ITU members have agreed first-stage approval (consent) of a new Universal Power Adapter standard for devices such as modems, set-top boxes, home networking equipment and fixed telephones.

ITU-T Study Group 5 – Environment and climate change – consented the new draft Recommendation ITU-T L.1001 standardizing the requirements of “External universal power adapter (UPA) solutions for ICT equipment for stationary use”.

The standard will complement ITU’s very successful Universal Charging Solution for mobile devices (Recommendation ITU-T L.1000); enacting further energy savings, reductions in e-waste and heightened consumer convenience by expanding the concept’s application to the vast majority of ICT devices.

As with ITU-T L.1000, ITU-T L.1001 will also work to the benefit of countries not equipped with reliable AC grids as it will be compatible with standalone AC produced by renewable energy sources including the 5V and 12V power interfaces of small photovoltaic systems (solar energy).

Recommendation ITU-T L.1001 will reduce the number of power adapters manufactured by widening the range of compatible devices, facilitating their reuse and recycling, and increasing their build-quality and resilience to overvoltages in such a way that UPAs will enjoy a lifespan of no less than 10 years. By serving more ICT devices, over an increased lifespan, the standardized adapters will drive substantial reductions in energy consumption, limit device duplication, reduce strain on raw materials and enable enormous reductions in e-waste.

A study carried out by the University of Genoa, commissioned by ITU and the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI)  estimates that the widespread adoption of an energy-efficient UPA solution will eliminate an estimated 300,000 tonnes of e-waste annually.  In addition, the study shows it could reduce the energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of external power supplies by between 25 and 50 per cent. The report outlining the findings of the study is available here

The new standard includes basic configurations and general requirements of UPAs and their interfaces: cable; connectors; voltage; current; ripple; noise; energy efficiency; safety; electromagnetic compatibility; resistibility and eco-environmental specifications. The UPAs are designed for ICT devices in people’s homes, and provide a low-voltage input to a device by converting the AC mains voltage to a low-voltage DC output.
Future capabilities of the standard could include compatibility with a DC interface from renewable energy systems or power sockets found in transportation systems (boats, trains, planes, buses, etc.).

For more on the work of ITU-T Study Group 5, please see the group’s webpage here

More on ITU-T’s activities on ICTs, the environment and climate change here

Paris Declaration urges ITU to take lead in global green ICT strategies

Geneva, 24 September 2012 – Industry leaders outlined their commitment to a green agenda with a Declaration issued at the end of ITU’s Green Standards Week which was organized together with TechAmerica Europe and hosted by Microsoft in Paris. Agreed by over 150 participants from the private and public sectors, the document includes carbon commitments from leading ICT companies including:  Alcatel-Lucent; AT&T; Cisco; Dell; Fujitsu; Hewlett Packard; Huawei; Infosys; Intel; KPN; Microsoft; Nokia Siemens Networks; Orange, Telecom Italia and Telefónica.

Full press release

ITU, the Ministry of Communications of Ghana, the National Communications Authority of Ghana and the Environmental Protection Agency of Ghana, in cooperation with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, have published a report Climate Change Adaptation, Mitigation and Information & Communications Technologies (ICTs): the Case of Ghana.

The report written by Angelica Valeria Ospina (University of Manchester), Cristina Bueti (ITU), Keith Dickerson and David Faulkner (Climate Associates), focuses on exploring an increasingly important question: How can developing countries effectively integrate ICT tools within climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies?

Ghana’s experience, illustrated in the report, demonstrates that ICTs can help developing countries to unlock those opportunities, and overcome the challenges posed by climate change through e-enabled adaptation and mitigation responses.

The contribution of this report is two-fold. It presents the potential of ICTs towards adaptation and mitigation through the concrete case of Ghana, illustrating the challenges and opportunities faced by developing countries in this field. The report complements this analysis by offering concrete lessons learned and practical suggestions aimed at developing country decision makers and practitioners, thus fostering the adoption of novel, ICT-supported approaches to climate change adaptation and mitigation.

The case of Ghana represents a successful model to be replicated in other developing countries to build resilience against climate change using ICTs.

In support of the “International Year for Sustainable Energy for All”, ITU together with the Italian Ministry of Economic Development and the University of Genoa has issued a new report, “Boosting energy efficiency through Smart Grids”. This report, which was officially launched at the second ITU Green Standards Week held in Paris, France  on 17-21 September, details how information and communication technologies (ICT) help mitigate climate change by making energy management more efficient.

ICTs represent the pillars for the development of a “smarter” electric grid, which can help meet the challenge of delivering electricity more efficiently and reliably in our societies and extending the reach of electrical services to worldwide regions that are still excluded.

