Achieving Digital Sustainability

ACHIEVING DIGITAL SUSTAINABILITY RapportProgress report, d’étape, summary synthèseof collaboration of platformthe platform work and 11 Arcepde proposalstravail toand combine proposals increasing de use Arcepof digital technologypour andun reducing numerique its environmental soutenable. footprint — 15 December 2020 INTRODUCTION The impact that electronic communications networks, devices, data centres and ICT use have on the environment is a source of growing concern, and one number of devices, etc.) is cause for con- which an increasing number of stake- cern. According to the Senate task force holders are gradually starting to address. on ICT’s environmental footprint6, digi- The Citizens’ Convention on Climate1 also tal technology’s GHG footprint could notes that while digital technology is a increase substantially if nothing is done crucial lever of the green transition, and to curtail it (+60% by 2040 or 6.7% of the battle against climate change, it must the national GHG footprint). If such an not itself be the source of increased emis- increase were to materialise, it would sions. be counter to the commitments made under the Paris Climate Agreement7 of According to various studies conducted 2015 which aims to contain the increase over the past two years2, digital tech- in global temperature to well below 2°C, nology currently represents 3% to 4% and requires swift and massive efforts from of global greenhouse gas3 4 (GHG) emis- every sector of the economy to reduce sions, and 2% of the carbon footprint in their own carbon footprint8. France5 (including the hardware pro- On top of which, there are other contrib- duction and usage stages). If the exact utors to digital technology’s environ- figures contained in these studies may mental footprint that need to be taken vary, they all agree on the overall verdict. into account, as underscored by a report from GreenIT.fr9: in addition to carbon If this percentage remains low compared footprint10, the consumption of abiotic to other sectors, the pace of the annual resources (water, minerals…) and primary rise in digital consumption (data volume, energy consumption11 must be factored in. Arcep decided to devote itself fully to this issue, by building on the responsibility Digital technology currently it was assigned by law in 201012 following the Grenelle Environment Forum, to work accounts for 3% to 4% of global in concert with the Government to align greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions its actions with environmental protection imperatives. and 2% of the carbon footprint in Here, it is worth remembering that digi- France tal technology is a powerful engine of change in society, as much from an economic and social perspective, as in the 1. The Citizens’ Convention on Climate (CCC), was formed in October 2019 through a letter of engagement from the Prime Minister of France to the Economic, Social and Environmental Council. The CCC is made up of a group of 150 French citizens who are chosen by lot, and whose aim is to “take a social justice approach to defining structural measures that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% by 2030, compared to 1990”. Its report was adopted on 21 June 2020, including proposal 150, to “Support digital development to make it more green” https://www.vie-publique.fr/sites/default/files/rapport/pdf/274855.pdf 2. See in particular The Shift Project, Lean ICT: Achieving digital sobriety, October 2018; GreenIT.fr, ICT’s global environmental footprint, September 2019; Arcep, Future Networks - Digital Tech’s Carbon Footprint, October 2019; CGE, Reducing digital technology’s energy consumption December 2019 and Citizing, iCT’s carbon footprint in France: are public policies enough to handle increasing usage?, June 2020. 3 At the national, GHG emissions are broken down between direct emissions (i.e. emissions tied directly to the production and use of a product or service) and indirect emissions (i.e. those, on a solely national level, tied to the consumption of energy that is an indirect source of GHG emissions or to other stages in the product or service’s life-cy- cle, such as transport, recycling, etc.). These emissions do not factor in foreign energy sources, but only those located on national soil. The notion of footprint includes both the direct and indirect emissions produced on national soil and abroad. At the global level, then, direct and indirect emissions correspond to the footprint. See Glossary. 4. See Glossary. 