This document discusses making digital systems more sustainable. It notes that digital technology contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions and rare earth metal usage. It advocates for digital sobriety by minimizing consumption of non-renewable resources. The document proposes guiding organizations towards sustainable information systems by developing a sustainability culture, measuring environmental footprint, designing sustainable systems, and collaborating with partners. It also notes regulatory and industry changes needed like transparency from vendors and informed consumers. The overall goal is to transform information systems using a systemic approach to address this systemic problem.

1. www.theshiftproject.org
Deploy Digital Sobriety
Guiding organizations toward a sustainable
information system
•
10 December 2020
lescop.celine@gmail.com @theShiftPR0JECT

2. Céline LESCOP – Lead Digital Sustainability
& Data Architect (AXA Group Operations)
The Shift Project – Chapter 2 pilot
https://www.linkedin.com/in/celinelescop/

3. Internal
The Shift Project
a French think tank advocating the shift to a post-carbon economy
• We establish working groups on the most sensitive and decisive
issues of the transition to a post-carbon economy
• We produce robust, and quantified statements on key aspects of
the transition
• We bring forward innovative proposals, and we pay particular
attention to appropriately-scaled solutions
INFORMING FIRST…
• We engage in lobbying initiatives targeting political and economic
decision-makers to promote the recommendations of our working groups
• We host events designed to encourage discussion
between stakeholders
• We build partnerships with both professional organisations
and academic players
…THEN INFLUENCING

4. Agenda
• The context of the climat / energy problem & the
digital environmental impact – 15’
• Guide organizations toward a sustainable
information system – 20’
• Q&A – 20’

6. Climate change : reducing CO2 emissions is urgent !
Opérer cette réduction est une transformation difficile !

7. Internal
Digital, a tool or a challenge for the carbon transition ?

8. Internal
Digital is a
problem from
Green house
gas emissions
point of view
but also for
rare earth
requirements

9. Internal
Production / Extraction

10. Internal
Waste

11. Internal
WHY IS SOBRIETY
THE FIRST
MANDATORY
TARGET
• 80% of electricity WW today is produced from
fossil fuel
• Buying electricity with most renewable
guarantee of origin is not efficient to change
the electricity mix of the location … but is
allows to calculate zero emissions for electricity
in carbon accounting
• There is no clean energy…our economy is also
addict to metals. We have to minimize
consumption of any non renewable resource
• Power Purchase Agreement as green power
product generate better result as they allow a
long term contract with the producer,
guaranteed purchasing prices and a way to
develop new renewable electricity capabilities
productions that can change the emissions of
the grid

12. Internal
Our
economy
is energy
and fossil
fuels
addict…

13. Internal
Focus on green power products
• Most of Green power products have little impact on electricity carbon emissions. A single
company’s purchase via a supplier or through a direct contract may not itself change overall
grid emissions at the time of purchase. This is because most green power products are based
on instruments from existing energy generation facilities.
• A market-based method reflects emissions from electricity that companies have purposefully
chosen leveraging green power product (or their lack of choice). It allows decreasing the
emissions of electricity in carbon accounting but the real impact on total emissions is not
obvious.
• A location-based method reflects the average emissions intensity of grids on which energy
consumption occurs (using mostly grid-average emission factor data). With this method, only
a reduction of electricity consumption or a change in the average emissions intensity of grids
allows a reduction.
• Companies with any operations in markets providing product or supplier-specific data in the
form of contractual instruments shall report scope 2 emissions in two ways.
• Reduction of required kWh is a mandatory target to be in line in Paris Agreement objectives
• PPA (Power Purchase Agreement) as green power product generate better result as they
allow a long term contract with the producer, guaranteed purchasing prices and a way to
develop new renewable electricity capabilities productions that can change the emissions of
the grid
http://www.carbone4.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Publication-Electricite-verte.pdf
https://www.there100.org/sites/re100/files/2020-10/RE100%20Technical%20Criteria.pdf
https://ghgprotocol.org/sites/default/files/ghgp/standards/Scope%202%20Guidance_Final_0.pdf

14. Internal
Il n’existe par d’énergie « propre »…et il y a un risque de convertir le problème des énergies fossiles
en un problème de métaux rares : l’usage de ressources non renouvelables doit être minimisé
L’image de fond est la photo de la plus grande mine de cuivre à ciel ouvert 4km de diamètre, 1km de profondeur) Chuquicamata au Chili. Elle est extraite du documentaire « La Face
cachée des énergies vertes ». Le tableau comparant les émissions selon les sources d’énergie vient de la base carbone de l’ADEME https://www.bilans-ges.ademe.fr/

15. Huge progress in energy efficiciency but slowing down
Doubling every 2 years
Processors energy efficiency : increasing
number of executed instruction per kWh
Mobile network efficiency : decreasing
required kWh by Gbyte

