Environment: Parliament adopts text to green digital

The Parliament definitively adopted Tuesday, by a final vote of the Senate, a bill aiming to reduce the environmental footprint of digital, making France a pioneer country in this field, when world leaders are meeting in Glasgow to the COP26.

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This consensual text, carried by Senator LR Patrick Chaize, includes many measures aimed in particular at supporting the recycling and reuse of digital devices (smartphones, computers, tablets, etc.) to reduce their impact on the environment. According to the work of a senatorial information mission, if nothing is done, digital technology would by 2040 be the source of 24 million tonnes of carbon equivalent, or around 7% of greenhouse gas emissions. greenhouse in France, compared to 2% today. Smartphones, tablets and computers are believed to be responsible for nearly 70% of the impact of digital technology.

The text modified by the deputies does not fully satisfy the senators.

But they resigned themselves to voting it “

”, by a show of hands, so as not to delay the entry into force of the “

” it introduces in a field which is still “

” in environmental policy.

The most important point of disagreement relates to the private copying levy (PCR).

Created in 1985, this contribution is levied on recording media - blank CDs and DVDs, memories and hard drives for computers, phones or tablets - to compensate for the loss suffered by artists due to the possibility of copying their material. works.

No royalty exemption for the refurbished

To promote re-employment, the senators wanted to exempt second-hand equipment from the contribution. The reconditioning sector represented 15% of telephone sales in France in 2020. Faced with the outcry in the cultural world, but to the chagrin of the reconditioning industry, the government and the National Assembly have removed this exemption. “

Exclaimed Patrick Chaize, deeming this decision contrary to the very objective of the bill. "

" added Didier Mandelli (LR). The ecologist Jacques Fernique called for "

".

The text provides that second-hand equipment will be subject to "

", at a "

" rate compared to new devices, taking into account in particular their age. Companies in the social and solidarity sector specializing in this repackaging will be exempt. The text also proposes the creation of an “

” in order to establish more precise data on this complex issue. Because if they are energy-intensive and subject to rapid renewal, digital devices also make it possible to replace trips that generate even more CO2. It provides for awareness-raising training on the environmental impact of digital technology and on "

”in primary and secondary education.

It promotes data centers and networks that consume less electricity and strengthens the fight against planned obsolescence, extending it to software.

Among the measures introduced by MEPs: the establishment of digital equipment collection operations accompanied by a return bonus and the abolition of the obligation to provide headphones when selling mobile phones.

"

", underlined the rapporteur LR Guillaume Chevrollier.

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The Secretary of State for Digital Transition Cédric O, for his part, praised innovation for a successful environmental transition.

"

" he said. he declares.

The Senate voted in the wake of first reading a complementary bill aimed at strengthening the environmental regulation of digital technology by Arcep, the telecoms regulator, whose adoption by deputies should be a simple formality.