Our eco-design approach

At SNCF Connect & Tech, reducing the environmental footprint of our digital services is one of our priorities: that's why we decided to follow the General Policy Framework for the Ecodesign of Digital Services (RGESN) for the design of this site. Our score of 82% in an external audit is evidence of our commitment to responsible digital services.

Aware of the environmental impact of our activities, we have designed and developed this site using an eco-design approach.
 

Why?

 

  • Because the digital sector is responsible for 3 to 4% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. In France, these emissions are at 2.5%, and could increase by 60% by 2040 if nothing is done to reduce them, according to the preliminary report of the Senate's Information Mission on the environmental footprint of the digital sector, quoted by Arcep.
  • Because, as a digital company, we are committed to a more responsible digital environment, notably through the Charte Numérique Responsable (Sustainable IT Charter) of which we are a signatory.
     

How does it work?

 

In order to cover the entire scope of eco-design, we have designed our site to address the 3 challenges of corporate social responsibility: environmental, social and economic. We have built an eco-designed site:
 

  • Through its technical characteristics: light, both in terms of functionality and data, requiring less energy to operate and to be used;
  • Through the meaning we give it and its usefulness for the target audiences, to present our activities and recruit our talents. 

 

We have also made it a priority to make our site accessible to as many people as possible, including persons with disabilities, with a target level of AA compliance.

Our eco-design approach

Scope of coverage

Guided by the best practices of the General Policy Framework for the Ecodesign of Digital Services (RGESN) created by the Interministerial Digital Directorate (DINUM), the Ministry for Ecological Transition, ADEME and the Institut du Numérique Responsable, we worked on technical, functional, graphic and editorial aspects.

Methodology implemented

To achieve our goals, we have built up a team of experts in digital responsibility, both within our internal talent pool and in our selection of external partners.
 

  • Internally, the entire team involved in the project attended a special 2-day training course on 'Developing eco-responsible sites'.
  • Our graphic design and editorial agency, La Netscouade, was selected for its expertise in eco-design (La Netscouade notably supported ADEME in the redesign of its Ademe.fr site, which achieved an overall compliance rate of 80% according to RGESN criteria).
  • Finally, we called in an independent service provider, Temesis, to carry out a production review from an eco-design angle throughout the project, in order to guarantee the soundness of our approach. In addition to being a recognised expert in responsible digital design and eco-design, Temesis participated in co-constructing the beta version of the RGESN.

External audit results

The SNCF Connect & Tech site was audited on 15 May 2025 by Temesis, an agency specialised in the eco-design of digital services.

This audit confirmed a score of 82% for the RGESN, based on version v.1 2024 of the reference framework. This is the latest version published by ARCEP in May 2024.

Actions criterion by criterion

1.1 Has the digital service been evaluated favourably in terms of usefulness, taking into account its environmental impacts?
 

The creation of the SNCF Connect & Tech website offers a service that can only be offered by a digital service.
 

It has been designed to meet the needs of customers, candidates and the press through the same digital service. The value created is therefore considerable, since it gives access to previously non-existent information about the company.
 

In addition, the website meets several of SNCF Connect & Tech's needs in terms of serving its customers and service users:
 

  • Publicising, explaining and promoting its products and services.

 

  • Centralising information in the recruitment section to relay job offers as well as in the press area. Before the website was created, two other digital areas existed separately. Information was less easily accessible. The website has made it possible to create a common entry point for all customers, candidates, journalists, etc. wishing to find out more about the company.
     

The website is a digital showcase for the internal communication of the company's values, a commercial showcase to address the company's business challenges, and a public showcase to promote the brand externally.
 

Each feature developed by the website has been designed to be optimal for the website user. In the back office, each module developed was streamlined to be used for several pages. No superfluous feature was developed.
 

If the website had not been created, the company's wealth of products and services would have remained unknown or only partially known to potential customers. Information would not have been centralised for the various audiences interested in the company and its business.

1.2 Has the digital service defined its target users, business needs and the actual expectations of target users? 
 

Prior to the creation of the website, several scoping workshops were held with the La Netscouade agency to confirm the priority issues, the service's target users, the information paths and architecture; page templates and mock-ups were produced to comply with the eco-design approach and General Accessibility Improvement Framework (RGAA) best practices. Content was defined to address different audiences and establish a relevant editorial and content strategy.

