The hidden environmental cost of applications
While decarbonizing IT infrastructure is becoming more structured, applications remain a blind spot. Code, usage, dependencies, and topologies are technical layers that are often undocumented yet highly emissive. At Sopht Connect 2025, BNP Paribas, Groupama, Dynatrace, and Sopht came together to share their approaches for measuring and managing the environmental impact of application services. The discussion was rich, pragmatic, and showed a growing maturity in this space.
Three approaches, one shared goal: measure to transform
All participants had a similar objective: understand the impact of their application portfolio in order to better manage it. However, their methods differed.
– BNP Paribas co-developed a tool with Sopht and uses Dynatrace for its data.
– Groupama built its own internal eco-score.
– Dynatrace offers observability data to support advanced carbon analysis.
“We started with a map. A clear, visual image. And the first question that came up was: ‘What can I do to improve?'”_ — Luc Jezequel, Green IT Manager, BNP Paribas
From eco-scores to action
The goal is not to punish poor scores, but to offer practical ways to improve: reducing environment sizes, clearing cache, lowering data volume, or migrating to low-carbon data centers.
“We want to avoid application drift over time. We need simple, clear, and actionable indicators.” — Frédéric Arlhac, Head of Infrastructure Engineering and Operation, Groupama
Measurements are turned into easy-to-understand indicators: used vs requested CPU, relevant storage ratios, and justified technical environments. The tool becomes a means of communication between developers, FinOps, and business teams.
“Developers are often the most responsive to these issues — but only if they have tools they understand and can act on.” — Antoine Ferte, Sales Engineer Director Dynatrace
The key role of sponsorship and motivating KPIs
Scaling these initiatives depends on strong support from leadership. In all three cases, the effort was driven from the top.
“This was an executive decision — not just a proof of concept or an experiment, but a strategic move.” — Frédéric
Success metrics go beyond technical KPIs. They also become managerial, such as including goals in employee bonuses, steering efforts within business domains, and ongoing monitoring.
“The day we have a carbon non-regression metric built into our CI/CD pipelines, we’ll have reached a major milestone.” — Antoine
Sharing data to drive engagement
Success also hinges on the ability to share data. At Groupama and BNP Paribas, the interface was designed for developers, application owners, and even business teams.
“The more we share the eco-score, the more people get involved. But we need to provide solutions too. Otherwise, no one pays attention to a bad grade.” – Frederic
Collective intelligence then complements top-down governance. And the results come quickly: outdated apps identified, unnecessary environments shut down, and architecture streamlined.
A new standard in the making
This roundtable highlighted a young but growing movement. Environmental management of applications is becoming a lever for performance, resilience, and strategy. With the right tools, aligned governance, and a culture of sharing, sustainable applications could become the new normal.
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The hidden environmental cost of applications
While decarbonizing IT infrastructure is becoming more structured, applications remain a blind spot. Code, usage, dependencies, and topologies are technical layers that are often undocumented yet highly emissive. At Sopht Connect 2025, BNP Paribas, Groupama, Dynatrace, and Sopht came together to share their approaches for measuring and managing the environmental impact of application services. The discussion was rich, pragmatic, and showed a growing maturity in this space.
Three approaches, one shared goal: measure to transform
All participants had a similar objective: understand the impact of their application portfolio in order to better manage it. However, their methods differed.
– BNP Paribas co-developed a tool with Sopht and uses Dynatrace for its data.
– Groupama built its own internal eco-score.
– Dynatrace offers observability data to support advanced carbon analysis.
“We started with a map. A clear, visual image. And the first question that came up was: ‘What can I do to improve?'”_ — Luc Jezequel, Green IT Manager, BNP Paribas
From eco-scores to action
The goal is not to punish poor scores, but to offer practical ways to improve: reducing environment sizes, clearing cache, lowering data volume, or migrating to low-carbon data centers.
“We want to avoid application drift over time. We need simple, clear, and actionable indicators.” — Frédéric Arlhac, Head of Infrastructure Engineering and Operation, Groupama
Measurements are turned into easy-to-understand indicators: used vs requested CPU, relevant storage ratios, and justified technical environments. The tool becomes a means of communication between developers, FinOps, and business teams.
“Developers are often the most responsive to these issues — but only if they have tools they understand and can act on.” — Antoine Ferte, Sales Engineer Director Dynatrace
The key role of sponsorship and motivating KPIs
Scaling these initiatives depends on strong support from leadership. In all three cases, the effort was driven from the top.
“This was an executive decision — not just a proof of concept or an experiment, but a strategic move.” — Frédéric
Success metrics go beyond technical KPIs. They also become managerial, such as including goals in employee bonuses, steering efforts within business domains, and ongoing monitoring.
“The day we have a carbon non-regression metric built into our CI/CD pipelines, we’ll have reached a major milestone.” — Antoine
Sharing data to drive engagement
Success also hinges on the ability to share data. At Groupama and BNP Paribas, the interface was designed for developers, application owners, and even business teams.
“The more we share the eco-score, the more people get involved. But we need to provide solutions too. Otherwise, no one pays attention to a bad grade.” – Frederic
Collective intelligence then complements top-down governance. And the results come quickly: outdated apps identified, unnecessary environments shut down, and architecture streamlined.
A new standard in the making
This roundtable highlighted a young but growing movement. Environmental management of applications is becoming a lever for performance, resilience, and strategy. With the right tools, aligned governance, and a culture of sharing, sustainable applications could become the new normal.
