In 2022, the National Health Insurance Fund initiated a digital sobriety program as part of the national energy sobriety plan. In this context, the CNAM initiated this approach by carrying out a digital carbon footprint to precisely quantify greenhouse gas emissions linked to IT activities and identify the main avenues for reducing environmental impact.
To successfully carry out this large-scale project, the CNAM chose to rely on Sopht, a Green IT Ops solution, with operational support from Devoteam teams.
During the GreenTech Forum, Franck Kammerlocher, Digital Sobriety Program Pilot at CNAM, Ophélie Souvanthong, Green IT Lead at Devoteam, and Jérémie Veg, Sopht CEO, presented the lessons of this approach during the workshop “Industrialization of the CNAM carbon footprint”.
A structured approach to digital sobriety
The program implemented by the CNAM aims to measure the existing situation first, then to sustainably transform the organization’s digital practices. To achieve this, the project team structured its action around four complementary axes:
- The measurement, with the digital carbon footprint.
- The digital sobriety of workstations within the CNAM and the 500 health insurance organizations, which represents more than 100,000 workstations.
- Datacenters
- The integration of responsible digital best practices into IT projects, and in particular eco-design. This last part began in April 2024.
Rather than developing its own measurement tools, the CNAM chose to rely on external expertise. The working group explored several market solutions and chose the Sopht platform and Devoteam’s support. This decision reflected a pragmatic approach: rather than reinventing the wheel, it is better to rely on an existing methodology and tool.
The implementation revealed that data quality was the key to success. The project team deliberately opted for a phased approach, initially preferring manual but controlled processing to premature automation. This phase made it possible to identify and resolve data quality issues at source, paving the way for future industrialization on a sound basis.
Revealing results
The first results brought their share of surprises. Contrary to popular belief, data centers only represent 10% of the information system’s total emissions. The vast majority of the carbon footprint—90%—comes from workstations, 70 to 80% of which are linked to their manufacture.
These figures have made it possible to identify levers for action. Extending the lifespan of equipment alone could reduce the carbon footprint by 20 to 30%. More targeted optimizations also show significant potential: On some sites, usage analysis revealed that equipment remained powered during long periods of inactivity. Implementing automatic cut-offs could reduce electricity consumption by half.
Towards a sustainable transformation
The next step is to transform these insights into concrete actions. The team is currently working on detailed simulations for each organization, which will allow them to assess the impact of the different measures envisaged precisely.
The strength of this approach lies in its ability to transform technical data into business arguments. By clearly showing the potential environmental and economic gains, the approach facilitates decision-maker’s buy-in and the allocation of necessary resources.
Eco-design, a project of profound transformation
Beyond the purely technical aspects, the CNAM’s approach reveals a major challenge in managing change. Eco-design, in particular, requires a profound transformation of practices. It involves multiple stakeholders – project teams, developers, architects – who must integrate new responsible practices into their daily lives.
Success lies in seamlessly integrating these practices into existing tools and processes. It’s about imposing new constraints and rethinking how teams work. The platform plays a crucial role here by making the impacts of technical decisions tangible. When an architect can directly visualize the carbon impact of their infrastructure choices or a finance manager sees the potential savings, buy-in becomes natural.
A four-step incremental approach
The CNAM experience highlights the importance of a gradual and structured approach. Their decarbonization journey is structured around four distinct phases:
- The learning phase is crucial and requires several months of investment to review, sort and harmonize data sources. It is also the time to involve the various stakeholders, from purchasing teams to system administrators.
- Industrialization: Once the foundations have been laid, the automation of measurements can be implemented in a relevant and sustainable manner.
- Identification of levers: The platform then allows one to simulate different scenarios and identify the most impactful actions.
- Taking action: The last phase involves implementing the identified levers and monitoring their impact.
A gradual extension of the scope accompanies this step-by-step approach: from hardware to applications, from workstations to telephony, from central servers to local equipment.
Success factors for a digital carbon footprint
The CNAM’s feedback highlights several critical success factors for organizations that would like to embark on a similar approach:
- Prioritize pragmatism: You should not try to automate everything from the start. The learning phase, although time-consuming, is essential for building solid foundations.
- Rely on expertise: Digital carbon footprinting requires specific skills. Rather than reinventing the wheel, relying on experts and proven methodologies is better.
- Involve broadly: Success requires the commitment of all stakeholders. The learning phase is the ideal opportunity to create this collective dynamic.
- Communicate by example: Visualizations and simulations help give meaning to the actions undertaken and mobilize teams around concrete objectives.
A hub for green transformation
More than just a measurement tool, the digital carbon footprint approach around the Sopht platform acts as a real “Green IT Hub”, a point of convergence that aligns all stakeholders around common objectives. It makes the environmental impact of digital tangible and facilitates decision-making at all levels of the organization.