“This report gives a brief understanding about the possible path toward “green” ICT, which is the implementation of power-aware and conscious devices for communication and information management”, say Franco Davoli, Matteo Repetto, University of Genoa, Italy; Carlo Tornelli, Gianluigi Proserpio, RSE, Milan, Italy and Flavio Cucchietti, Telecom Italia, authors of the report.

Smart grids also represent an opportunity for developing countries in the deployment of new electricity infrastructure by enabling more efficient operation and lower costs, allowing them to manage peak demand and to prevent electricity theft.

ITU–T Study Group 5 (Environment and climate change) is encouraged to take the lead and work in cooperation with the major standardization bodies in the ICT and electrical fields to provide standardized directives on design and power-saving requirements for next-generation ICT devices and installations.

ITU together with the European Telecommunications Network Operators’ association (ETNO) has launched a new report giving Guidance on Green ICT Procurement.

The report was launched during the forum on Environmental Sustainability for the ICT Sector, which took place on 20 September 2012 in Paris (France) as part of the second ITU Green Standards Week.

This report aims at guiding ICT companies in adopting sustainable business practices.

Aimee Torres, ITU consultant, author of the report: “ICT companies have the power and legitimacy to innovate, transform and dematerialize the economy, but the increasing proliferation of information and communication technologies has raised concerns about the environmental consequences of these technologies All kinds of business practices and procurement decisions should, and can, be made with a greener perspective.”

The report proposes a structured step-by-step procurement process, outlining green principles to be applied by the ICT industry when procuring goods, products and services, answering the questions: How to buy? What to buy? Whom to buy from?

To achieve effective procurement practices, the author reiterates the need to foster effective standardization in these processes.

A structured mapping and step-by-step application of standardized procurementprocesses analysis can enable ICT organizations to simplify their procedures, meet the goals of the organization and assess the environmental impact through the inclusion of energy, environment and carbon criteria in their purchasing activities.

This report shows ICT companies a way to incorporate green thinking considerations in every step of their procurement process.

A Review of Mobile Handset Eco-Rating Schemes was another of a raft of reports launched at the second Green Standards Week in Paris this week. The publication outlines eco-ratings schemes developed by mobile telecommunication operators to measure the sustainability and environmental performance of their products to consumers.

Achieving environmental sustainability is one of the major challenges of our times. To support the behavioral change of consumers towards more sustainable purchasing, industries have developed schemes to provide information on a product’s relative sustainability, especially with regard to environmental aspects.

These eco-rating schemes generally cover three broad categories — the company, the supply chain and the device itself.

This report shows that there is no scheme that could be considered a perfect view of sustainability; however, each does attempt to provide a broad perspective of the sustainability impact of the manufacture, use and disposal of a mobile handset.

Based on this study, areas that eco-rating schemes should consider as best practice are identified. To drive further improvements, ITU-T Study Group 5 is encouraged to take the lead on integrating the best elements of each scheme into a single scheme to simplify the process for consumers, mobile operators and manufacturers.

ITU together with the United Nations University (UNU) has launched a report containing results of a Survey on Conflict Minerals Due Diligence Initiatives.

The report Greening ICT Supply Chains – Survey on Conflict Minerals Due Diligence Initiatives was launched during the forum on Greening ICT Supply Chain, which took place on 18 September 2012 in Paris, France as part of the second ITU GreenStandards Week.
 
International concern has been raised about the so-called Conflict Minerals issue,referring to minerals (namely tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold) mined in conditions of armed conflict and human rights abuses.

These minerals are key inputs for products of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry. Their sourcing from the African Great Lakes Region - one of the largest sources of these minerals - is taking place in the heart of two of the most important ecosystems on the planet: the Congo Basin Ecosystem and the Albertine Rift. Unsustainable management of how minerals are accessed, extracted, processed and transported can irreversibly endanger the surrounding environment.

While the conflict and human rights aspect of ICT supply chains originating from the African Great Lakes Region garners much of the current international attention, the environmental aspect has been overlooked.

This survey details existing initiatives (national and international legislation, as well as industry-, government- and multi-stakeholder led activities) aimed at providing the ICT sector with guidance to conduct due diligence on their supply chains to ensure that their sourcing of tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold does not contribute to conflict and human rights violations and does not harm the environment.

External power supply standards to enable truckloads of efficiency gains Geneva

18 September 2012 - A new ITU-Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) report reveals that standards for the manufacture of external power supplies (EPS) could enhance their reliability and extend their lifecycle while decreasing their average weight by up to 30 per cent. This could eliminate 300,000 tonnes of e-waste annually, the report estimates. Putting this in context, this amount of waste, equivalent to sixty per cent of current annual EPS e-waste, would form a 300km truck-jam, every year.

