emissions, a level well above that currently emitted by air transport (4.7%1).

This growth would be driven in particular by the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) and emissions from data centers. The collective cost of these emissions could rise from 1 to 12 billion euros between 2019 and 20402.

The results of the study also show that terminals account for a very large share of the environmental impacts of digital technology (81%), even more than on a global scale.

The manufacture and distribution (the "upstream phase") of these terminals used in France generate 86% of their total emissions and are therefore responsible for 70% of the total carbon footprint of the digital industry in France.

For the Committee on Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development, "reducing the carbon footprint of digital technology in France should (...) in particular involve limiting the renewal of terminals, whereas the lifespan of a smartphone is currently 23 months".

"This is not only an environmental imperative, but also an economic one: by moving away from the disposable model - which is fueled by imports that are a burden on the country's trade balance - to a circular model - based on an industrial ecosystem capable of offering reconditioned terminals and repair solutions - public policies can promote the sustainable creation of jobs that cannot be relocated and are located in the regions.

At the end of this fact-finding mission, the Commission for Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development formulated 25 proposals concerning both equipment and uses.

1. Make digital users aware of their environmental impact

By improving knowledge on a subject that is still too little documented and too little known by the general public:
  • Launch a major awareness campaign encouraging users to adopt eco-responsible digital gestures (e.g. favouring Wifi downloading over video streaming via the mobile network);
  • Better inform users of the carbon footprint of their digital devices and uses by implementing a mobile application;
  • To make available to the public a database allowing to simply calculate the environmental impacts of digital technology;
  • Train the new generations to be digitally sober (by making digital sobriety one of the themes of environmental education at school, by creating modules in engineering and computer science schools relating to the evaluation of the environmental impact of digital technology and the eco-design of digital services);
  • Create a research observatory on the environmental impacts of digital technology (in order to conduct research on the impacts of emerging technologies);
By asking public and private actors to integrate the environmental issue in their digital strategy:
  • Include the environmental impact of digital technology in the CSR report of companies and create a tax credit for SMEs and VSEs for measuring the environmental impact of digital services;
  • To provide local authorities with a methodological framework for the environmental assessment of smart projects;

2. Limit the renewal of terminals, whose manufacture and distribution represent 70% of the carbon footprint of the digital industry in France

By taxing the negative externalities linked to their manufacture
  • Introduce a carbon tax at European borders to internalize the environmental cost of imported terminals;
By fighting against programmed and software obsolescence
  • Reinforce sanctions for programmed obsolescence (e.g. through a more systematic use of name and shame);
  • Reinforce the fight against software obsolescence (e.g. by dissociating corrective updates from evolutionary updates, which are incidental and can accelerate the obsolescence of the terminal);
By promoting reuse and repair:
  • Reinforce the ambition in terms of repair and reuse by a reduced VAT rate on the repair of terminals and the acquisition of reconditioned electronic objects and the inclusion of ambitious objectives in the specifications of eco-organizations;
  • Activate the lever of the public order to contribute to the reinforcement of the markets of reuse and repair (for example by adding a clause of reuse or a lot of reuse in the invitations to tender of purchases of equipment);
  • Make aid for digitalization of companies within the framework of the recovery plan conditional on the integration of an environmental ambition, favouring, for example, the acquisition of reconditioned terminals over the purchase of new equipment;

3. Develop and promote ecologically sound digital practices

By defining data as a resource requiring sustainable management:
  • Provide for a legislative consecration of data as a resource requiring sustainable management
  • By regulating the supply of telephone packages:
Prohibit as a preventive measure mobile packages with unlimited data access and make pricing proportional to the volume of data in the package mandatory;
  •  Limiting the impact of video use:
  • Regulate video streaming, which accounts for 60% of global Internet traffic (through an obligation to adapt the quality of the downloaded video to the maximum resolution of the terminal or through the introduction of a tax on the largest data transmitters, in order to encourage more reasonable data injection on the network)
By improving the eco-design of digital sites and services:
  • In the short term, support administrations in the eco-design of digital sites and services (for example, by launching a call for expressions of interest to identify the most exemplary solutions in the eco-design of digital services);
  • Make eco-design of public and larger private sites mandatory in the medium term;
By allowing a " regulation of the attention
  • Provide for mandatory reporting by content providers on cognitive strategies used to increase usage;
  • Prohibit certain practices such as automatic video launch and infinite scrolling

4. Move towards less energy-intensive data centers and networks

By improving the energy performance of data centers, which are responsible for 14% of the digital industry's carbon footprint in France:
  • Encourage the installation of data centers in France and make the existing tax advantage conditional on environmental performance criteria;
  • Strengthen the complementarity between data centers and renewable energies (e.g., make data centers levers of energy flexibility to store electricity from intermittent renewable energy installations);
By further improving the sobriety of networks, which are responsible for 5% of the digital carbon footprint in France:
  • To achieve the objectives of the French broadband plan to improve fiber connectivity, the least energy-consuming network;
  • Engage in a reflection to reduce the power consumption of the boxes;
  • Assess the environmental footprint of 5G.
 

 

 

Référence :

Sources

Labo Société Numérique

Labo République Française Agence nationale de cohésion des territoires
Environmental impact of digital technology: the Senate's information mission calls for "an ecological digital transition".