This report summarises the history and issues involved in assessing the net environmental impacts of digital solutions. First, the basic concepts of this type of assessment, such as net accounting, rebound effects, attributional and consequential approaches, are reviewed. Next, the classification and explanation of the direct and indirect effects of digital solutions are defined on the basis of existing scientific literature. Thirdly, a historical review of the issues related to the contribution of digitisation to climate policies and related publications is presented from 1995 to the present day. The report also provides a state of the art of scientific knowledge on the environmental effects of digitisation. Finally, a comparative analysis of existing methods for assessing the net, or at least indirect, environmental impacts of digital solutions is developed for each key methodological point. This report provides a comprehensive and extensive summary of all the scientific and methodological knowledge available for assessing the net environmental impact of digitisation.
ADEME IT4GREEN: Study of knowledge and net impacts methods in the digital sector
With DDemain, Mavana and Gauthier Roussilhe, we produced a report reviewing existing knowledge and methods in relation with net impacts of digitisation, i.e. the impacts that could be ‘avoided’ by digital technology in other sectors.