1.3 Does the digital service have at least one designated representative for digital eco-design?
 

The SNCF Connect & Tech site was created with constant attention to eco-design, from the design of the mock-ups to the code review. The technical team in charge of the project was trained upstream to integrate eco-design principles. Sylvain Bousselier, Design and Development Engineer at SNCF Connect & Tech, was appointed as the reference person and is currently in charge of monitoring changes to the site. In case of absence, a second reference person, also trained in eco-design, replaces him to ensure continuous monitoring.

1.4 Does the digital service regularly conduct reviews to ensure compliance with its eco-design approach?
 

The site's development has been submitted to a code review by the Temesis agency at the end of each sprint, to ensure compliance with eco-design objectives.
 

Long-term monitoring of developments in line with the eco-design approach is integrated into a monthly monitoring process, with the technical team in charge of the project. This enables us to verify ongoing compliance with the principles of sustainability and energy optimisation.

1.5 Has the digital service set targets for reducing or limiting its own environmental impacts?


Environmental impact is analysed on a quarterly basis, using tools such as Lighthouse and Green IT.
 

This impact is measured on the basis of the following elements for a selection of representative pages:
 

  • Ecoindex score;
  • Number of requests;
  • Page weight;
  • Data transferred.
     

Corrective actions are taken following this analysis as part of the ongoing monitoring of the site, based on the maximum limits we have set ourselves:
 

  • Maximum page score at D;
  • Maximum number of requests: 60 per page;
  • Maximum page weight: 3 MB;
  • Data transferred: 1.6 MB.
     

noted on 23 April 2025
 


In addition, the site is scanned regularly, and an alert is triggered for any uploaded file larger than 3 MB.
The detected file is then reworked to match the set limit.

1.6 Does the digital service collect data in a responsible and reasonable manner?
 

The SNCF Connect & Tech digital service collects data for the purposes of processing job applications, improving the content and services offered on the site and managing requests of a commercial or informative nature.

The various means of collection available on the digital service are:
 

  • forms enabling you to contact us for a job application or a contact request;
  • cookies placed when browsing the site.


Users are invited to provide their consent via a tick box located on the forms or via the cookie consent management pop-in.

Identification data is kept for a maximum of 2 years from the date of the user's last visit to the site or the date of the user's last request.

Application data is kept for 2 years from the date of application.

Cookies are stored for 13 months from the date of deposit.

 

To find out more: https://www.sncf-connect-tech.fr/en/privacy-policy

1.7 Does the digital service use a level of encryption appropriate to its needs?
 

The SNCF Connect & Tech digital service does not use encryption for sensitive data, as the front-end does not include a customer area or similar functionalities requiring data encryption. Consequently, this criterion does not apply directly to the service. However, appropriate security measures, such as the use of HTTPS to secure exchanges, are in place to guarantee the confidentiality of data in transit between the user and the service.

1.8 Has the digital service implemented any open source initiatives?
 

The code for the SNCF Connect & Tech digital service is not released under an open source license for strategic reasons. However, although the source code is not open source, efforts are made to use open source technologies in the design and development of the service. These choices enable us to take advantage of the innovation provided by the open source community, particularly in the area of optimisation.

1.9 Has the digital service been designed using standard, interoperable technologies rather than specific, closed technologies?
 

The digital service has been designed using mainly open source technologies, thus guaranteeing flexibility. With the exception of tracking technologies such as Adobe Analytics, all other technologies are based on open standards.
 

List of technologies used in the digital service:
 

  • Drupal (open source content management system)
  • Next.js (open source JavaScript framework for web development)
  • Tailwind CSS (open source CSS framework for user interface design)
     

These technologies guarantee broad compatibility and facilitate integration with other systems and services.

1.10 Does the digital service rely on documented and open APIs to interact with hardware?
 

The digital service is based on Drupal in headless mode. The service's APIs are used to feed content into the site, via the JSON format. These APIs are internal and are used for data management and presentation, but are not open to interact directly with the hardware.
 

The interfaces are documented internally, but are not open to the public or to external users.

