Environmental impact of digital services
It is no longer possible to ignore it. Digital services are not neutral for the environment.
In 2020, CO2 emissions from the digital sector were estimated to account for at least 4% of global emissions. If nothing is done, it is estimated that this share will rise to 7% in 2025 and 14% in 2040. What’s more, according to ADEME (the French Environment and Energy Management Agency), nearly a ton of materials are used per person every year for digital purposes (terminals, servers, etc.).
However, even if everyone is aware of this impact, it is complicated to estimate the impact of your digital service. Unlike a car, for which we now have enough information on its impact to understand the environmental cost of construction and consumption through use, including CO2 emissions, it is currently complicated to ‘feel’ or ‘estimate’ the impact of a service due to a lack of knowledge.
Action is therefore necessary but not easy. It is therefore important to be able to take stock and assess your digital services if you want to effectively reduce their environmental footprint
Evaluating the footprint of your digital service
The first question to ask when you want to reduce the environmental footprint of your digital service is obviously what its real impact is.
To answer this question, we at K-LAGAN have devised an evaluation method we call Envi’Score.
How does it work? Use recognised benchmarks in the field of eco-responsibility. Make them our own and add to them in order to provide a simple, all-in-one solution that is quick to implement.
The idea is to base ourselves on a theoretical part with a RGESN that we have enriched and an operational part based on an EcoIndex that we use to rate paths and not pages with the MrSuricate automation tool. We also used this calculation method to design our Mobil’Index, which assesses the operational impact of mobile applications
Enriched RGESN | Enhanced EcoIndex |
Combining these 2 elements gives the Envi’Score of the digital service at time t:
This score indicates whether the digital service is more or less effective. The higher the score, the more limited is the impact of the digital service. This evaluation can also be recontextualised with averages or medians of the different Envi’Scores of digital services evaluated accorgind to different parameters, such as the type of application or sector of activity.
Take concrete action to reduce the environmental impact of your digital service
Now that we know the impact of our digital service, we can work to reduce it.
To do this, we provide a detailed audit report following the Envi’Score evaluation of a digital service:
This report presents indicators relating to the RGESN, the enriched RGESN and the boosted EcoIndex, as well as the raw and detailed results of the evaluation of the enriched RGESN.
Finally, at the end of this audit, we provide you with a set of categorised and prioritised actions to efficiently reduce the environmental impact of the digital service and improve the Envi’Score.
Summary of the process
In the end, the process we follow to help you reduce the environmental impact of your digital service using the Envi’Score is as follows:
Want to know more ?
Are you interested in this approach?
Here is some additional information:
- Evaluation takes place within 5 working days
- Tests automated by MrSuricate can be recovered
- We work continuously to improve the Envi’Score
- We provide post-audit support if you wish
- If you have any questions, please contact Yann-Yves COVA: yycova@k-lagan.com