Full press release

The high-level segment of ITU’s second Green Standards Week will take place on 19 September and will feature a host of ICT key players and ministers.

Among those speaking are Jean-Philippe Courtois, President, Microsoft International; H.E. Mr. Tryphon Kin-Kiey Mulumba, Ministre des Postes, Télécommunications et Nouvelles Technologies de l'Information et de la Communication, République Démocratique du Congo and H.E. Mr. Haruna Iddrisu, Minister of Communications, Ghana. The full list can be found here.

The High-Level Segment (HLS) will provide ministers and senior representatives from the ICT industry with an opportunity to exchange views on the role of global standards in spreading access to green ICT, as well the development of new standards that reflect the interdependence of industry sectors.

Green Standards Week (GSW) will take place from 17 to 21 September in Paris France. GSW is a cluster of workshops, hosted by Microsoft and supported by Huawei, Orange, Fujitsu and Telefonica, which will focus on raising awareness of the importance of using ICT standards to build a green economy and combat climate change. Remote participation will be made possible with video, streamed audio and the ability to send questions via a moderator (instructions will be provided to those who opt for remote participation on the online registration form).

GSW will bring together leading specialists in the field, from top policy-makers to engineers, designers, planners, government officials, regulators, standards experts and others. It is open to participation by the press, and journalists wishing to attend should email Toby Johnson at toby.johnson@itu.int.

Paris meeting to accelerate work on ‘green ICT’ policies and standards
Geneva, 01 August 2012 – ITU’s second annual ‘Green Standards Week’ (GSW), to be held in Paris from 17-21 September, will stimulate the creation of international ‘green ICT’ standards with a view to further expanding the capabilities of information and communication technologies to boost environmental efficiency across all industry sectors.

Organized by ITU and TechAmerica Europe and hosted by Microsoft, it will gather policy makers, regulators, private sector entities, research institutes and standards development organizations (SDOs) to discuss the standardization of ICT from an environmental perspective. A High-Level Segment featuring key industry and government figures will discuss the role of global standards in spreading access to green ICT, as well the development of new standards that reflect the interdependence of industry sectors.

Read full press release

Recent ITU meetings addressed the challenges facing African countries in the measurement of Quality of Service (QoS)/Quality of Experience (QoE) parameters for voice, 3G and Internet mobile networks – nearing completion of guidelines for a QoS regulatory framework for ICT services. The meetings also addressed environmental concerns associated with ICT development, such as the growing e-waste challenge, the measurement of human exposure to Radio Frequency Electromagnetic Fields (RF EMF), and the need to develop a sustainable means of extending telecoms-network coverage to the rural areas of developing countries.

The four ITU events were held in Cotonou, Benin, 16-20 July, hosted by Benin’s Autorité Transitoire de Régulation des Postes et Télécommunications (ATRPT):

Workshop on practical measurement of QoS/QoE parameters for regulatory compliance; and Meeting of Africa Regional Group within ITU-T Study Group 12 (Performance, QoS and QoE)

The workshop was attended by over 80 participants from 21 African countries, gathering representatives of ministries, regulators, operators and vendors to discuss QoS/QoE aspects of Africa’s expanding mobile networks.

The Africa regional group within ITU-T Study Group 12 (SG 12) advanced its draft guidelines for a QoS regulatory framework for ICT services, which are intended to supplement existing ITU-T recommendations on QoS. Nearing this task’s completion, the group indicated that it will now direct its attention to ‘QoE web browsing’ under Question 13/12, and the ‘Roadmap for Interconnection of Packet-based Networks’ under Question 12/12.

Workshop on Tackling Climate Change and SAR Measurement; and Meeting of Africa Regional Group within ITU-T Study Group 5 (Environment and climate change)

The workshop was attended by over 70 participants from 21 African countries, discussing the application of ITU-T’s ‘green ICT’ standards and the measurement of the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) of RF EMF produced by mobile-telephony base stations and devices.

The Africa regional group within ITU-T Study Group 5 (SG 5) highlighted energy efficiency, e-waste reduction and issues related to climate change as its priorities for 2013. The meeting also reviewed its advanced-stage work on a number of guidelines under preparation:

• Information guide on human exposure to RF EMF   
• Methodology for the measurement of GSM Base Station compliance with RF EMF exposure limits
• Technical requirements and management methodology of a fund to facilitate a sustainable e-waste management system in developing countries
• A sustainable solution to extend the coverage of telecommunications networks to rural areas in developing countries
  
  

Andreas Kamilaris, a PhD student at the University of Cyprus, has been awarded first prize in the second ITU Green ICT Application Challenge for his “Social Electricity” proposal. The Facebook application lends a competitive edge to smart-meter readings by enabling users to compare their energy consumption with that of friends and family, or with neighborhood, state and national averages.
 
