Green IT Project**

In 2009, the Group consumed close to 824 GWh of electricity and heating and employee travel amounted to approximately 444 million km. The Group also generated the equivalent of around 279 000 tons of CO2 (down 4.5% per occupant on 2008). IT systems and equipment accounted for a substantial proportion of these figures, namely close to 50% of the Group's electricity consumption and 25% of its CO2 emissions.
Maturity analysis

Launched in the summer of 2008, a review of the environmental maturity of Société Générale's IT systems and equipment revealed the Group's strengths and weaknesses according to five major categories of analysis :
  • IT production centers : calculation and data storage infrastructures,
  • Working environment of end users : office workstations and laptops, printers, telephone systems, etc.
  • Working methods : organisation of work and use of IT systems and equipment potential,
  • Purchasing : maturity of suppliers, responsible processes, contractual framework, etc.
  • Corporate responsibility : interaction between the company and its "environment".
A 20-point plan of action across the five categories selected was then drawn up in order to improve the energy efficiency of the Group's IT resources and reduce its CO2 emissions.
The programme
Objective : The aim of Société Générale's Green-IT programme is to implement the plan of action resulting from the Group's IT systems' maturity analysis in 2008 by defining the priority measures to be taken in order to meet its ambitious environmental targets.
Its governance has been adapted to ensure the implication of all of the Group's business lines and divisions and oversee their coordination. Working groups have been formed for each of the measures to be set in place and are managed by five programme leaders. The programme itself is supervised by a Green-IT Committee made up of the heads of the main departments concerned (information systems, sustainable development, real estate, purchasing, innovation) and run jointly by the Group's IT and Sustainable Development Departments*.
Process
The Green-IT Committee and programme working groups were set in place in June 2009.
Each group was responsible for carrying out the preliminary technical and cost studies needed for each initiative. The results of these studies were then used to set quantifiable and measurable targets and to define the indicators needed to monitor their progress and subsequent success.
The steering committee that met in January 2010 approved :
  • The macro-planning for the measures to be implemented from 2010 – 2012,
  • The targets (in figures) for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2012, namely the equivalent of 25 000 tons of CO2 per year by 2012 (close to 8% of the Group's total emissions), and a 29% cut in emissions linked to IT systems and resources. Today, 70% of this target has been met*,
  • The estimated necessary investment for those measures that have not yet been budgeted.
From April 2010 onwards, the progress and CO2 gains made by the programme will be announced at the Green-IT Committee meetings held each quarter.
Responsible electronic and electrical waste management
Société Générale also plans to ensure its employees take a more responsible approach to electronic and electrical waste management. IT, office and telephone equipment that is replaced must be correctly treated when it is thrown away in order to keep its impact on the environment to a strict minimum. A Group directive on electronic and electrical waste has been published which lists the procedures to be followed and precautions to be taken in terms of security and the preservation of the environment. In France, an agreement has been signed with various companies from the waste management sector for the treatment and recycling of all Group electronic and telephone equipment.
* verified by Ernst & Young
** in line with our Global Compact commitments
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