European Sustainable Development Week 2024 (SEDD): 6 Green IT Awareness Activities

European Sustainable Development Week in a nutshell

European Sustainable Development Week (Semaine Européenne du Développement Durable, or SEDD) is an annual initiative to promote actions and projects that support sustainable development. This event, which runs from September 18 to October 8, encourages companies, organizations and citizens to adopt more sustainable practices, in line with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations' 2030 Agenda, which you can see below.

Why raise awareness of green IT in the workplace during SEDD 2024?

According to ADEME (the French agency for ecological transition), digital technology already accounted for 3 to 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2019. To reduce their carbon footprint, companies therefore need to look at how digital tools are used within their organization.

Raising awareness of green IT (responsible digital) at work is crucial for several reasons. The digital sector has a significant environmental impact, contributing to energy consumption, the depletion of natural resources and the production of electronic waste. And 75% of higher-education graduates use a computer every day for their work (Labo Société Numérique).

Raising employee awareness not only reduces these impacts, it also promotes a company culture that cares about the environment, which strengthens the company's social responsibility and its appeal to talent and customers who care about these issues.

So, ready to adopt a more responsible digital? Here are some ideas!

6 ideas for green IT awareness workshops

1. Repair Café: Organizing a Repair Café workshop in your company is an excellent way to promote longer equipment lifespans while actively involving your employees in a more responsible digital. This matters even more when you know that our digital devices account for 75% of the environmental impact of digital technology. In a few words, a Repair Café is a friendly meeting place where participants bring their broken electronic devices and learn to repair them with the help of experienced volunteers. Scaled to your company, this type of workshop can build social bonds between your employees while extending the life of their electronic equipment.

2. WEeeTri eco-box: Install eco-boxes in your offices to collect electronic waste for recycling. Run awareness campaigns on the importance of recycling electronic equipment and its positive environmental impact. Today, only 17.4% of electronic waste is recorded as officially collected and recycled, according to the WHO. Even worse, between 54 and 110 million smartphones are sleeping in our drawers (ADEME).

3. Awareness workshop on green IT issues: To act effectively for a responsible digital, it is crucial to understand the issues involved. That understanding comes through awareness workshops, which cover the environmental and social impacts of digital technology. These workshops are a chance to educate participants on sustainable practices, such as reducing the carbon footprint of technology or the importance of recycling electronic equipment.

❤️ Our favorite awareness workshop: the responsible digital escape game!

An innovative way to raise your employees' awareness of green IT is the escape game. If you want them to grasp the stakes and remember the key figures, this fun and collaborative format is an excellent way to do it. With puzzles, videos and quizzes, everyone stays captivated throughout the session. By immersing participants in interactive scenarios that illustrate good practices and the behaviors to adopt, the escape game promotes a better understanding and faster adoption of digital sobriety principles. This exercise also strengthens team cohesion and encourages collaboration and communication between colleagues, while building a sense of collective responsibility for the environmental impact of their digital actions.

Interested in this workshop? Contact us!

1. Digital cleanup day: Organize a digital cleanup day where employees delete unnecessary files, uninstall obsolete apps, reduce their cloud storage or unsubscribe from newsletters they no longer read. This workshop can include tips on managing data efficiently and reducing your digital carbon footprint. The goal is for employees to get used to doing these things every day. There are also many benefits to doing so. Cleaning up your files as you go brings more peace of mind thanks to better organization. Sorting your documents also makes it easier to find the right versions of your files.

2. Estimating your digital carbon footprint: Help your employees realize how much their carbon footprint matters. For this, you can use this website offered by ADEME, which calculates your digital carbon footprint based on the hours spent streaming or the number of emails sent. Realizing your negative impact on the environment is a first step toward an eco-responsible approach.

3. A talk on software eco-design: Invite experts to talk about software eco-design and how software development can integrate sustainable practices. This session can include case studies and discussions on optimizing code to reduce energy consumption. If you are looking for a speaker to invite, see our article on the 6 responsible digital figures to follow or the one on the 7 figures of eco-mobility.

Conclusion

This list of workshops will help you engage your employees. By integrating these initiatives into SEDD, companies actively contribute to global sustainable development goals and encourage responsible behavior within their organization.

If you are looking for more actions for European Sustainable Development Week, check out our latest article on the topic.