Planet Tech'Care, digital technology is finally concerned about its environmental impacts|Total security

 In the wake of new government announcements to reduce the impact of electronic equipment on the environment, Syntec Numérique announces a new initiative: the Planet Tech'Care platform…

As the GreenIT.  study published last year recalled , digital is not only virtual and intangible. It is born, feeds, and depends on a combination of machines, servers, smartphones, tablets, cables, data centers, chargers and power supplies. The result is a growing impact on the environment that we now need to control much better. Digital technology contributes to 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions and is close to that of the air traffic emission rate. Digital technology leads to a 9% increase in annual energy consumption.

A subject that has become political

As much of the economy now relies on digital, the trend will not be reversed without a concerted effort. Pushed by environmental associations and an increasingly worried population, politicians are very interested in the subject.
The Pacte law clarified the raison d'être of companies which must now be managed in their social interest, taking into account the social and environmental issues of their activity.
The Senate and the National Digital Council (CNNum) each unveiled this summer an inventory and a roadmap for France aimed at promoting an ecological digital transition.

This week, the Ministries of the Economy and the Environment, based on this work as well as on the proposals of the Citizen's Climate Convention, drew up a roadmap to, on the one hand, extend the duration of the life of electronic devices and on the other hand "  objectifying the digital footprint  " by instructing Arcep and Adem to determine how to effectively inform consumers about the impact of their digital uses.

According to the GreenIT.fr study , while efforts in terms of “green” Datacenters and eco-design of cloud services can and should be further intensified, attention must primarily be focused on user equipment. They alone represent 62% of greenhouse emissions and 75% of the digital footprint. In question, their manufacture. From birth to their planned obsolescence.

The recovery plan therefore wants to devote 21 million euros to support the repair, second-hand and reuse of digital devices . A note indicating the degree of repairability of a product will also be introduced in 2021. And telephone operators will have to systematize the collection in their stores of damaged or unused smartphones.
In addition, the government has a fund of 300 million euros managed by BpiFrance, the GreenTech Innovation device intended to finance and support “green” start-ups with a view to bringing environment and digital convergence together.

Digital players united around Planet Tech'Care

It is in this pro-environmental context that Syntec Numérique announces the new Planet Tech'Care initiative. This platform connects companies, training players, digital and environmental partners and experts in order to help VSEs, SMEs and large digital companies to reduce their environmental footprint and to give them the tools and resources to make more informed and responsible choices Total security.

100 companies and training players have already signed the Planet Tech'Care manifesto. There are players such as Accenture, Atos, Altran, Capgemini, Cdiscount, Danone, La Poste, Legrand, L'Oréal, Sage, Suez, Système U, Sopra Steria, Veolia, Vibendi, École Polytechnique, etc. The American giants Microsoft and Google are also signatories.

By committing to this manifesto, companies have free access to a support program with workshops organized by the partners of the initiative. The signatories undertake to reduce the environmental impacts of their products and services .

For Yann Lachelle, CEO of Scaleway, signatory and partner of Planet Tech 'Care, “As ecological awareness intensifies and companies seek to be part of social responsibility initiatives, it becomes essential that the main digital players respond in an adequate, innovative and transparent manner to the demand for more IT consumption. responsible. We are therefore excited to join Planet Tech 'Care because it is up to us, the players in this sector, to position ourselves as essential pillars of the economy of tomorrow by putting these transformative forces at the service of a more just, more responsible and greener. And because 80% of the world's IT is not yet in the cloud, this new phase of transformation is just beginning! ".

The digital footprint has become, in recent weeks, the new battle horse for politicians. Let us hope that these initiatives will not only help the public to become aware of these issues but also to acquire knowledge that will allow them to understand technological innovations with the necessary distance so as not to fall into conspiratorial theses or worrying obscurantism.