Gaining a Better Understanding of the Internet’s Bilan Carbone® to Reduce the Digital Footprint

Conducting an Internet BilanCarbone® assessment means quantifying the greenhouse gas emissions generated by our online activities — from servers to smartphones, including networks. Incorporating digital services into an organization’s BilanCarbone® becomes a standard management practice. Long considered intangible, the web now accounts for a significant portion of companies’ environmental footprint. And the trend is accelerating. This article explains how to quantify this impact, which method to use, and how to turn these measurements into a catalyst for action.

📌 Key Takeaways

• The technology sector already accounts for 3 to 4 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and 4.4 percent of France’s carbon footprint, according to ADEME (updated 2022 data).
• The manufacturing of devices (computers, smartphones, monitors) is the leading source of waste, ahead of data centers and networks.
• A reliable assessment requires a rigorous methodology: life cycle analysis, ADEME’s Bilan Carbone® method, or the GHG Protocol/ISO 14064 framework.
• Without appropriate measures, this impact could triple by 2050 in France.
• Platforms such as Decarbo’Solution® help companies measure, organize, and reduce the environmental impact of their digital usage and value chain.

What is an Internet Carbon Footprint®?

An Internet Bilan Carbone® assesses the greenhouse gas emissions associated with all online activities: web browsing, email, video streaming, file storage, videoconferencing, website hosting, and cloud services. It covers both personal and professional use.

Contrary to popular belief,digital technology is not “clean.” Behind every page viewed lie devices, servers, and kilometers of cables that consume energy and use up resources. Making this invisible impact visible is the whole point of this initiative.

For an organization, this assessment is part of a comprehensive GHG inventory. Digital operations appear in both Scope 2 (electricity used by equipment) and, most importantly, Scope 3 (manufacturing of purchased equipment, outsourced cloud services, and hosting). Scope 3 is the most difficult to track—and the largest in terms of emissions.

Why does the internet cause so much pollution?

The paradox of this sector lies in its invisibility. A single click may seem inconsequential, but it sets off a very real physical chain reaction. This impact stems from three main categories of sources.

🖥️ Devices —computers, smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, and connected devices. This is the category that emits the most, mainly because of their production.

🏢 Data centers — the facilities that host websites, applications, cloud services, and, increasingly, artificial intelligence models. They consume electricity continuously, both for computing and for cooling.

🌐 Networks —the “plumbing” of the web: mobile towers, modems, fiber-optic cables, and routers that carry data between servers and your devices.

This breakdown has strategic implications. To take action, a company must first assess its equipment fleet (how many devices it has and how often they are replaced) before focusing on the electricity consumption associated with their use. The production phase often accounts for a larger share than the usage phase.

There is also an often-overlooked aspect: pollution is not limited to the climate. Metal mining also affects soil, water, and biodiversity. This is therefore a 360-degree environmental issue, of which the climate is just one facet—the most measurable one.

Key Figures You Should Know

Recent studies by ADEME and ARCEP provide a sense of the scale of the phenomenon. Here are the key figures.

📊 Globally: The sector accounts for 3 to 4% of greenhouse gas emissions, with an annual growth rate of about 6%. At this rate, it could account for nearly 7% of the total by 2030.

🇫🇷 In France: The ADEME-ARCEP study estimated this figure at 2.5% of the national carbon footprint in 2020. The latest update raises the figure to 4.4% in 2022, as it now includes data centers located abroad but accessed from France.

📺 The impact of video: It accounts for nearly half of all online traffic (and up to 60–80% of mobile traffic). Audiovisual content alone accounts for 5.6 million metric tons of CO₂e, or about one-third of France’s total digital emissions.

💜 Did you know?

According to ADEME, an email with an attachment emits nearly 35 gCO₂e, and one hour of streaming emits between 6 and 64 gCO₂e, depending on the device, display quality, and type of connection. Taken on its own, this is minimal. But when multiplied by billions of daily uses, the impact becomes massive.

The trend is just as concerning as the current level. Unless there is a change in course, the impact could triple by 2050—or even quintuple in the most pessimistic scenario. The rise of artificial intelligence, which requires massive amounts of computing power, has not even been fully factored into these projections yet.

 ⚠️ Warning

For a company, these emissions are not just a matter of reputation. They represent a cost center (electricity, equipment replacement) and a regulatory compliance issue. The CSRD directive requires detailed reporting on Scope 3 emissions, of which digital operations are an integral part.

What method should be used to measure this impact?

A reliable online BilanCarbone® assessment cannot be improvised. The quality of the results depends entirely on the protocol used. Several standardized frameworks exist, and they should not be confused with one another.

ADEME’s Bilan Carbone® Method

The BilanCarbone® method is the French industry standard, originally created by the agency and now administered by the Association for Low-Carbon Transition (ABC). It accounts for an organization’s total emissions, including Scopes 1, 2, and 3—and thus digital operations. It is a registered trademark: the name “BilanCarbone® ” may only be used when this specific protocol is applied.

📗 Definition

The Bilan Carbone® is a climate accounting method developed by ADEME that assesses the direct and indirect emissions of an organization or product. When quantifying emissions without referring to this method, the term “GHG inventory” (greenhouse gas emissions inventory) is generally used.

Other Standards

Other international frameworks provide a basis for this type of calculation:

🌍 The GHG Protocol, the most widely used global standard, is organized into three scopes.

