Case studies: understanding the environmental impacts of digital technology and taking action

Published on December 8, 2021 -

The members of NegaOctet (DDemain, GreenIT.fr, Bureau Veritas LCIE CODDE Department, and APL Data Center) were commissioned by the Greens/EFA European parliamentary group to conduct case studies on the environmental impacts of digital technology.

The objective of this study is to make the understanding of the main environmental issues related to IT accessible to a wide audience and to allow the general public to become familiar with the scientific method of life cycle assessment.

To facilitate a global understanding of current and future challenges, eight case studies were selected based on two axes: technological and environmental.

Technology case studies:

IoT and connected objects
Artificial intelligence
The cloud
5G
Autonomous vehicles

Environmental effects case studies:

Rebound effects
Raw materials required for digital technology
Electronic waste and the circular economy

For each case study, the following points are developed: summary, definition, main concepts, examples of use cases, environmental issues, and recommendations for reducing the environmental impact of digital services.

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