2.1 Has the digital service defined the list of hardware profiles that users will be able to use to access it?
 

The digital service has been designed using a mobile-first approach, to ensure optimum accessibility for users with rural 3G connections and older hardware. It is accessible on smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktops, and can be used on touchscreen versions on mobiles and tablets.


User coverage is broad, encompassing devices running Apple and Android, as well as multiple browsers.


Compatibility is assured with Chrome 100 and above, Firefox 100 and above.

The mobile and tablet version is optimised for a minimum screen size of 375 px wide, and the desktop version is optimised for a minimum screen size of 1024 px wide.


The digital service has been tested in a degraded version, with no cache to simulate older hardware.
For example, it can be used on the following hardware:
 

  • Dell E6500 4 GB RAM, 3 Ghz processor power;
  • iPhone 10, 3 GB RAM, 6-core processor 2.39 Ghz;
  • Samsung S3, 1.5 GB RAM, 4 cores, 1.4 GHz.
     

Test setup

Limiting accessible js memory to simulate low RAM usage

2.2 Can the digital service be used on older models of devices?
 

The digital service can be used on older terminals, provided they support JavaScript.
 

It has been designed to work on all types of terminal and tested under real-life conditions. For example, it has been tested on a Samsung Galaxy S3 and an iPhone 10. What is more, the site works on 3G connections, guaranteeing accessibility even on older devices with limited network performance.
By way of example, the service is usable on the following hardware:
 

  • Dell E6500 4 GB RAM, 3 Ghz processor power (released August 2008)
  • iPhone 10, 3 GB RAM, 6-core 2.39 Ghz processor, IOS 11 (released November 2017)
  • Samsung S3 Neo, 1.5 GB RAM, 4 cores, 1.4 GHz, Android 4.4.4 (KitKat) (released in April 2014)

2.3 Can the digital service be used via a low-speed connection or offline?
 

The digital service can be used via a low-speed connection. It runs on 3G rural, i.e. 144 Kbps downstream, and its behaviour has been tested using Google Chrome's Developer Toolbar to simulate these low-bandwidth conditions. The digital service takes less than 30 seconds to load, and less than 10 seconds with ADSL.
 

However, it is not designed for offline use, as it requires an active connection to access its main features.

2.4 Can the digital service be used on older versions of operating systems and web browsers?
 

The digital service can be used on older versions of operating systems. In particular, it runs on Windows 11 released in October 2021, and has been tested on several devices. Tests have also been carried out on Android and IOS.

NextJS technology:
 

  • Chrome 100+ (released March 2022)
  • Firefox 100+ (released May 2022)
     

For more information: See the link
  

It is possible to add Polyfills to add older browsers (to be discussed as the site evolves).

2.5 Is the digital service adaptable to different types of display terminals?
 

The digital service adapts to different types of display terminals.
 

The service's content and functionalities remain available and usable on various screen resolutions:
 

  • Mobile and tablets: from 375px to 1024px
  • Desktop: from 1024px, in accordance with the specifications of the mock-ups.
  • The service is also designed to be accessible both by mouse (computer) and touch (mobile). Tests have been carried out under these conditions to guarantee an optimal user experience. These tests are documented in the eco-design statement.

2.6 Was the digital service designed with a design review and code review that included reducing the environmental impact of each feature as one of its objectives?
 

The digital service was reviewed by Temesis at each sprint during the development phase. The points raised were analysed and corrected wherever possible, with the aim of reducing the environmental impact of each feature.
 

These regular reviews, integrated into the development cycle, enabled the design and code to be optimised in line with best eco-design practices.

2.7 Does the digital service have a maintenance and decommissioning strategy in place?
 

A maintenance strategy has been put in place and regularly updated in the form of a 'RUN' service for daily monitoring.
 

This service includes:
 

  • Preventive maintenance to anticipate the consequences of ageing of the digital service, including version upgrades of technical elements;
  • Corrective maintenance to correct unexpected behaviour;
  • Patch management to correct any faults;
  • Adaptive maintenance to anticipate the consequences of changes in the environment.
     

The management back office makes it easy to unpublish, archive and delete content, media or files that have become obsolete.

 

Orphaned entities are deleted automatically every day, while media (images, PDFs) are deleted manually by contributors.

2.8 Does the digital service require its suppliers to guarantee that they are taking steps to reduce their environmental impact?
 

