Digital technology's environmental footprint

Do you pay attention to the environmental performance of your devices, and think about recycling old ones? These small, everyday gestures can be part of an overall effort to minimize the environmental footprint of digital technology. This is important, because digital has a real cost. The production and disposal of electronic devices contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, the generation of hazardous waste and the consumption of natural resources. 

Fortunately, a better understanding of this environmental impact enables us to continuously improve our practices and uses. Ultimately, it becomes possible to use digital technology as effectively as it is responsibly.

Digital technology's environmental footprint: an underestimated reality

While transport and agriculture are often cited as sources of greenhouse gases, the environmental impact of the digital sector is sometimes wrongly underestimated.

The different components of the digital carbon footprint

Digital technology's environmental footprint can be explained by a number of factors, such as : 

• Data center electricity consumption: Data centers in France consume 5.15 MWh of electricity per ㎡ every year. A center with a surface area of 10,000 ㎡ therefore consumes as much as a city of 50,000 ^inhabitants1.
• Production, use and end-of-life: From design to recycling, digital products have a significant impact. Every year, 20 million tonnes of waste are produced nationwide over the entire lifecycle of our ^products2.
• Pollution from email, streaming and the cloud: All digital uses have a significant impact on the environment. On average, an employee sends 30 e-mails a day, equivalent to 300 kg of CO2 every ^year3.

Facts and figures

As we can see, the impact of digital technology is multi-faceted. To give you a better idea of the environmental aspects of digital use, here are a few figures to give you some perspective on the current situation.

The digital sector accounts for 3.5% of global greenhouse gas ^emissions4. This may seem tiny compared to the 24% of transportation or the 19% of industry and ^{construction5}. However, reducing digital greenhouse gas emissions is essential in the fight against global warming.

Reducing the sector's negative impact is all the more important as its carbon emissions are constantly on the rise. In 2022, ADEME (Agence De l'Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l'Énergie) predicted that this footprint would double by ²⁰²⁵⁶.

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1hellio , Focus on the energy consumption of a data center, 2023
2Ademe , Digital: what environmental impact?2022
3Slack , All you need to know about mail pollution, 2022
4Ademe , Digital responsibility: what if we adopted the right reflexes?2022
5Sustainable development statistics, Sectoral breakdown of CO2 emissions worldwide2022
6op cit.

Causes of the growing digital footprint

If the pollution caused by the digital sector is understood, it's worth trying to understand the causes that foster it. There are three main causes.

Programmed obsolescence

The first factor leading to a gradual increase in the environmental impact of digital technology is programmed obsolescence. The latter was defined in Article 99 of Law no. 2015-992 of August 17, 2015 on the energy transition for growth as " all techniques by which a marketer aims to deliberately reduce the lifespan of a product in order to increase its replacement rate.⁷"

Yet these regular replacements, under pressure from manufacturers, have a definite cost. Already in 2020, the United Nations stated in a report that 53.6 million tonnes of electronic waste had been produced in 2019. This illustrates an increase of 21% in five ^years8.

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7EcologieGouv , Product lifespan2021
8United Nations, Electronic waste up 21% in five years (UN), 2020

The exponential growth of data

Datafication refers to a technological trend that transforms many aspects of life into data, enabling the creation of value. Everything is digitized, and billions of items of data are stored in data centers. And yet, the energy used by a data center is just as important as the water needed to run it. In 2022, a Dutch newspaper reported that a data center in the country consumed 84 million liters of water every ^year9. 

Digitalization also means streaming, for example, which takes up 80% of Internet bandwidth and emits 100 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every ^year10.

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9NoordhollandsDagblad , Datacenter Microsoft Wieringermeer slurpte vorig jaar 84 miljoen liter drinkwater2022
^10FranceInter , Streaming: digital pollution with many faces, 2022

Consumer culture

Finally, the last unavoidable cause is the constant demand for new technological products. This is illustrated first and foremost by the need to develop innovations. 5G or artificial intelligence are full of exciting possibilities, but are unfortunately also responsible for a considerable increase in digital pollution.

Consumers play a key role in increasing pollution. 55% of consumers say they would like to take the environmental impact of production into account when making a purchasing decision, but 73% also say that a high price discourages them from buying sustainable ^products11. While this tension is understandable, it needs to be resolved if we are to take concrete action to protect the planet.

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^11EcommerceMag, 61% of consumers more sensitive to sustainable development criteria, 2021

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Solutions for reducing the environmental footprint of digital technology

If we are to respond collectively to the challenge of ecological transition, we need to understand the impact of different sectors. The aim is not to make people feel guilty, but to inform and raise awareness.

By better understanding the energy impact of appliances, it is then possible to reduce one's carbon footprint by adopting good practices. 

In the long term, there are three ways to reduce the carbon footprint of digital technology: 

• Software and hardware eco-design: The first step is to focus on product eco-design. To do this, companies need to integrate environmental impact right from the design stage, in order to minimize it throughout the product's lifecycle. For example, appliances can be designed with lower energy consumption and recyclable materials, or datacenters can be powered by renewable energy.
• Digital sobriety: Users can also take action by focusing on quality rather than quantity, using products longer before replacing them, reducing the use of streaming services or opting for more efficient cloud computing services. Ademe has also published a guide to digital sobriety.
• The role of public policy: Finally, it's clear that environmental policy is essential for global action. By imposing environmental standards on electronic equipment, facilitating recycling and repair, or encouraging businesses to adopt more sustainable practices, governments can be at the heart of the ecological transition.

A common challenge that requires everyone's involvement

In short, the environmental footprint of the digital age concerns consumers, businesses and governments alike, because we all depend on digital technology, and we all have a role to play. In this article, we've looked at the sector's impact on global warming, but we've also listed a set of best practices that can help us reconcile the comfort and performance of digital with sustainability and environmental protection.

👉 To go further, 11 tips to reduce your ecological footprint.