Digital is an increasingly heavy industry

¹ Nantes-Atlantique Economics and Management Laboratory (LEMNA), BP 52231, 44322 Nantes Cedex 3
² The Shift Project, 16-18 rue de Budapest, 75009 Paris
³ Arènes (UMR 8051 CNRS), École des hautes études en santé publique (EHESP), Université de Rennes, 15 avenue du professeur Léon Bernard, 35043 Rennes Cedex
⁴ Montpellier Research in Management (MRM), 163 rue Auguste Broussonnet, 34090 Montpellier

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Abstract

Cloud computing and related practices are one of the most energy-intensive activities in the entire digital ecosystem.

On 10 March 2021, a fire completely destroyed one of the four Strasbourg data centres of OVH, the French leader in cloud computing. This unfortunate fire (see photo, p. 153) and its far-reaching consequences should encourage us to rethink the relationship between digital technology, the environment and our own sustainability. The damage and impact of this fire show that the cloud is not as ethereal as it seems. Quite the contrary. When the data centre burns down, it is indeed matter that burns. Our data is hosted and processed in factories, even if its physical reality, virtualised by marketing and media rhetoric, has become less and less perceptible to the end user.