Sustainable digital technology must guarantee widespread and unrestricted access to services and data for all users. This increasing diffusion is certainly emancipating, but represents a significant environmental cost. How can we control the impact while maximising the benefits?
This article, written by Amira Ben Hamida (Project Manager and Referent of the circular economy and energy transition theme), Yann Leroy (Professorand researcher in Ecodesign and circular economy at CentraleSupélec) and Ghada Bouillass (Researcher in circular economy and digital transformation at the LGI, CentraleSupélec), proposes a focus on the environmental challenges of digital transformation. After a reminder of the environmental footprint of the digital sector, the authors will present a summary of some existing programmes aimed at reducing this footprint. Finally, an overview of the major obstacles mentioned in the literature and collected during various workshops organised by IRT SystemX on responsible digital technology is provided.
