For its 4th edition, the GreenTech Forum once again demonstrated its ability to bring together key players in sustainable IT. More than 120 speakers came together to discuss the main issues in the sector: regulation, responsible purchasing, artificial intelligence, data management, and many other essential topics. A new theme dedicated to local authorities was also addressed, demonstrating the growing importance of sustainable digital technology for public stakeholders.
This observation is shared by Tristan Vuillier, Sustainability Manager at Devoteam, for whom the GreenTech Forum revealed “a maturing ecosystem in the Green IT sector”. Indeed, sustainable IT is taking an increasingly important place in the digital economy, with 38% growth recorded in 2024.
It should be noted that data is now at the heart of responsible digital strategies, alongside acculturation and governance issues. With this in mind, Devoteam was present alongside the CNAM to demonstrate the implementation of a digital carbon footprint based on the Sopht solution.
The environmental impacts of digital technology
The opening plenary conference brought together Numeum, ARCEP and ADEME to take stock of the challenges of sustainable IT. As Véronique Torner, President of Numeum, explained:
“Without digital, there is no sovereignty. Without digital, there is no competitiveness. Without digital technology, reindustrialisation would not be possible. Without digital, there is no simplification of the state. And finally, without digital, there is no environmental transition”, but digital must be responsible.
Laure de la Raudière, president of ARCEP, supports this position: “We must question the superfluous functionalities of digital services”.
ARCEP, the telecommunications regulator in France, has been studying the environmental impact of digital technology in collaboration with ADEME since 2019. Although digital technology provides many solutions for the ecological transition, its carbon footprint is worrying and is expected to triple by 2050 if nothing is done. Digital technology already represents 10% of electricity consumption in France, a figure that continues to increase with the rise of AI.
With this observation, ARCEP calls for a digital sobriety approach by promoting the eco-design of digital services. That is, making services more efficient to reduce the consumption of resources (equipment, data centers, networks) necessary for their operation. ARCEP has thus published, with ARCOM and ADEME, a general reference framework for the eco-design of digital services, which it hopes to see applied on a European scale.
On the ADEME side, Sylvain Waserman stressed that digital technology also appears to be a key to meeting many environmental challenges. Concrete examples show carpooling made possible by digital platforms, optimisation of pesticide use thanks to artificial intelligence and even diffuse erasure solutions to better manage peaks in electricity consumption.
However, digital technology also has a significant environmental impact, which continues to grow. Data centers, for example, raise issues of conflicts of use over water and electricity resources. ADEME, therefore, considers that Green IT, i.e. the search for more sustainable digital technology, must become a strategic priority for players in the sector.
In this context, ADEME is actively working with a dedicated team on topics such as the eco-design of digital services. The aim is to help the digital industry differentiate itself by demonstrating that it is possible to develop technologies, such as AI, in an environmentally responsible manner. This would create a competitive advantage, especially since public procurement will soon include mandatory environmental criteria.
From technical implementation to strategic governance of sustainable IT
The conferences and workshops of the Green Tech Forum 2024 were mainly structured around two main strategic axes. The first axis focused on the operational and technical aspects of sustainable IT, addressing crucial topics such as measuring the environmental footprint, setting up sustainable IT parks, and optimising data centers. Particular attention was paid to technological innovations such as AI, open source (RISC-V, RUST), and cybersecurity, as well as to concrete feedback from organisations such as RATP, France Travail, and CNAM in their responsible digital transformation.
The second axis was more oriented towards governance and strategy, exploring the evolving regulatory framework (notably the CSRD), new business models, and stakeholder involvement. The workshops also addressed fundamental issues such as reconciling innovation and digital sobriety, data management, and the commitment of the company’s various functions (Finance, CSR, HR, Sales, and Marketing) to a responsible digital strategy. An international dimension was present with comparative analyses at European and global levels, particularly on the challenges of the repair sector and the supply of materials.
The Green Tech Forum highlighted a significant evolution in the maturity of the ecosystem’s players, with measurement and data as the cornerstones of this transformation.
GreenTech forum analysis by Tristan Vuillier, Sustainability Manager
The Green Tech Forum highlighted a significant evolution in the maturity of the ecosystem’s players, with measurement and data as the cornerstones of this transformation. This dynamic is part of a broader desire for European positioning, allowing Devoteam to play a vital role in establishing common standards and supporting organisations on a European scale.
Beyond the technical aspects, the forum highlighted the importance of change management within IT departments to integrate Responsible Digital into all professions fully. This major challenge requires in-depth work from the project design phase, aimed at preventing the accumulation of technical, environmental and social debts rather than correcting them after the fact.
Measuring the environmental footprint of digital technology
The roundtable dedicated to measuring the environmental footprint of digital technology brought together speakers from Boavizta, WeDoLow and ADEME. Boavizta, which brings together 250 specialists in the impact of digital technology, conducted a project on the effects of the cloud. The main conclusions show that the cloud is digital technology’s third largest environmental impact area, after the workplace and data centers.
However, many companies still need help to measure this impact, mainly due to the lack of transparency of the data provided by cloud providers. Measuring the environmental footprint of digital technology is progressing with regulatory and methodological advances. Still, challenges remain, particularly in terms of eco-design, changing uses and the transparency of data provided by digital players.
Adel Nourredine, from the University of Pau, has worked on the development of tools and models to measure and estimate energy consumption at different levels of the software ecosystem – from source code to connected equipment and the cloud.
According to him, the main challenges are the high hardware heterogeneity and software variability, which make energy measurement more complex than traditional performance measurements. Two promising advances are identified: fine measurement at the source code level and models to optimise hardware renewal in data centers.
Some priority action plans:
- Extend the lifespan of IT equipment (computers, servers, etc.) by repairing them and favouring reconditioning rather than renewal
- Limit the number of devices, for example, by avoiding double or triple screens
- Promote sobriety in energy-intensive digital uses (AI, video, etc.)
- Raise awareness and train teams to involve them in these processes
However, Boavizta stressed that despite good intentions, CSR and IT teams face an inevitable “burnout” and struggle to transform commitments into concrete actions. The challenge is to find the right balance between immediate results and more sustainable practices.
At WeDoLow, Justine Bonnot confirmed that most of their clients still call on them more to improve the technical performance of software than to reduce their environmental footprint. However, initiatives are emerging, such as the work carried out with CNES to optimise the energy consumption of their software. The solutions exist, but their implementation remains a challenge for many organisations.
The notable rise of players in reconditioning and reuse, stimulated by regulations on the circular economy, demonstrates a positive dynamic.
GreenTech forum analysis by Ophélie Souvanthong, Green IT Lead
The Green Tech Forum revealed a maturing ecosystem in the Green IT sector, bringing together a diverse panel of players ranging from institutions to solution publishers, consulting firms and training organisations. The notable rise of reconditioning and reuse players, stimulated by regulations on the circular economy, demonstrates a positive dynamic. End customers’ maturity levels remain contrasted, with pioneers such as SNCF initiating their approach in 2020 while other companies are just beginning to explore the subject.
The discussions during the workshops and conferences highlighted two significant challenges in the sector. On the one hand, there is a need to move from an experimental approach based on POCs with a limited scope to an actual industrialisation of Green IT practices on a large scale. On the other hand, there is the growing emergence of open source as a relevant response to the challenges of knowledge sharing, resource pooling, and transparency. This trend towards open source underlines a collective desire to build sustainable and auditable solutions for the entire ecosystem.