2 5. Senate, Information Report – Pour une transition numerique écologique/Achieving a Green Digital Transition, June 2020. Digital technology’s GHG footprint could increase significantly if nothing is done to curtail it (+ 60% by 2040 or 6.7% of the national GHG footprint) daily lives of our fellow citizens and the Work together to draft development of public services. This, then, is the yardstick that Arcep uses to ensure tomorrow’s regulation that the users of digital networks and services maintain control over their choices, In keeping with how the regulator oper- and are able to reap the benefits of ongo- ates, Arcep decided to begin this new ing technological developments. In other chapter in regulation by a dialogue with words, for the Authority, limiting digital all of the stakeholders. After having pub- technology’s environmental impact is not lished a brief in 2019 on “digital tech- necessarily synonymous with restricting nology’s carbon footprint14” in which uses or technologies. The challenge lies it calls on industry players to contrib- in combining the development of digital ute to the work it is doing, the Author- technology in keeping with societal and ity decided to take things to the next economic needs, and new environmen- level, and so last June launched the tal imperatives. “Achieving digital sustainability” collaboration platform. To bring together the This outlook is part of regulation’s ongo- largest number of stakeholders possible, ing evolution. Initially focused on opening despite social distancing and the Covid- markets up to competition, when it was 19 crisis, Arcep elected to develop a fully first created in 1997, Arcep then worked on-line mechanism. It worked in concert to encourage investment to achieve bet- with Ouishare, a collective that explores ter regional connectivity, and was later and challenges societal transformations given the responsibility of protecting net through live encounters, studies and con- neutrality13. Now, with these environmen- crete experiments. tal imperatives, Arcep wants to open a new chapter in its regulation. Associations, institutions, electronic communications operators, tech companies, civil society stakeholders, government agencies and experts were invited to contribute through a series of eight meetings held online between July and November 2020, which provided opportunities for everyone to trade views, practices, tools, skills and knowledge and so contribute to the collective brainstorming 6. See Glossary. 7. The Paris Climate Agreement, adopted on 12 December 2015 in Paris, signed on 22 April 2016 at the United Nations headquarters in New York, and entered into effect on 4 November 2016 https://unfccc.int/files/essential_background/convention/application/pdf/ french_paris_agreement.pdf 8. See Glossary. 9. GreenIT.fr, Digital technology’s global environmental footprint,, September 2019 10. As a reminder, the carbon component (in carbon dioxide or CO2) is only one of the gaseous components of a GHG footprint. 11. See Glossary. 12. Act No. 2010-788 of 12 July 2010 on the National Commitment to the Environment 3 13. See Glossary. Arcep established the work programme In response to an invitation from Arcep, for its platform after an inaugural meet- the National Cybersecurity Agency ing on 9 July 2020. Sixty five participants (ANSSI) embraced the platform’s collabo- were invited to share their main areas of rate nature and hosted its own workshop: focus and concern regarding (fixed and “Cyberthreat/environmental threat” mobile) electronic communications net- and so further enriching the broad explo- works as a whole, as well as devices, data ration of digital sustainability with matters centres and applications – which are the that fall under its purview. chief drivers of digital consumption and its environmental footprint. Five thematic From the start, these different interactions workshops were planned as a result, then relied on the collaboration platform to hosted by Arcep in autumn 2020: host the discussions and further the work that was done outside the workshops. • Adapting business practices to achieve digital sustainability; The purpose of this report is to relay the positions that the participants expressed • Combating obsolescence to achieve during the workshops on the platform, and digital sustainability; in written contributions that were transmit- ted afterwards. It is also meant topresent • Choosing our networks to achieve dig- Arcep’s analysis and identify a prelimi- ital sustainability; nary action plan to develop and ensure the ongoing monitoring of the environ- • Rethinking digital content and ser- mental footprint of electronic commu- vices to achieve digital sustainability; nications networks and services, and so pave the way for the deployment of more • Designing networks to achieve digital sustainable digital technology. sustainability. An additional aim for this report is to fur- Two important topics, which pertain more ther the discussions that have begun at the to societal issues, became the focus of two European level within the Body of Euro- “big discussions”: pean Regulators for Electronic Commu- nications (BEREC), of which Arcep is the • How to achieve both connectivity for co-chair of the “Sustainability” Working all and digital sustainability? Group created in April 2020. The objec- tives set by this group of experts includes • How to safeguard both digital sustain- studying the environmental impact of ability and user freedoms? electronic communications networks, and cataloguing best practices for behav- iour that is consistent with environmental imperatives. In parallel work, Arcep also deepened its collaboration with ADEM (France’s Environment and Energy Management Agency).

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