A foundational model for sustainable development that balances social equity, environmental responsibility, and economic viability. In more recent approaches, “Profit” is often replaced by “Prosperity” to emphasize inclusive and long-term value creation for all stakeholders.

A principle of responsible digital design ensuring that digital products and services are truly impactful. It states that a solution must be useful (address a real need), usable (accessible and easy to use), and used (actually adopted by its intended audience). Together, these three criteria ensure relevance, efficiency, and real-world impact.

Non-living natural resources such as water, air, sunlight, minerals, and soil, not produced by human activity. This category includes rare earth elements used in high-tech devices, whose extraction often generates toxic and polluting waste.

An international certification for companies that meet high standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. Created in 2006 in the U.S., it recognizes businesses committed to balancing purpose and profit.

Software that is unnecessarily large or overloaded with features, often leading to excessive resource consumption, slower performance, and reduced efficiency.

A company’s commitment to integrating social and environmental concerns into its operations and strategy. CSR encompasses voluntary initiatives and responsible practices that go beyond legal compliance to create positive impact for society and the planet.

An EU directive that standardizes sustainability reporting by requiring companies to disclose structured, comparable, and verifiable ESG data. It introduces stricter reporting obligations and thresholds, aiming to enhance transparency and accountability on environmental, social, and governance performance.

The lack of skills or ability to effectively use digital tools, services, or devices, limiting access to information, services, and opportunities in a digitalized world.

An EU regulation designed to ensure fair competition in digital markets by preventing dominant platforms—particularly gatekeepers like GAFAM—from abusing their market power. It promotes innovation and provides more choice and transparency for users in the European digital economy.

An EU regulation aimed at making the internet safer and more accountable by tackling illegal content, misinformation, and harmful products online. It reinforces the principle that what is illegal offline must also be illegal online, and imposes new obligations on digital platforms to protect users’ rights.

A design approach that incorporates environmental considerations from the earliest stages of a product or service’s development, with the goal of minimizing its environmental impact across the entire life cycle.

A framework used to assess a company’s non-financial performance across three pillars: environmental (e.g. GHG emissions, resource use), social (e.g. accessibility, workers’ rights, inclusion), and governance (e.g. transparency, ethics, board structure). ESG criteria are central to sustainable business strategies and responsible investment decisions.

The process of collecting, managing, and disclosing data on a company’s Environmental, Social, and Governance performance. ESG reporting provides transparent, measurable insights on issues such as carbon emissions, labor practices, diversity, and corporate governance.

goals that focus on environmental, social, or governance (ESG) performance rather than direct financial returns. While not purely economic, they are often supported by measurable indicators and play a key role in sustainable strategy and reporting.

Short for Financial Operations; a financial management practice that brings together finance, operations, and IT teams to control and optimize cloud and IT spending. It enables better visibility, accountability, and decision-making around technology costs.

A combination of finance and technology, referring to companies that develop innovative digital solutions to transform, streamline, or enhance financial services and user experiences.

A type of artificial intelligence that creates original content—such as text, images, audio, or code—by learning patterns from large datasets. It mimics human creativity to generate outputs in response to specific prompts or needs.

Gases in the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), and nitrous oxide (N₂O), that trap heat and contribute to the greenhouse effect, leading to global warming and climate change.

Sustainable practices applied within IT operations to reduce their environmental footprint. This includes optimizing energy consumption, extending hardware lifespan, managing e-waste, and adopting renewable energy sources for digital infrastructure.

Short for Green Operations; operational practices aimed at reducing the environmental impact of IT and digital activities. GreenOps focuses on energy efficiency, carbon footprint reduction, and sustainable resource use across infrastructure, cloud, and service operations.

(Information and Communication Technologies). The broad set of technologies used to collect, process, store, and transmit information. It includes hardware, software, networks, communication systems, mobile devices, and the infrastructure that supports digital interactions and data flows.

The use of digital technologies to enable and accelerate environmental sustainability efforts. This includes leveraging IT solutions to optimize energy use, reduce emissions, and support green initiatives across business functions.

The total amount of greenhouse gas emissions associated with a product throughout its entire life cycle — including raw material extraction, manufacturing, transportation, use, and end-of-life disposal or recycling.

The use of digital technologies to enable and accelerate environmental sustainability efforts. This includes leveraging IT solutions to optimize energy use, reduce emissions, and support green initiatives across business functions.

General Accessibility Improvement Framework: A French standard for digital accessibility that ensures digital content and services are understandable, navigable, and usable by people with disabilities, in line with inclusive design principles and legal compliance.

General Regulation for Eco-design of Digital Services: The use of digital technologies to enable and accelerate environmental sustainability efforts. This includes leveraging IT solutions to optimize energy use, reduce emissions, and support green initiatives across business functions.

Software as a Service: A software delivery model where applications are accessed via the internet without local installation. Users subscribe to the service, while providers manage hosting, maintenance, updates, and security, enabling simplified and scalable software usage.

The three categories of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions defined by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, used to measure an organization’s total carbon footprint.

Scope 1: direct emissions from sources owned or controlled by the organization — such as fuel combustion in vehicles, heating systems, or industrial equipment.

Scope 2: indirect emissions from the consumption of purchased energy (electricity, heat, steam, or cooling) produced outside the organization.

Scope 3: all other indirect emissions across the value chain — including supplier activities, business travel, employee commuting, product use, and end-of-life treatment. Reporting Scope 3 is mandatory for companies with more than 500 employees under several regulatory frameworks.

Socially Responsible Investment: An investment strategy that integrates environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria into financial decision-making. SRI aims to generate positive social and environmental impact alongside long-term financial performance.

A comprehensive document published by an organization to disclose its performance and progress in environmental, social, and economic sustainability. It typically includes CSR initiatives, ESG indicators, governance practices, stakeholder engagement, and long-term objectives.

An approach that seeks to reduce the environmental, social, and economic impacts of digital technologies. It promotes the responsible design, use, and governance of IT systems to align digital transformation with sustainability goals.

Strictly financial targets such as revenue growth, profitability, or cost reduction. These objectives are quantified and directly linked to a company’s economic performance and strategic outcomes.