Digital technology surrounds our daily lives (e-commerce, streaming, communication, etc.), and while it may seem immaterial (“it’s in the cloud”), its environmental impact is very real. The digital sector alone emits ~4% of the world’s greenhouse gases, as much as air or road transport. And the bad news is that it’s not going to get any better: the digital sector’s carbon footprint is set to triple between 2020 and 2050. And the same applies to the depletion of the resources needed to manufacture our many terminals (televisions, computers, smartphones, watches, IoT, etc.). It is therefore imperative to limit this footprint and envisage a more responsible and sustainable digital future, by reviewing the way we think about and implement digital services through the principles of eco-design.
To this end, there are a number of best-practice guidelines to guide the eco-design approach, including the 2nd version of the RGESN, which was published on 17/05/2024. And it’s not easy to know which tool to choose.
115 best practice guidelines GreenIT.fr
A pioneer in this field, the GreenIT.fr collective (led by Frédéric Bordage) published the 1st version of its repository in 2014 (in which Clever Age was able to participate as a contributor). Now supported by CNumR (Collectif Conception Numérique Responsable), version 4 was released in 2022, bringing the repository to 115 best practices covering all stages of a website project: from design to end-of-life.
GR491 : Reference Guide to Responsible Digital Service Design
Published in 2021 by the Institut du Numérique Responsable (INR), it will serve as the basis for the definition of the RGESN. Divided into 8 themes, it contains 61 recommendations based on 516 criteria inspired by the triptych:
People: Reduce the social divide and improve living conditions thanks to digital technology
Planet: Reduce the environmental footprint of digital technology
Prosperity: Digital technology, as a lever for growth, must be an opportunity for all.
RGESN: Référentiel Général d’Écoconception des Services Numériques (General Ecodesign Guidelines for Digital Services)
RGESN V1
At the initiative of DINUM (Direction interministérielle du numérique), Ademe and INR, this standard was launched in 2022. Based on GR491, it includes the same 8 major themes for 79 criteria.
The standard is accompanied by tools to simplify its use, such as NumEcoDiag, which calculates a score for compliance with the standard.
RGESN V2
As part of the REEN law, to be enacted in November 2021, Arcep and Arcom (in collaboration with Ademe, DINUM, INRIA and CNIL) were entrusted with producing a new version of the RGESN, which has therefore just been officially published this 17/05/2024.
It still includes the 8 themes and 78 criteria, presented in more detailed sheets with new indicators such as levels of difficulty or priority.
The RGESN v2 is also accompanied by tools for drafting the ecodesign declaration, which the REEN law makes necessary from 2025 for local authorities with more than 50,000 inhabitants.
Web Sustainability Guidelines
The future international reference?
Still at the draft stage, this W3C-supported reference system should help promote the subject worldwide.
It comprises 4 categories (User-Experience Design, Web Development, Hosting / Infrastructure and Business Strategy and Product Management), with a total of 94 entries. For each criterion, it is specified :
whether the test can be automated or must be carried out by a human the levels of impact and effort required the benefits: environmental, performance, social, accessibility, economic, etc. the levels of impact, according to the GRI standard, on material use, energy consumption, water consumption, greenhouse gas emissions)
Which frame of reference to choose?
A “reference” frame of reference
Among all these eco-design guidelines, it’s not immediately obvious which one to choose.
The GreenIT.fr collective’s reference framework has the benefit of over 10 years’ experience and 4 versions of its best practices. It offers a pragmatic vision that can be quickly put into practice, but only for web eco-design.
GR491 and RGESN take a broader view, addressing all types of digital services. They are historically linked and close, and we can expect that with the support of the REEN law, the RGESN v2 will become the reference for ecodesign compliance.
Finally, the W3C’s Web Sustainability Guidelines, while promising, are still at the project stage, and it seems premature to rely on this tool.
In fact, it all depends on the need and use you wish to make of such a repository.
If you want to carry out a one-shot audit and get an idea of the level of eco-design of your digital service, or implement it in compliance with best practices, the GreenIT.fr collective’s reference framework or the RGESN v2 are good tools for this, as they clearly explain the means of testing the various criteria.
If the aim is to produce an ecodesign declaration to comply with the REEN law, then it would be wiser to use the RGESN v2, which is clearly designed and equipped for this purpose.
The “best of breed” solution
But while taking stock of the situation or implementing best practices when creating a digital service is a good first step, it is then important to monitor and control compliance throughout its life cycle. It may therefore be a good idea to take the time to define your own reference framework. In fact, not all the criteria in each standard are necessarily applicable to every situation, and creating your own adapted tool based on the various standards available could be the best way of ensuring easy, ongoing monitoring of your digital service’s level of eco-design.
