The carbon footprint of an email is much larger than the consumption of a bulb left on for several hours. Through this observation, expressed on May 24, the new Minister of the Energy Transition in France highlights the almost invisible environmental footprint, however growing, induced by digital technologies.

According to several studies,¹ the digital technologies emit nearly 4% of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) worldwide, slightly more than emissions from the air sector! In 2040, it would be 7%. The digital trajectory is therefore not currently compatible with the 2°C trajectory established by the Paris Agreement.

Digital GHG emissions in central scenario, tCO2eq, by subcategories.

Information Report (2019-2020). Senate (France).

The transition to a low carbon economy cannot ignore the digital pollution, which has several sources:

Material pollution directly associated with the resources’ exploitation (extraction, then transformation) in order to manufacture infrastructure (such as data centers) and devices (smartphone, computers, etc.).
The use of digital technology requires electricity, whose main source worldwide is still coming from fossil fuels, which are highly GHG emitting.
Other environmental factors can be included into the calculation of digital impact, such as consumption of abiotic or water resources².

While the climate and environmental crisis forces us to reduce GHG emissions in many sectors, digital technologies, as a source of non-sensory pollution, remain little addressed in public debates. And yet, their material footprint increases. According to forecasts³, there will be around 4.8 billion web users by the end of 2022 (60% of the world's population) and 28.5 billion connected objects (compared to 18 billion in 2017). The total weight of the sector's waste worldwide is 57 million tonnes, of which less than 20% is recycled, for a value of 62.5 billion dollars.

Several ways exist to minimize digital carbon footprint.

The first step towards digital sobriety involves the quantity and life cycle of digital devices, as their manufacture is the main source of impact on the environment.

Solutions can be found by gradually implementing circular economy principles such as eco design, repairability, recycling and appliance reconditioning. Some companies, like Orange, encourage such practices: the group has developed its “RE” Program, which aims at raising awareness of the environmental impact of mobile phones and at strengthening its approach to mobile collection and reuse. A similar initiative is proposed by the German group, Deutsche Telekom.

The other step towards digital sobriety requires the regulation of uses.

A study by The Shift Project⁴ tells us, for example, that online video⁵ alone generates almost 60% of world data flows and thus over 300 million tons of CO2 per year. While the environmental crisis leads to a better management of terrestrial resources according to the planetary limits, digital sobriety requires prioritizing allocations of resources among digital uses. Although the methodology for determining the environmental impact of a digital technology is imperfect at this stage, it remains highly correlated with a country's energy mix. Globally, the latter is mainly derived from fossil energy⁶. A problem already anticipated by some players, such as Bouygues and its ‘Source’ package, for which each unused giga is converted into euros to finance an organization of user’s choice. Capgemini has also expanded its professional offering through “sustainable IT”.

Lastly, the legislation has taken an interest in the subject.

As an example, in November 2021, France published a new law on the Environmental Footprint of Digital Technology, seeking to raise awareness among all digital players, from the producer to the consumer. More recently, Europe has voted in favour of a universal charger for electronic devices by mid-2024, with a promise to save 11,000 tons of waste each year.

With an increased worldwide digitalization and energy consumption, digital pollution is a growing climate threat, with the proliferation of uses and smart objects. Although solutions exist to strive for a low carbon economy (circular economy, resource management, user awareness, etc.), legislation plays a key role. As investors, we seek to identify companies that provide solutions which help containing digital GHG emissions, that turn out to be invisible but far from painless.

Sources (in French) :
¹ Agence Science-Presse, Consommation numérique et GES : la fabrication pire que l’utilisation ? [Digital Consumption and GHG emissions: Manufacturing worse than using?] 2022
² GreenIT.fr Frédéric Bordage, Empreinte environnementale du numérique mondial [Environmental Impact of Global Digitalization] septembre 2019
³ Ademe et Arcep, Evaluation de l’impact environnemental du numérique en France et analyse prospective [Evaluation of the Environmental Impact of Digital technologies in France and Prospective Analysis] 2022.
⁴ The Shift Project, « Climat : l’insoutenable usage de la vidéo en ligne » : le nouveau rapport du shift sur l’impact environnemental du numérique [Climate: Unsustainable use of online video: the New Shift Report on the Environmental Impact of Digital technologies] juillet 2019.
⁵ Online video includes VoD, pornography, ‘Tubes’ and videos hosted on social média.
⁶ In 2020, fossil fuels contributed 83.1% to global energy consumption. Renewable energy, along with hydroelectricity, contributed 12.6% when nuclear 4.3%.

Digital pollution: invisible but not painless

Dernières Actualités