IT & digital

After gradually spreading throughout every area of our personal and professional lives, and every sector of the economy, digital technology has become an integral part of our society. It is reinventing our ways of thinking and acting, and is revolutionizing our means of producing and communicating.

Digital solutions are recognized as a lever for considerable economic development and re sometimes promoted for their potential of optimizing physical processes. But what is the truth behind all this?

In fact, the digital sector, with its infrastructures, equipment and services, brings with it a swath of environmental impacts. Digital equipment gives rise to considerable levels of pollution throughout its lifecycle (manufacturing, utilization, end of life), and the sector alone is responsible for approximately 5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, a figure that has been rising in recent years, contrary to other economic sectors. According to the Shift Project report ,it is the only sector whose energy intensity is increasing, particularly due to the rebound effect and to the development of new use cases.

The vulnerability of digital infrastructures to climatic hazards and the depletion of certain resources and raw materials should also be taken into account.

The diversity of business actors and their role throughout the value chain does not currently allow them to understand their respective contributions to GHG emissions, or their vulnerabilities and opportunities inherent to the ecological transition.