The eco-design criterion was included from the outset in the specifications for the creation of the website, particularly for the UX/UI part, which was carried out externally. This criterion was decisive in the choice of service provider, so that the one offering the most in-depth support in this area was selected. For other ancillary services, such as hosting, we adopted a consistent strategy, using the same provider for the entire SNCF Connect & Tech infrastructure. We do not explicitly impose environmental guarantees on our providers. However, this centralisation allows us to optimise resource use and limit the scattering of environmental impacts linked to the management of multiple suppliers. It should also be noted that for the website development, the technical teams underwent training to develop energy-efficient and responsible code. 

 

For more information on AWS: See the link

2.9 Has the digital service taken into account the environmental impact of the ready-to-use interface components used?


The digital service's back office is headless. It provides the front- office with a JSON file representing the data to be displayed on the page, as well as the configuration required to display it.
 

The front office is made up of reusable components to reduce environmental impact.
 

For example, there are dedicated components for headings, paragraphs, images, buttons and so on.
 

The shadcn/ui library was chosen to manage complex components, due to its low environmental impact. This library operates without any additional dependencies: it consists solely of integrated pieces of code for each necessary component, enabling fine-grained control of the elements used.
 

The carousel component was deliberately omitted, as it would have been used only once on the site. Its addition would have run counter to our approach to reducing environmental impact. It was replaced by an existing, more energy-efficient component (a tab-type component).
 

The site's components are used and loaded only on the pages where they are required, thus limiting the resources transferred and the size of the pages.
 

The site's images use the source attribute to enable targeted and consistent display of images according to their display zones for different resolutions.

Images also use lazy loading and Webp format.

2.10 Did the digital service take into account the environmental impact of the third-party services used during selection?


Yes, the environmental impact of third-party services was taken into account when evaluating solutions. However, the company's existing choices, particularly in terms of suppliers and shared solutions, limit the integration of cleaner third-party services for the time being. This constraint has nevertheless been identified, and avenues for improvement are being explored for subsequent phases.

3.1 Is the digital service based on an architecture of resources or components designed to reduce their own environmental impacts?
 

The choice of Drupal as CMS contributes to an architecture geared towards digital sobriety and reduced environmental impact.
 

Drupal integrates efficient caching mechanisms, limiting server processing by avoiding the need to recalculate the same content for each request. This significantly reduces server load and the associated energy consumption.
 

Thanks to its modular structure, Drupal enables you to activate only those features that are really necessary, thus avoiding the loading of unnecessary code or modules.
 

Drupal offers tools for optimised image management (compression, style management), which reduces bandwidth usage and improves loading times, with a direct effect on client- and server-side energy consumption.

3.2 Does the digital service operate on an architecture that can adapt the amount of resources used to the consumption of the service?
 

The digital service adapts to resource consumption through auto scaling, which is triggered at 60% CPU load. The services used consume little energy. The load can be increased or decreased as required.
 

There are three CPU-based auto scaling services: nextjs, proxy and Drupal.
There are two instances of each service to ensure resilience, then depending on a threshold and a number of CPU readings, an instance is added if necessary.
 

Example of adding or removing instances:


Nextjs
 

  • CPU > 50% for 3 min: + 1 instance
  • CPU 30% for 6 min: -1 instance
     

Proxy
 

  • CPU > 60% for 3 min: + 1 instance
  • CPU 30% for 6 min: -1 instance


Drupal
 

  • CPU > 60% for 3 min: + 1 instance
  • CPU 30% for 6 min: -1 instance


There are always a minimum of two instances and a maximum of 16 instances.

3.3 Is the digital service capable of supporting technical developments in protocols?
 

The digital service is designed to adapt to technical changes in protocols to ensure optimum compatibility. It supports both IPv4 and IPv6 protocols, thus guaranteeing wide accessibility. HTTP connections are not directly supported, but an automatic redirection to HTTPS is systematically implemented to reinforce security. As a minimum, the service uses TLS version 1.3 for HTTPS, ensuring a high level of exchange protection. In addition, specific protocols such as HLS and WebRTC are also supported, thus meeting modern technical requirements and a wide range of uses.

3.7 Does the digital service optimise the use of development, pre-production or test environments according to its needs?
 

