Digital Pollution: Definition, Impact, Challenges

In the era of digital transition for businesses, digitization of processes, digitalization of services, development of artificial intelligence, big data, and cloud technologies, digital technology has become a vector of solutions to combat climate change, but its carbon footprint is becoming increasingly significant worldwide.

Definition of Digital Pollution

For Greenpeace, digital pollution encompasses all the pollution caused by the digital sector in the phases of manufacturing, distribution, use, and end of life. This pollution is of various natures: greenhouse gas emissions, depletion of natural resources, disastrous conditions of raw material extraction, biodiversity destruction, and production of electronic waste.

The Environmental Impact of Digital Technology

The global digital ecosystem is responsible for almost 4% of greenhouse gas emissions. In France, it represents more than 16 million tons of CO2 equivalent per year, or 2.5% of total emissions in 2020. Digital pollution mainly originates from equipment (almost 80%), data centers (15%), and data and telecom networks (5%).

IT Equipment

The ADEME (Agency for Ecological Transition) and Arcep (telecoms regulator) specify in their report on the environmental assessment of digital equipment and infrastructures in France that the digital pollution of companies is largely linked to the manufacturing of IT equipment such as desktop computers, laptops, computer screens, printers, and rack servers. This manufacturing is responsible for:

• 29% of energy consumption;
• 54% of greenhouse gas emissions;
• 61% of water usage;
• 97% of natural resource depletion.

Thus, to manufacture a computer, 800 kg of raw materials are needed, and this phase is responsible for the production of 124 kg of CO2 out of the 169 kg emitted over its entire lifecycle. A smartphone requires 54 raw materials for its manufacturing.

Distribution of Environmental Impacts in the Company by Activity Area

Unsurprisingly, the most harmful activity within the company is the user environment (which includes the manufacturing of the IT terminal, software licenses, electricity consumption…), followed by data centers, IT services, and networks. Except for the user part, the ranking of other incriminated sectors in terms of digital pollution varies depending on the impact considered, energy consumption, GHG emissions, water consumption…

The Challenges of More Responsible Digital Technology

Digital transition is a considerable progress for companies. It contributes to their efficiency, performance, and agility. But it involves increased use of hardware and software that have a significant impact on the environment. In this context, responsible digital technology aims at transforming practices and uses for more frugality.

According to the We Green IT study by WWF and the Club Green IT, the success of this enterprise relies on:

• Reducing the environmental and social footprint within companies through the implementation of a green IT approach.
• Using digital resources for the benefit of the environment, with an IT for green approach.
• Responsible design of digital goods and services.

Among the various measures to be taken, extending the life of equipment and software licenses is certainly one of the most effective levers to combat digital pollution. Reuse and the circular economy could save 810,000 tons of GHGs and 6 billion liters of water.

To act on the user environment, it is important to implement a Software Asset Management strategy and integrate the Softcorner marketplace, a leader in the second-hand software license market. Auditing your software inventory and analyzing your users' needs will allow you to identify used software licenses, establish a specification of your needs and the functional scope to cover based on services and projects. By doing so, you can decommission unused licenses, free up digital resources, and target your needs in second-hand software license purchases on-premise (compliance of your inventory, client station equipment…). This strategy will impact the extension of the life of software licenses and consequently the hardware configurations used.