Sustainable IT application at Mercedes-Benz AG
Capgemini modernized a Mercedes-Benz AG widely used backend service for vehicle master data and buildability services. Several deployments were consolidated into a central shared service to reduce the CO2 footprint by approximately 50%.
Main project's drivers for reducing the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
Energy and resource efficiency
Energy decarbonisation
Energy efficiency improvements
Improving efficiency in non-energy resources
Emission removal
Financing low-carbon issuers or disinvestment from carbon assets
Reduction of other greenhouse gases emission
Project objectives
The project had the following goals: • Support the client’s sustainability strategy of providing CO2 neutral mobility and becoming a CO2 neutral enterprise; • Prove that IT can contribute to the sustainability goals.
As a key supplier for the premium automotive brand, Capgemini identified the IT landscape as an area for potential sustainability gains. Indeed, The Shift Project1 calculated that the share of global greenhouse gas emissions attributable to IT is 4%: which represents half of the share generated by light vehicles globally (cars, motorcycles, etc.), and this trend is expected to rise in the coming years (+8% expected between 2015 and 2025). The datacenters and applications of large enterprises leave a sizeable CO2 footprint, meaning that application modernization can contribute to reducing energy consumption.
That is why Capgemini proposed Mercedes-Benz AG to focus on the following technological levers to modernize and consolidate a backend2 service used for vehicle master data and buildability services:
- Providing an application programming interface (API) that is used by all frontend2
- Consolidating several deployments of the application on dedicated servers into one central, shared service3 on a container platform. The reduction of hardware is significant, as each deployment has development, integration, and production stages.
- Implementing a modern microservice architecture, container technology4, and advanced technical features such as green/blue deployments for better utilization of platform hardware.
- Introducing detailed monitoring on the container platform that allows for effective capacity management and reduced spare capacity in server hardware.
The benefits of the project are:
- Proof that IT can significantly contribute to corporate sustainability targets;
- CO2 reduction of the application of approximately 50% per year;
- Reduced energy consumption, hardware, and operational efforts;
- Deployment on the public cloud enables even further energy savings (which are not yet included in the calculation).
The project only considers one application out of hundreds that currently operate in the datacenters of large companies: it highlights the huge potential for further energy optimization in the IT industry.
1 The Shift Project – Lean ICT Report, 2019
2 Backend / frontend services: services required by an application or website either for presentation layers and visible by the final user (frontend), or for data access layers (backend)
3 Shared services: consolidation of back-office business operations used by different parts of a same organization, often applied to eliminate service duplications
4 Container technology: method to package all services, scripts, API, libraries to allow an application to run on any isolated operating system
Emission scope(s)
on which the project has a significant impact
Scope 1
Direct emissions generated by the company's activity.
Scope 2
Indirect emissions associated with the company's electricity and heat consumption.
Scope 3
Emissions induced (upstream or downstream) by the company's activities, products and/or services in its value chain.
Emission Removal
Carbon sinks creation, (BECCS, CCU/S, …)
Avoided Emissions
Emissions avoided by the activities, products and/or services in charge of the project, or by the financing of emission reduction projects.
Scope 2- Implementation of a shared service on container platform
-50% emissions generated by the application per year
Scope 3 – Hardware reduction
- – 50%
Calculation based on the reduction of energy savings realized on the application
The calculation is based on the energy consumption of the IT infrastructure before and after the application modernization project:
- For the mainframe deployments, the basis for the calculation are the consumed CPU minutes
- For Linux environments, the basis for the calculation are the number of CPU cores.
Key points
Invested amount
Confidential
Starting date of the project
2018
Project localisation
worldwide
Project maturity level
Prototype laboratory test (TRL 7)
Real life testing (TRL 7-8)
Pre-commercial prototype (TRL 9)
Small-scale implementation
Medium to large scale implementation
Economic profitability of the project (ROI)
Short term (0-3 years)
Middle term (4-10 years)
Long term (> 10 years)
Illustrations of the project
The project contributes to the following SDG:
- SDG 12 – Responsible consumption and production, by raising awareness on the importance and efficiency of application sobriety in terms of energy consumption within the IT department
The project only considers one application out of hundreds that currently operate in the datacenters of large companies. The client now focuses all architects and development teams on the goal of CO2 reduction. It highlights the huge potential for further energy optimization in the IT industry.
Joint team of Capgemini and client
Contact the company carrying the project :
Dr. Stefan Fütterling, Account Chief Architect, Capgemini - stefan.fuetterling@capgemini.com