The digital service's environments are organised to offer optimal resource management. The main environments are:
 

  • Development
    Development environments are created on the fly as new requirements or features to be developed arise. They are active during specific development periods and are destroyed once development is complete, to avoid consuming resources unnecessarily.
    These environments are automatically switched off after working hours, in the evenings and at weekends, to avoid unnecessary resource consumption during this period.


Here's an example of a test environment displayed outside working hours:

503-service-temporarily-unavailable
  • Pre-production
    The pre-production environment is also created on demand just before production begins. It is a copy of the production version that is updated with the new version to be deployed for testing under real conditions.
    The transition to production is carried out in blue/green mode: pre-production becomes production, and the old production is destroyed in the days following the production launch.

4.3 Does the digital service optimise the navigation path for each main feature?


Persona work has enabled us to define paths for consulting the website's content based on the profiles and needs of the site's users.
 

On a day-to-day basis, Adobe Analytics tracking provides a clear vision of these paths, with key indicators such as:

  • Number of visits;
  • Bounce rate;
  • Use of the main devices used to consult the site;
  • Most visited pages;
  • Most consulted job offers;
  • Search engine positioning;
  • etc.
     

This information enables us to better understand the needs of Internet users, and to adjust our content accordingly over time.

4.5 Does the digital service mainly use functional components that are native to the operating system, browser or language used?
 

The digital service mainly uses libraries and frameworks such as React, NextJS and RadixUI, which are not native components. Their use meets technical constraints, notably to facilitate development, guarantee greater modularity and enhance the user experience. An analysis was carried out to limit the use of non-native components as much as possible. As a result, some components intended for one-off use have been abandoned in favour of existing reusable components, contributing to a more efficient and sustainable approach. In addition, the use of these tools is regularly checked against the resources loaded and their actual use.

4.6 Does the digital service only use informative video, audio and animated content?
 

The SNCF Connect&Tech website:
 

  • Does not use video and audio;
  • Uses essential 'skeleton loading' animations to inform the user that certain content is being loaded.

4.7 Does the digital service opt for the most energy-efficient choices between text, image, audio or video, based on user needs?


SNCF Connect&Tech website:
 

  • Does not use video or audio;
  • Uses illustrative images to guide the user - to enhance the user experience - or to provide visual information when necessary.

4.11 Does the digital service inform the user of the expected file sizes and formats before the transfer?
 

The SNCF Connect&Tech website displays the size and format of files available for download on the site.

4.12 Does the digital service inform the user that the use of a feature has significant environmental impacts?
 

An eco-design declaration is available on our website to inform users of our global approach to reducing environmental impact.
 

An in-depth assessment of the service's features has been carried out, and no component or feature has been identified as having a sufficiently significant environmental impact to require a specific alert for the user.
 

This analysis, documented in our eco-design declaration, is available on the website in the 'Our eco-design approach' section. This reflects our commitment to ensuring that every aspect of our digital service is designed with sustainability in mind...
 

Path: https://www.sncf-connect-tech.fr/en/our-eco-design-approach 

4.13 Does the digital service limit the use of notifications, while allowing users to disable them?
 

The digital service does not use any web, mobile push, email or SMS notification systems.

4.15 Does the digital service provide users with a means of controlling their usage in order to monitor and reduce the associated environmental impacts?
 

The digital service does not offer an energy-saving mode, as it was thought out, designed and optimised from the outset to comply with the criteria of the RGESN (General Policy Framework for the Ecodesign of Digital Services). This optimisation covers conception, design and technical aspects, guaranteeing a reduced environmental impact without requiring additional user intervention.
 

Nevertheless, we remain attentive to evolving needs, and are exploring the possibility of integrating tools or indicators to enable users to better understand and control their usage, with a view to reducing environmental impact.

5.2 Does the digital service offer images with a level of compression appropriate to the content and viewing context?
 

All images used on the digital service are in WebP format, an optimised format that significantly reduces their size while maintaining appropriate visual quality. Monochrome images are supplied in black and white, further reducing their size and environmental impact. What is more, each image is automatically reduced by a further 5% during processing, to guarantee better optimization without any noticeable loss of quality.
 

Compression is adapted to the context of use, thanks to image generation taking into account the size and resolution required for the user's device (e.g. mobile display or high-resolution screen). These quality and compression parameters will shortly be documented in our eco-design declaration, in line with our media optimisation policy.