16. Digital volumes have grown faster: need for sobriety
X 10 in 8 years
X 35 in 8 years
Mobile traffic
X 20 in 8 years

17. 17
Systemic applied to information system : an exponential growth to regulate
Final
Equipment
Data
Services
Usages
IT waste
+
+
+
+
Business
digitalization
demand
+
+
IT Cost +
++
Extracted
raw
materials
Consumed
Energy
+
+
Technology
potential
(performance,
storage
capacity…)
+
CO2 / Pollution
+++
+ +
+
+ +
System Thinking applied to the Information System of an organization - inspired by Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows

18. 18
Systemic applied to information system : an exponential growth to regulate
Final
Equipment
Data
Services
Usages
IT waste
+
+
+
+
Business
digitalization
demand
+
+
IT Cost +
++
Extracted
raw
materials
Consumed
Energy
+
+
Technology
potential
(performance,
storage
capacity…)
+
CO2 / Pollution
+++
+ +
+
+ +
System Thinking applied to the Information System of an organization - inspired by Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows
Reduce, Reuse, Repair,
Recycle
Measure
Optimize
Concious, reduce, optimize Reduce, Optimize
Reduce, Optimize

19. Checking relevance for energy transition
Requires rigorous method
Opportunity for
transition
Environnemental
cost
Direct economies
Optimization
Monitoring
etc.
Energy for production
Energy for use
Mined ressources
etc.

20. Digital : a transition to think of
« Do it because we can » « Do it because it is usefull
Deployed solutions have to be chosen for their net
positive impact ONLY
Energy transition requires
Digital solutions
Any Digital Solution has an
environmental impact
CO
2

21. Agenda
• The context of the climat / energy problem & the
digital environmental impact – 15’
• Guide organizations toward a sustainable
information system – 20’
• Q&A – 20’

22. Deploy Digital Sustainability
• The chapter 2 « Guide organizations toward a
sustainable information system » came from the
acknowledgement by “enterprise architects” of Lean-
ICT 2018 report that has stated the ICT worldwide
environmental impact and its evolution
• The purpose was to serve the sustainable information
system target leveraging the enterprise architecture …
as a systemic transformation approach for a systemic
problem
• Out of constraints the workgroup (10 persons more
than half are enterprise architects) we have made a
VISION in a “Target first” style
• In parallel we are concretely deploying this approach
across the group AXA
• IT Professional role to guide the society will be key

23. Internal
Build a Digital Sustainability Strategy
• Strong sponsorship of general
management is key
• The « infobesity » : a risk of
cost of non agility and a risk not
to be able to adapt energy
transition
• The Digital side of the
enterprises purpose PACTE
law in France (2019)
• A big transformation to be
embodied by top
management / management
comitte

24. Internal
Develop the IT sustainability culture
• A transformation that has a powerful
meaning and that allows corporate
responsibility operational set-up
• Develop awareness across all employees,
train IT professionals, purchasing team or
any other concerned employee
• Communicate internally but also externally
on the transformation : CR week, social
network.
• Frugal innovation : do it because it is
useful and not because we can do it

25. Internal
Measure information systems environmental
footprint from craddle to crave

26. Internal
Design & build a sustainable Information System
Ex : Restreindre l’accès à certains sites (vidéos,
streaming…), restreindre au strict nécessaire les
utilisateurs autorisés à accéder à une application donnée

27. Internal
Govern the transition toward a sustainable
information system
• Set-up guidelines, principles to
support sustainable decision at all
level of the organization
• Evolve decisions bodies to align
them with environmental objectives
• Govern the architecture delivery and
check its conformity with
environmental objectives
• Manage the environmental
information system debtArchitecture Principles of a
sustainable information system
« Sustainable development starts with a
business approach relying on principles » -
United Nation Global Compact

28. Internal
Collaborate with customers, providers, partners, authorities to
provide sustainable solutions

29. • Février 2020 - L’Etat après la promulgation de la loi
anti-gaspillage pour une économie circulaire, lance
les travaux de méthodologie avec l’ADEME sur
l’obligation de rendre disponible et public l’impact
carbone de sa consommation numérique à chaque
consommateur dès fin 2021
• Juillet 2020 - Le Conseil national du numérique
publie une feuille de route sur l'environnement et le
numérique réalisée en partenariat avec le Haut
conseil pour le climat
• Juin 2020 - Sénat - Mission d’information sur
l’empreinte environnementale du numérique
• Juin 2020 - France Stratégie –La consommation de
métaux du numérique : un secteur loin d’être
dématérialisé
• Convention citoyenne pour le climat – Objectif
« Accompagner l'évolution du numérique pour
réduire ses impacts environnementaux »

30. The
Information
System
fitness
program

31. What needs to happen / is happening
Enterprises
➢Create mindset
➢Integrated strategies
➢Adapted governance
➢Tooling
Regulators
➢ Digital sector
➢ Carbon « tax »
➢ Data sobriety in sectorial
requirements
Vendors
➢Provide transparency
➢Change business models
➢New players
Consumers
➢Informed
➢Sustainability in buying
criteria

32. Agenda
• The context of the climat / energy problem & the
digital environmental impact – 15’
• Guide organizations toward a sustainable
information system – 20’
• Q&A – 20’