Digital eco-design requires making trade-offs: fewer images, fewer animations, fewer requests… But how can these constraints be reconciled with business needs? And with which tools? Between the RGESN and the Eco-Index, it can sometimes be hard to know which way to turn: should you prioritize the methodological rigor of the former or the quick assessment of the latter? Here’s how we structured our methodology to help our clients make informed compromises.
A pragmatic approach for more sustainable digital technology
Two years ago, we integrated eco-design into our methodologies to create more sustainable Drupal solutions. We wanted to train ourselves, adopt evaluation and support tools, in order to incorporate measurable requirements into our specifications.
Concretely, our commitment has been reflected by:
- The internal dissemination and integration of best practices for eco-design into our work standards.
- The implementation of an eco-design methodology based on the NumEcoDiag framework from the RGESN (General Reference Framework for Eco-Design of Digital Services).
- The implementation of an evaluation tool for our clients' projects: the eco index.
- The appointment of a dedicated advisor to structure the methodology and follow up on our clients' projects.
- Obtaining a certification for our advisor from the INR (the institute for Responsible Digital Technology), a think tank stemming from Club GreentIT.
- Raising awareness and providing training for our teams and clients.
Our methodology is structured around 3 main steps
- Eco-design workshop: At the start of a digital project, our coordinator raises our clients’ awareness of eco-design. Using the RGESN criteria grid, we encourage them to make strong decisions in favor of eco-design. These choices are crucial, as they will guide every subsequent stage of the project (UX/UI design, development).
- Transmission and monitoring: These commitments are communicated by our coordinator to internal teams, especially the UX/UI design lead and the lead developer, who ensure compliance. The coordinator monitors the project’s progress and ensures the wireframes (UX), UI mockups, and development conform to RGESN.
- Assessment: We assess the digital solution using the Eco-Index and the RGESN grid, resulting in an eco-design declaration to be published on the website.
Between RGESN and Eco-Index
So far, we have mentioned two tools with which you may or may not be familiar. Both are references in the field of digital eco-design. They assess the eco-design of a digital service and result in a score. However, they do have their differences. The RGESN is based more on an obligation of means (implementing best practices), while the eco-index is more results-oriented (measuring the site's environmental impact).
The RGESN, a matrix for questioning our technical and functional choices
Beyond implementing best practices, the whole point of eco-design is to question our technical and functional choices. Above all, it is an intention, an approach that should challenge every decision in light of its environmental impact. That's why we start our web projects with a framing workshop based on the RGESN matrix. It’s the ideal tool for reviewing our decisions step by step. Indeed, the RGESN is a grid of 78 criteria, covering the 9 themes that structure any web project: strategy, specification, architecture, UX/UI, content, front-end, back-end, hosting, and algorithms.
Like the eco-index, once the grid is completed, it provides a score. To do this, you need to specify whether the site “complies” or not with each of the 78 listed criteria, a tedious and complex process. The score obtained is therefore not directly related to the environment. It measures your effort to implement best practices in favor of ecology.
Furthermore, it’s important to remember that the RGESN is a tool provided by the State. It is co-managed by the Interministerial Directorate for Digital Affairs (DINUM), the Ministry of Ecological Transition, ADEME, and the Institute for Responsible Digital Technology. So, it’s an “official” tool which, like the RGAA before it, may eventually become mandatory for public and similar organizations. It therefore seems essential to adopt it as of today.
The eco-index, a simple and quick evaluation tool
Whereas the RGESN presents a complex framework for a meticulous and exhaustive approach, the Eco-Index allows you to assign a grade to your website from A to G simply by entering its URL on the Eco-Index website.
In other words, it’s a very practical tool that allows for a simple, quick, and effective assessment. And for that reason alone, the Eco-Index truly deserves its reputation! It gives a good general idea of the environmental impact of a digital product as well as environmental indicators such as greenhouse gas emissions and associated water consumption. As part of an eco-design approach, these valuable indicators are your starting point. After a redesign, or targeted actions to improve your site's environmental impact, these are the KPIs you need to monitor.
The calculation of your Eco-index score is based on:
- Page weight: influenced by images, videos, fonts, and large, non-optimized CSS and JavaScript files.
- Number of requests: influenced by the use of too many third-party scripts or services.
- DOM complexity: influenced by having too many HTML elements, extensive use of dynamic CSS and JavaScript, etc.
So keep in mind that here eco-design efforts are not taken into account. Only the result is. This means that depending on the type of your site, you may face challenges obtaining a satisfactory score. For example, an e-commerce site with many high-resolution images and interactive features might score lower on the Eco-Index compared to a minimalistic corporate site with few images and a streamlined design. Yet, the e-commerce site may have implemented advanced eco-design practices, such as image optimization and reducing server requests, which are not fully reflected in the final score but are considered in the RGESN. In summary, the Eco-index is great, but it may not be the ideal indicator for your project. Or at least, you will need to supplement it with the RGESN.
The difficulties in achieving a good eco-index score
Let’s be honest: it is rare these days to come across sites rated A, or even B, on the Eco-Index. In fact, the Green IT 2024 barometer shows that the average score for the most popular e-commerce sites and CAC 40 companies is E. This proves that eco-design is still a major challenge.
Yet there is a growing interest in eco-design in calls for tenders, with sometimes very ambitious targets, such as achieving a specific grade on the Eco-Index. However, it is difficult for us to commit to a score upfront, without having a clear understanding of your needs and the trade-offs you are willing to make. This is a contradiction we often face: wanting to excel environmentally while keeping elements that are not very compatible with eco-design, but which are essential from a business or marketing perspective.
This is exactly what we try to arbitrate with our clients during our eco-design scoping workshop. We challenge your needs, for example regarding videos and third-party services, which we encourage you to limit as much as possible. We also guide you toward shorter, more streamlined pages, which sometimes means letting go of less important content blocks. We favor so-called system fonts and SVG illustrations, which may mean giving up the fonts from your graphic guidelines—often more aesthetically pleasing, but also heavier to load.
Note that this is not about blaming anyone. We know all too well that these decisions are not easy: a web project must juggle numerous constraints (SEO, user experience, accessibility, performance, security, data protection…), which often align but sometimes conflict. Internally, these are debates that we have on a regular basis.
What we want to highlight is how difficult it is to set an eco-design goal upfront, and the importance of being modest and pragmatic in your approach. Because despite your best intentions, you could end up disappointed by the compromises you have to make along the way.
Our track record in eco-design of Drupal sites
The efforts we have made are beginning to bear fruit, as evidenced by our latest projects put into production:
- Redesign of the ANFA Jobboard: a job site dedicated to the automotive sector, rated C on the Eco-Index.
- The redesign of the Stars of Science website: website of the educational and entertaining TV program Stars of Science, broadcast throughout the Arab world and awarded a grade of B.
- We are currently working on the redesign of the Lyon Municipal Library ecosystem, with the goal of obtaining a grade of B on the Eco-Index.
Towards a more responsible and pragmatic web
Eco-designing websites is a complex challenge that requires a subtle balance between performance, accessibility, and environmental impact. Thanks to the RGESN and the eco-index, we have structured a methodology that enables us to guide our clients toward more responsible choices, while taking their business constraints into account.
However, aiming for an exemplary score on the eco-index should not be an end in itself. What matters most is to adopt a pragmatic approach, questioning every technical and functional decision in terms of its ecological impact. Each web project is unique and requires sometimes difficult trade-offs, but these are essential for building a more sustainable digital world.
We are convinced that this transition to a more efficient and responsible web relies on raising awareness, training, and engaging all stakeholders. The results achieved on our recent projects show that it works! Let's talk about it!