5.7 Does the digital service use a file format that is appropriate for the content and context of use for each document?
 

All documents shared on the digital service are in PDF format, a universally compatible format accessible on most devices, and particularly suitable for viewing and sharing fixed content. This choice avoids unnecessary conversions, thus reducing the environmental impact of file processing.
 

Over time, these PDF files will be optimised to comply with eco-design rules, as some of these documents have been automatically migrated from a previous service and need to be optimised. This will include compressing the documents to reduce their size without compromising content quality, as well as removing superfluous elements (such as unnecessary metadata or non-system fonts). 

For each new PDF file created, contributors have been trained to make the right choices in terms of file format, and to optimise it in line with good eco-design practices.

The main criteria to be followed are whether:
 

  • this content is strictly necessary and cannot be replaced by content on the site;
  • the images are necessary;
  • the images deemed necessary are optimised;
  • the fonts in your document are system fonts;
  • annotations have been removed;
  • the file size has been optimised with the correct export parameters.

5.8 Does the digital service have a strategy for archiving and deleting obsolete or outdated content, either automatically or manually?
 

The digital service has a strategy for regularly deleting obsolete content, in order to limit the clutter and environmental impact of unnecessary storage.
 

Unused entities are automatically deleted every day.
 

Unused media are identified and deleted manually, to ensure that no files essential to the site's display are accidentally deleted.
 

This mixed approach - automatic and manual - enables a balance between ecological efficiency and operational security.

6.1 Does the digital service have a maximum weight and request limit per screen?
 

The digital service is committed to a maximum weight and a request limit per screen. We have set ourselves the following limits, which are checked quarterly on a sample of representative pages on the site:
 

  • Number of requests: 60
  • Page weight: 3 MB
  • Data transferred: 1.6 MB
     

These metrics are performed on computer and mobile in landing conditions, using the Chrome developer console. Hover preloads have been deliberately disabled on the site.

In-house training has been organised to raise contributors' awareness of eco-design best practices, in line with RGESN criteria. This training course focuses on creating optimised content, such as using lightweight images and complying with accessibility and performance principles.

6.2 Does the digital service use caching mechanisms for all transferred content under its control?
 

By default, all resources controlled by the digital service are cached on the client side with a validity period of one year. Some resources, such as static images, have specific caching rules. This strategy applies to static resources, which are rarely modified, in order to minimise network requests and improve end-user performance.

Cache revalidation is triggered automatically by Drupal when content is saved or modified, ensuring that users receive up-to-date information while optimising network resource consumption.

This strategy significantly contributes to reducing environmental impact by limiting unnecessary data transfers.
 

Specific caching rules:
 

  • Static images:
    Cache-Control: public, max-age=2592000 (30 days)
     
  • Contributed images:
    Cache-Control: public, max-age=7776000 (90 days)
     
  • Fonts (typefaces):
    Cache-Control: public, max-age=2592000 (365 days)
     
  • CSS:
    Cache-Control: public, max-age=31536000, (365 days), immutable
     
  • JavaScript:
    Cache-Control: public, max-age=31536000, (365 days), immutable

7.1 Does the digital service use a server cache system for the most frequently used data?
 

The digital service uses a server-side cache system for the most frequently used data, in order to optimise performance and limit data transfers. We use several caching technologies to suit different needs:
 

  • Redis for caching the most frequently requested data.
  • Drupal for fine-tuned cache management of dynamic pages and specific content.
  • Cloudflare for caching large-scale static resources, such as images and CSS/JS files, to reduce latency and improve loading speed at all points on the network.
     

Currently, there are no strict expiration rules applied, but Drupal's fine-grained management allows for regular updating of cached data, according to user needs. We have taken care to configure these systems to ensure that obsolete data is updated efficiently, while reducing the environmental impact of repeated data transfers.

7.2 Does the digital service set retention periods for data and documents with a view to their deletion or archiving after this period?
 

The quality of content for website users is our priority. We regularly review available content in order to keep it up to date, in particular by deciding whether certain content is obsolete or should be removed from the site. It is a continuous process.

