According to a study by the firm **Advaès**, the energy consumption of digital companies has surged by **18.5% between 2021 and 2023**, reaching **188 TWh**, which represents **42% of France’s electricity consumption**. **Datacenters and the cloud** are the main contributors to this increase, a trend that is expected to strengthen with the development of **generative AI**.
### **Datacenters at the Forefront**
Operators of **datacenters and cloud** services have seen their energy consumption grow by **14.4%**, while their energy intensity (consumption relative to revenue) has increased by **5.7%** per year. In contrast, **IT services companies** have reduced their consumption by **4.3%**, as well as their energy intensity (-11%). On the publisher side, the increase in consumption is more moderate (+2.5%), with a notable decrease in their energy intensity (-8.3%).
### **Renewable Energies Gaining Ground**
In response to this increase, the share of **renewable energies** in the supply of companies in the sector has risen, from **65.7% to 76.8%**. However, the **dependence on fossil fuels in certain regions** and **geopolitical tensions** could hinder this transition.
### **The Good and the Bad Students**
Some companies stand out for their efforts to reduce their energy footprint:
– **Wavestone (-34.6%)**, **Fairphone (-27.7%)**, and **IBM (-26.3%)** are the champions of energy intensity reduction.
– Conversely, giants like **Google (+6.6%)**, **Microsoft (+14.6%)**, **Meta (+17.0%)**, and **Oracle (+22.6%)** show increasing consumption.
Despite this data, analyzing trends remains complicated due to the **lack of transparency from many actors**. Only **52 of the 90 suppliers studied** publish complete information about their energy consumption, making it difficult to have a comprehensive view of the sector’s efforts.