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With IT contributing nearly 4% to global CO₂ emissions, it presents both risks and opportunities for achieving sustainability goals. While digital technologies can enhance resource efficiency, they also increase energy consumption and environmental costs. This paper presents a framework for evaluating the environmental impact of digital factory initiatives in their early planning stages. The approach combines methods from Green IT and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to enable a structured comparison of digitalization alternatives. Since ecological assessments alone may overlook broader organizational concerns, the framework integrates sustainability criteria into existing economic evaluation systems, supporting decisions that are both environmentally and financially sound. The result is a framework for stakeholders in product management, manufacturing, and sustainability, helping them select digital solutions that balance performance, cost, and ecological impact.

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Impact Assessment of Digitalization: Cost and Environmental Aspects Using the Example of Digital Factory Initiatives

  • 会议论文

  • 出版模式：

    开放获取

  • 发表日期：

    2026年

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  • Linda Maria Antonia Becker,
  • Timo Fleschutz-Balarezo,
  • Semih Severengiz

摘要

With IT contributing nearly 4% to global CO₂ emissions, it presents both risks and opportunities for achieving sustainability goals. While digital technologies can enhance resource efficiency, they also increase energy consumption and environmental costs. This paper presents a framework for evaluating the environmental impact of digital factory initiatives in their early planning stages. The approach combines methods from Green IT and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to enable a structured comparison of digitalization alternatives. Since ecological assessments alone may overlook broader organizational concerns, the framework integrates sustainability criteria into existing economic evaluation systems, supporting decisions that are both environmentally and financially sound. The result is a framework for stakeholders in product management, manufacturing, and sustainability, helping them select digital solutions that balance performance, cost, and ecological impact.