Green IT  as a strategic lever

While many companies are still struggling to understand their digital footprint, Edenred has taken the lead. At Sopht Connect 2025, Anupama Nair (CSR & Climate Manager) and David Heinzer (Green IT Promoter) shared a major initiative launched 18 months ago: to measure, manage, and reduce the environmental impact of digital activities using Sopht. From the start, the project brought together both CSR and IT teams—a strategy that combines climate ambition, rigorous methodology, and operational pragmatism.

A project backed at the highest level

At Edenred, climate commitment is a core priority. The company’s carbon reduction plan is approved by the SBTi, with targets to reduce carbon intensity by 55% by 2030 and by 90% by 2050.

“In 2024, 93% of our emissions fall under scope 3. A significant part comes from IT.” — Anupama Nair

Given these numbers, Edenred chose to tackle digital emissions directly: cloud, data centers, devices, telecoms—everything is included. And this awareness didn’t just come from the CSR team.

“We knew IT had a real impact. But without concrete data, it was hard to take action or set priorities.” — David Heinzer

From measurement to action

The implementation of Sopht’s solution followed three key phases: defining the scope, collecting and validating IT data (from Azure, AWS, Intune, Microsoft 365…), and then building decarbonization scenarios—measured in CO₂ and cost.

“Our goal wasn’t to tick a box. We wanted to build a realistic and actionable plan by 2030.” – Anupama Nair

Using Sopht’s simulation tools, Edenred quickly identified high-impact actions. A good example: extending the lifespan of employee laptops.

“Extending usage from 36 to 48 months for part of our fleet could save 54 tons of CO₂ and €116,000.” — David Heinzer

Central management, local activation

A major goal of the project is to scale the approach across all business units. This requires breaking down emissions by BU, customizing action plans, and most importantly, empowering each local team to act.

“Each BU will need to create its own action plan, based on its equipment, usage, and maturity. That’s the only way to scale effectively.” — David Heinzer

This approach is already in place for employee devices, managed centrally. For cloud services, it’s more complex due to each BU’s independence—but Edenred is implementing a unified tagging system (Azure & AWS) to allocate responsibility.

A key success factor: executive sponsorship

The success of the project is also tied to strong executive support.

“Our CEO is deeply committed. Decarbonization is a strategic priority.” — Anupama Nair

Recently, Edenred even appointed a dedicated Green IT Director. The aim is clear: to make digital sobriety a full-fledged business skill—structured, supported, and shared across the organization.

Digital sobriety is smart sobriety

Beyond the environmental benefits, Edenred sees digital sobriety as a driver for economic efficiency, collective engagement, and strategic transparency. By showing it’s possible to manage a Green IT strategy even in complex organizations, Edenred sets an example for other large companies.

“Without measurement, there’s no action. But with the right tools and good governance, we can move fast, effectively, and together.” — David Heinzer

Share this article on your networks

Green IT  as a strategic lever

While many companies are still struggling to understand their digital footprint, Edenred has taken the lead. At Sopht Connect 2025, Anupama Nair (CSR & Climate Manager) and David Heinzer (Green IT Promoter) shared a major initiative launched 18 months ago: to measure, manage, and reduce the environmental impact of digital activities using Sopht. From the start, the project brought together both CSR and IT teams—a strategy that combines climate ambition, rigorous methodology, and operational pragmatism.

A project backed at the highest level

At Edenred, climate commitment is a core priority. The company’s carbon reduction plan is approved by the SBTi, with targets to reduce carbon intensity by 55% by 2030 and by 90% by 2050.

“In 2024, 93% of our emissions fall under scope 3. A significant part comes from IT.” — Anupama Nair

Given these numbers, Edenred chose to tackle digital emissions directly: cloud, data centers, devices, telecoms—everything is included. And this awareness didn’t just come from the CSR team.

“We knew IT had a real impact. But without concrete data, it was hard to take action or set priorities.” — David Heinzer

From measurement to action

The implementation of Sopht’s solution followed three key phases: defining the scope, collecting and validating IT data (from Azure, AWS, Intune, Microsoft 365…), and then building decarbonization scenarios—measured in CO₂ and cost.

“Our goal wasn’t to tick a box. We wanted to build a realistic and actionable plan by 2030.” – Anupama Nair

Using Sopht’s simulation tools, Edenred quickly identified high-impact actions. A good example: extending the lifespan of employee laptops.

“Extending usage from 36 to 48 months for part of our fleet could save 54 tons of CO₂ and €116,000.” — David Heinzer

Central management, local activation

A major goal of the project is to scale the approach across all business units. This requires breaking down emissions by BU, customizing action plans, and most importantly, empowering each local team to act.

“Each BU will need to create its own action plan, based on its equipment, usage, and maturity. That’s the only way to scale effectively.” — David Heinzer

This approach is already in place for employee devices, managed centrally. For cloud services, it’s more complex due to each BU’s independence—but Edenred is implementing a unified tagging system (Azure & AWS) to allocate responsibility.

A key success factor: executive sponsorship

The success of the project is also tied to strong executive support.

“Our CEO is deeply committed. Decarbonization is a strategic priority.” — Anupama Nair

Recently, Edenred even appointed a dedicated Green IT Director. The aim is clear: to make digital sobriety a full-fledged business skill—structured, supported, and shared across the organization.

Digital sobriety is smart sobriety

Beyond the environmental benefits, Edenred sees digital sobriety as a driver for economic efficiency, collective engagement, and strategic transparency. By showing it’s possible to manage a Green IT strategy even in complex organizations, Edenred sets an example for other large companies.

“Without measurement, there’s no action. But with the right tools and good governance, we can move fast, effectively, and together.” — David Heinzer

Share this article on your networks