📐 The ISO 14064 standard, which establishes procedures for quantification and verification at the organizational level.

🔬 The ISO 14067 standard, which addresses a product's carbon footprint (PCF)—useful for evaluating a specific service, such as an app or a platform.

♻️Life cycle assessment (LCA), a multi-criteria approach that tracks a piece of equipment from the extraction of raw materials through to the end of its life.

The Issue of Emission Factors

Regardless of the protocol, the calculation is based on emission factors:coefficients that convert activity data (a kWh, a device produced, a GB transferred) into kilograms of CO₂e. The robustness of these coefficients determines the reliability of the result.

⚠️ Warning

Many consumer-facing tools rely on generic default values. For professional use—CSRD reporting, responding to requests for proposals, and managing a carbon footprint—these approximations are no longer sufficient. Primary, traceable, and auditable data is required, particularly for Scope 3 emissions (hardware, cloud, and hosting).

This is where a specialized platform really comes into its own. The Decarbo’Inventory® performs an analytical GHG inventory in accordance with ISO 14064, the GHG Protocol, and the BilanCarbone® method, incorporating digital emissions alongside other sources. It supports the import of an existing BEGES inventory without the need for re-entry.

How to Reduce Your Data Usage

Measuring is only the first step. An assessment is only valuable if it leads to action. Here are the most effective strategies, listed in descending order of impact.

🔧 Extend the lifespan of your devices. Since mass production is the dominant force, keeping a computer or smartphone for one or two more years is the most effective action you can take. Repair, refurbishment, and reuse reduce the environmental impact per unit.

📥 Choose refurbished products. A secondhand device helps avoid most of the waste associated with its manufacturing.

🎚️ Optimize resource-intensive tasks. Reduce the default video resolution, limit background streaming, disable autoplay, and use Wi-Fi instead of mobile data for large downloads.

🗂️ Streamline stored data. The cloud, archived emails, redundant backups: every GB retained ties up server resources. Effective file governance reduces the load on data centers.

☁️ Choose a sustainable hosting solution. Prioritize cloud providers that use low-carbon electricity and are energy-efficient (PUE metric).

🛒 Engage your supply chain. For a company, most of its impact lies upstream: hardware manufacturers, software vendors, and hosting providers.

💜 Did you know?

In most organizations, 60 to 90 percent of waste falls under Scope 3, both upstream and downstream of operations. In the digital realm, this means that the most impactful action is to collect reliable data from IT service providers rather than simply optimizing internal consumption.

That is the purpose of the Decarbo’Supply® module, which structures supplier commitments and collects auditable product carbon footprints—from computer manufacturers to cloud service providers. Once the data has been validated, Decarbo’Target® transforms the assessment into a quantified action plan, complete with reduction trajectories and Capex/Opex trade-offs. We move from a static snapshot to a dynamic plan of actionable steps.

Where should you start in the workplace?

For an executive or CSR manager, the process may seem overwhelming. However, it is broken down into clear steps.

1. Map out the scope. Identify the device inventory, cloud services, hosting solutions, and primary online uses.
2. Collect operational data. Number of devices and replacement frequency, electricity consumption, file sizes, hosting contracts.
3. Apply a recognized protocol, such as the Bilan Carbone® method, the GHG Protocol, or ISO 14064, using robust emission factors.
4. Identify priority areas. Focus the analysis on where the impact is greatest: equipment and suppliers, above all.
5. Develop a reduction plan. Set goals, track metrics, and integrate this initiative into the overall low-carbon strategy.

⚠️ Warning

A standalone digital assessment is of little value. Its true value becomes apparent when it is integrated into the overall GHG assessment and contributes to regulatory reporting (CSRD), responses to requests for proposals, and the financial management of climate-related costs. The web is not a silo; it is one component among many in a coherent strategy.

Every industry is affected—including those whose core business has nothing to do with technology. A mid-sized construction company, for example, digitizes its plans, uses a growing number of construction site management tools, and stores terabytes of project data: its online footprint is growing without the company always realizing it. Having a single tool to measure all of its data footprint—including connected devices—becomes a strategic advantage.

This is the integrated approach of Decarbo’Solution®: a single data foundation linking GHG inventory, supplier engagement, reduction targets, and regulatory reporting. Climate issues then cease to be a cost to be borne and instead become a driver of performance and differentiation.

Conclusion

The Bilan Carbone® Internet is no longer reserved for experts in responsible digital technology. Accounting for 4.4% of France’s carbon footprint and on a trajectory that could triple by 2050, measuring the web’s impact has become a standard management practice. The production of devices, data centers, and networks represents a very real burden, long masked by the apparent intangibility of online services. Whether it’s pollution from data centers or pollution caused by emails sent by the billions, every instance of use leaves a measurable footprint.

For businesses, the stakes go beyond compliance. Reliable data—including data on connected devices—protects profit margins, strengthens responses to requests for proposals, and solidifies CSRD reporting. Measuring is the first step toward reducing—and reducing transforms a constraint into a sustainable advantage.

Do you want to integrate your digital practices into a comprehensive and actionable climate strategy? Decarbo’Solution® supports organizations from measurement to reduction, with robust, auditable, and economically valuable data. 👉 Explore the platform at www.decarbosolution.com and request a demo.