Meeting the challenges facing our environment

To meet the #challenges facing our #environment, including #pollution and the availability of mineral resources (known as abiotic) in addition to #globalWarming, the digital sector is called upon to eco-design its services.

Many documents have been published on this subject in recent years. The most recent include the RGESN (general policy framework for the ecodesign of digital services) created by the French DINUM (Interministerial Digital Department) and the AFNOR SPEC 2201, a pre-normative document with a national dimension.

All these documents, like the existing labels on responsible IT, aim to promote a voluntary initiative. Thus, they are very useful to grasp the subject and, at the same time, they are not meant to assess a level of progression. In other words, to this day, there is no consensual method to assess the level of #ecodesign or sustainability of a service*.

“ Many documents have been published on this subject in recent years. The most recent include the RGESN (general policy framework for the ecodesign of digital services)”

It is this gap that #AFNOR has decided to address. After a vote in favor on February 14, 2023, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has included in its agenda the organization of international discussions to produce, by the end of 2024, a technical document that will reach a consensus among countries and serve as the basis for a future international standard.

We are honored to have been invited to join the French expert group coordinated by the AFNOR group to work on this project. Two meetings have already been held, and our goal of defining measurable ecodesign criteria for digital services seems achievable. If you’re interested by the subject, stay tuned 😃

* Here, the term service refers to the software and its parameters, as well as all the underlying physical infrastructures and terminals involved.

© Photo Romain Vignes, Unsplash