8.1 Does the digital service use hosting that has a policy to reduce its environmental footprint?
 

The digital service uses hosting provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS), part of the Amazon group, which co-founded 'The Climate Pledge' with the NGO Global Optimism. This pledge aims to meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement 10 years early, by achieving carbon neutrality by 2040.
 

AWS is a signatory of the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact, which aims to promote and advance the sustainability of cloud computing, data centres and the technology needed to support a climate-neutral digital future by coordinating communications between the initiative's signatories and the European Union.
 

AWS is in the process of obtaining the following ISO certifications for its Data Centers around the world:
 


To date, AWS Data Centers in France are ISO 140001 and ISO 50001 certified.
New AWS Data Centers since 2023 are built using low-carbon concrete (35% less CO2 on average) and recycled steel, with up to five times less CO2 emitted.
See link


Of the 36 AWS regions worldwide, 22 are powered by 100% renewable energy, including all regions in Europe.
See link
 

The list of renewable energy projects with their location, peak energy and year of deployment is available:
View file

8.2 Does the digital service use hosting that provides a sustainable equipment management policy?


The digital service uses hosting provided by AWS, which designs all of its equipment (Servers, Storage and Network) and applies circular economy principles to its server racks by designing reusable, low-carbon rack systems from the outset. In addition, AWS strives to maintain equipment efficiency and safely recover the value of decommissioned equipment through reuse, repair and recycling. This effort has three main objectives:
 

1/ Better design: for server racks, AWS focuses on avoiding excess materials such as steel or plastic, increasing recycled and bio-based content, and planning for repair, reuse and recycling from the outset. AWS has worked with suppliers to require that plastic parts in the server racks launched since July 2023 contain at least 30% recycled or bio-based plastic. In 2023, AWS began the transition to plastic containing recycled and bio-based content in parts such as air ducts, power distribution board covers, card holders, SSD carriers/cages, riser brackets, latches and trays. The carbon footprint of these plastic parts is up to 14% lower than that of older platforms containing only blank content. AWS also strives to use steel from electric arc furnaces, which use scrap metal in the casings of the racks, thereby increasing the recycled content from 10 to 90%.
 

2/ Longer lifespan: AWS uses equipment for as long as possible for reasons of operational efficiency, thereby reducing the carbon footprint associated with the manufacture and use of new equipment and avoids unnecessary waste. In February 2024, AWS announced that the average expected lifespan of servers had increased from five to six years. AWS has also successfully completed a proof of concept that extends the lifespan of S3 hard disks by up to two years. This programme consolidates individual functional drives from several ageing racks into a smaller number of fully functional racks. This consolidation means that AWS moves from powering and cooling a larger number of ageing racks to a smaller number of racks offering optimised utility, saving water and energy. What is more, following consolidation, AWS sends only broken drives for recycling, thus avoiding the premature decommissioning of healthy, functional hard drives on the same rack. AWS sends the decommissioned rack to a reverse logistics centre for evaluation of its reuse. 
 

3/ More restoration: when decommissioning server racks, AWS removes all customer data through secure and thorough cleansing processes. AWS then sends removed infrastructure hardware from around the world to its regional reverse logistics hubs. These hubs help AWS consolidate, evaluate, repair and redistribute functional equipment in its inventory, or resell it to third parties for reuse. They also enable AWS to optimise component reuse in its Data Centers, removing decommissioned equipment from one facility and redeploying it to meet demand elsewhere. In 2023, AWS expanded its global reverse logistics surface area and capacity by investing in three additional sites located in the USA, Europe and Asia. Increased scalability and enhanced features provide global coverage for AWS's decommissioned servers and network hardware for testing, repair, reuse, or recycling.
 

  • In 2023, 14.6 million AWS hardware components were diverted from landfill by being recycled or sold on the secondary market for reuse. This is a gross figure recorded for the first time in 2023. It will be interesting to be able to compare the 2024 figure.
    Explanatory video: Watch the video

8.3 Does the digital service use hosting with minimised PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness)?
 

The digital service uses hosting provided by AWS, which has been providing cloud services to customers for nearly 18 years and continues to innovate to improve efficiency with each generation of data centre designs. As AWS builds new data centres, they seek the optimal balance between energy consumption and water consumption.
 

New data centre components integrated into the AWS data centre design are expected to deliver an energy efficiency index (PUE) of 1.08. PUE is one of the ways we measure the efficiency of our data centre operations. AWS calculates PUE using the internationally recognised principles of the International Organization for Standardization.
 

