Published on 04/24/25

Digital Responsibility: definition & challenges

Raphael Gabach

Responsible Digital Project Manager / CSR Consultant

5 minutes

Dive into the world of digital responsibility: understand what's at stake and adopt sustainable practices for a more respectful digital world.

What is responsible digital?

Digital transformation is transforming the daily lives of individuals and organizations.

If we are to continue to guarantee the positive effects of digital technology, we need to measure its impact to ensure that the gains it brings are not outweighed by the environmental and social effects it generates. To achieve this, it is essential to adopt a sustainable approach to our digital uses, known as the Responsible Digital approach.

Responsible Digital is a continuous improvement approach that aims to improve the ecological and social footprint of digital technology.

What are the 3 pillars of Responsible Digital?

Green IT, to reduce the environmental footprint of an information system.
IT for Green, which puts digital technology at the service of sustainable development and the responsible design of digital services.
Digital Accessibility, which integrates inclusion criteria to guarantee equal access to digital information and services.

The impact of digital technology: a multi-criteria approach

To understand the impact of digital technology, we need to look at it from different angles:

Greenhouse gas emissions: the digital sector will account for 4.4% of France's emissions in²⁰²²¹, slightly less than the total emissions of the heavy goods vehicle sector.
Electricity consumption: electricity is needed to manufacture our equipment or to use our appliances, which account for 11% of French electricity^consumption2.Worldwide, 80% is generated by fossil fuels3⁽oil, gas, etc.), the combustion of which emits large quantities of GHGs.
Consumption of resources: On average, an Internet user has 6 active electronic^devices4. The manufacture of these devices is material-intensive (over 50 different metals in a^smartphone5), and the extraction of these resources has a heavy impact on the environment.

With the acceleration in usage, the impact of digital technology is far from immaterial, and it is becoming imperative to act to regulate its impact.

How can we be digitally responsible?

Initiating a Responsible Digital approach means starting by

Raising awareness among stakeholders, so as to include them in our understanding of these issues
Assessing social and environmentalimpacts and identifying sources of impact
Acting on prioritylevers to reduce these sources of impact

Sources

1ADEME-Arcep, Assessment of the environmental impact of digital technology in France, Infography, January 2025

² ADEME-Arcep, Assessing the environmental impact of digital technology in France, Infographic, January 2025

3International Energy^Agency, Key world Energy Statistics, 2020

^4GreenIT.FR, Impacts environnementaux du numérique dans le monde, third edition, 2025

5Engineers Without Borders, List of rare metals in a smartphone, April 2017

Digital responsibility at Arneo

As a company with a mission, Arneo strives to have a positive impact on society in order to promote a more virtuous and sustainable digital environment through extended social objectives (ESO).

Find out more about our CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility)commitments.

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