The Shift « Lean ICT » project aims to reflect on practices and actions that limit the direct and indirect environmental impacts of Digital, while maximizing the net effect of the Digital levers in terms of ecological transition. This project takes roots in a context in which Digital energy consumption is growing faster than forecasted, and where, by extension, induced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are also increasing.
Virtual worlds and Networks facing the dual carbon constraints (2024)
Are virtual worlds compatible with a low-carbon digital world? Under what conditions do these new promises of use constitute relevant technologies in view of energy-climate constraints?
What impact do our deployment choices have on the carbon-energy impact of mobile networks? What uses motivate these deployment strategies? What strategies can be implemented to make them resilient to the dual carbon constraint?
Environmental impacts of digital technology : 5-year trends and 5G governance (2021)
How can we make the digital sector compatible with a 2°C emissions pathway? Which debates merit serious attention, and which players should be put in motion to work towards a resilient digital environment? How do we approach the current 5G debate, so as to build a digital governance system that is both relevant and effective?
Deploying digital sobriety (2020)
Our first two reports, “Lean ICT – Towards Digital Sobriety” (2018) and “Climate: the unsustainable impact of online video” (2019), helped us define our vision of the concept of digital sobriety. The findings thus established have fueled, notably through the production of figures, an awareness of the importance of the environmental footprint of digital, its worrying increase and the systemic reasons that lead to this situation.
This third report aims to propose operational methodological frameworks for implementing digital sufficiency: in public strategies and policies, in companies, and in systems of use in the private domain.
“Lean ICT: Towards digital sobriety” (2019)
The final report of the working group was published on March 6th, 2019, following a first draft version that was presented at our Collaborative Workshops of March 29, 2018. Our research work continues.
Lean ICT: for a digital sobriety
Our research on ICT has three objectives:
- Establish an ecological frame of reference for Digital, describing the ecological footprint of Digital and based on verified data;
- Develop prospective scenarios for 2030;
- Propose action plans for both the short and medium term.
We pay special attention to large companies and developing countries.
The working group
The Shift has gathered a multidisciplinary working group, which has been working since spring 2017:
- Françoise Berthoud, Research engineer in computer science at the CNRS [French national center for scientific research] and director of the GDS EcoInfo
- Philippe Bihouix, Engineer specialized in metals
- Pierre Fabre, Senior Telecommunications Expert, AFD
- Daniel Kaplan, Scientific Advisor, FING
- Oskar Lecuyer, Climate-Energy Research Officer, AFD
- Laurent Lefèvre, Researcher, INRIA
- Alexandre Monnin, Researcher in web architecture and philosopher, INRIA
- Olivier Ridoux, University Professor, IRISA and University of Rennes 1
- Samuli Vaija, Lead life cycle analyst and eco-design expert, Orange
- Marc Vautier, Eco-design and sustainable development expert, Orange
- Xavier Verne, Engineer specialized in architecture of major IT projects
- Maxime Efoui-Hess, Project Manager, The Shift Project
- Zeynep Kahraman, Project Director, The Shift Project
- Hugues Ferreboeuf, Project Manager, The Shift Project
Hugues Ferreboeuf is a Polytechnician, an engineer from Les Mines and a graduate of Telecom Paristech. He has held several senior management positions in subsidiaries and business units within the France Télécom Orange Group, and has led a dual career as an entrepreneur and consultant in management and strategy in an international environment. He is specilaized in transitions management (energy, digital, generational) and uses his expertise for piloting the “Lean ICT” project.
Hearing by the French mission on artificial intelligence:
He was auditioned on October 12, 2017 by the mission tam to define a French strategy for artificial intelligence (AI). This mission is chaired by Cédric Villani, Member of Parliament for Essonne and President of the OPECST [Parliamentary Office for the Evaluation of Scientific and Technical Choices]. The synthesis of this hearing is published by The Shift Project.