In 2023, AWS Data Centers had a global PUE of 1.15, and the best-performing site was in Europe, with a PUE of 1.04. On the American continent, the best-performing site had a PUE of 1.05, and in Asia-Pacific it was 1.08. 
 

These scores are below the International Data Corporation's estimated PUE of 1.84 in 2023 for private data centres.

PUE of AWS Regions: See link

It should be noted that the PUE is only available when AWS itself operates the data centre (and has done so for more than 12 months), which is not the case for data centres located in France.

8.4 Does the digital service use hosting with minimised WUE (Water Usage Effectiveness)?


The digital service uses hosting provided by AWS. AWS minimises water consumption by using real-time data to identify leaks, through the installation of sensors and alerts to monitor water consumption and detect anomalies.
 

Global teams deploy water monitoring technology within AWS Data Centers to determine where they need to take action to maintain or improve WUE. In 2023, they installed thousands of sensors in its Data Centers to track water consumption. Automatic alerts notify any anomalies so that operators can investigate in near-real time. AWS has also invested in on-site water treatment systems that remove scale-forming minerals, enabling more water to be recycled on-site and minimising water consumption for cooling. These technologies have helped improve global WUE to 0.18 litres of water per kilowatt-hour (l/kWh) in 2023 from 0.19 l/kWh in 2022.
 

That's a 5% improvement on the previous year, and a 28% improvement since 2021.

8.5 Does the digital service use hosting whose electricity consumption is documented and mostly of renewable origin?


The digital service uses AWS hosting. Of the 36 AWS regions worldwide, 22 are powered by 100% renewable energy, including all the regions in Europe.

  • See the link
  • The list of renewable energy projects with their location, peak energy and year of deployment is available in Spreadsheet format - View file

8.6 Does the digital service use hosting whose geographical location is consistent with its activities and minimises its environmental footprint?
 

The digital service is hosted in Paris, France. This location is consistent with the service's activities, as it minimises the distance between servers and users, most of which are located in France. This proximity reduces latency times, improves performance for end-users and limits the environmental impact of data transmission.
 

What is more, hosting in France guarantees compliance with local regulations, notably in terms of data protection (GDPR), while benefiting from a largely decarbonised electricity grid thanks to a high proportion of nuclear and renewable energy in the French energy mix.

8.7 Does the digital service use hosting that efficiently handles the heat generated by servers?
 

The digital service uses hosting provided by AWS, which is working on heat recovery initiatives and, wherever possible, innovating to ensure a local impact. The South Dublin County initiative is a good example of this; here, AWS reuses the excess heat from its Data Centrers to heat public buildings.

It is worth noting that French law obliges us to look into the possibility of using a data centre’s waste heat before building it.

8.8 Does the digital service host 'hot' and 'cold' data separately?


The digital service hosts its data with AWS, which offers different storage classes depending on the use case and data life cycle. For example, for backup use cases, the relevant storage classes are S3 standard, Intelligent tiering, glacier and glacier deep archive.

The digital service data is stored on a standard S3, which best meets our needs for regular access for web users and frequent content updates for contributors.

The total size is 3 GB, including the S3 bucket and the backup bucket.

8.9 Does the digital service duplicate data only when necessary?


The digital service backs up data that would take too long to recreate in the event of loss, i.e. the contents of the database and all the media available on the app. The host commits to a monthly data uptime of 99.9% or more. Penalties are applied in the event of non-compliance with the service commitment.

The Cloudflare service is used for security and performance purposes, thanks to its Content Delivery Network (CDN). This service limits traffic to the origin, thus limiting the number of requests.

Data duplication is carried out only when necessary, notably to speed up access to content and protect against possible attacks.

8.10 Does the digital service take external constraints into account to minimise the environmental impact of asynchronous data calculations and transfers?
 

Backups of the digital service are carried out daily outside peak energy demand times.

The MySQL dump is launched at midnight. The RDS database and S3 are backed up at 9pm via Amazon Backup.

9.1 Did the digital service consider the need for a training phase to prevent unjustified and unreasonable use?
 

The SNCF Connect&Tech website does not rely on an AI service and no training phase has been used.