Malcolm Johnson, Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau (TSB), ITU, and Silvia Guzmán Araña, Telefónica’s Global Sustainablity and Reputation Director, will present Andreas first prize of USD 3,000 at an award ceremony to be held on the 19th of September in Paris, at the ITU Green Standards Week. Telefónica co-organized the competition together with ITU.
 
Kamilaris’ motivation for the application was to create a means of better quantifying the energy-consumption data produced by smart meters. The Challenge’s panel of judges – representing ITU, Telefónica, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the European Commission – deemed his socially-powered concept the best to satisfy the Challenge’s theme of“Sustainable Energy for All”. The development of the app is almost complete and, at Green Standards Week, Kamilaris will showcase its use and operation as well as any preliminary results garnered from the “Social Electricity” pilot soon to be launched across Cyprus. Electricity-related measurements will beprovided by the Electricity Authority of Cyprus, which supports this project.
 
Honourable Mentions were awarded to another four promising apps, all similarly targeting ICT-enabled energy management.
 
New Delhi’s Gauri Dutt Sharma proposed an application termed a “Standby Monitor for Home Appliances”, a living-room monitor signaling which appliances are idle and which are consuming electricity by way of sensors attached to these appliances’ power cables.
 
Gopal Tiwari, from India’s Sagar Institute of Technology and Management, produced “Electrosoft” which details an electricity-supply scheduling system of use to both households and businesses. The app regulates the electricity supply to certain energy-intensive processes, scheduling energy-consuming operations in such a way that it minimizes the energy wasted as result of human error.
 
Andy Bäcker from Spain, CEO and founder of Sustainable Reference, proposed an app entitled “SURE!” which offers a point-scoring system whereby commercial activities, at all levels of the value chain, are awarded pointsbased on the degree of their operations’ environmental sustainability.
 
Dr. Tohru Asami of the University of Tokyo proposed “An Energy Proportional Power Supply Control for Rural ICT Systems” which presents a methodology to power rural ICT systems using the surplus power produced by photovoltaic (solar) power generation units designed to serve mobile-phone base stations.
 
More information on the 2nd ITU Green ICT Application Challenge is available here.

Eco-design to reduce e-waste and enabling policies highlighted
  
Geneva, 5 June 2012 – Participants at the 7th ITU Symposium on ICTs, the Environment and Climate Change have issued a Declaration that encourages ICT manufacturers to make their products more easily upgradable without need for replacing the entire device. The call to promote a life cycle approach in the design of ICTs (eco-design) also means better taking into account how components in a device can be recycled. Reducing e-waste and providing incentives and encouragement for e-waste take back schemes were just some of the issues included in the Declaration issued at the end of the event on Friday, 31 May.

The Declaration adopted by the approximately 150 participants at the event also called for enabling policies to encourage investment in smart technologies and ICT based clean technologies (cleantech) as a way of promoting green growth and sustainable development. In addition the support of ITU methodologies to measure the impact of ICT and a recommendation to ramp up research and development on the use of ICTs for monitoring, mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change are mentioned.

Full press release

At its recent meeting at ITU Headquarters in Geneva, 11-19 April, ITU-T Study Group 5 – ITU’s Study Group on environment and climate change – consented two new ITU-T standards (Recommendations) targeting increased energy efficiency of ICT equipment.

The first Recommendation provides a specification of the direct current (DC) interface between power-feeding systems and connected ICT equipment, and the second defines energy efficiency metrics and measurement methods to assess the energy efficiency of telecommunication equipment.

Recommendation ITU-T L.1200 specifies a DC current interface able to operate using a power source of up to 400 Volts, which allows higher energy efficiency and reliability than can be achieved using lower-voltage power feeding solutions. The Recommendation standardizes a power feeding system applicable to all ICT equipment defined in a location using these power sources such as: telecommunication centres; radio base stations; data centres; and customer premises. Additionally, the DC interface will simplify the use of renewable energy sources producing DC output such as photovoltaic generators and fuel cell systems.

Recommendation ITU-T L.1310 defines energy efficiency metrics and measurement methods for telecommunication equipment including: wired as well as wireless broadband access; optical transport technologies; routers; switches; mobile core network equipment; and small networking equipment used in homes and small enterprises. L.1310 defines metrics which evaluate ICT equipment’s energy efficiency through a comparison between its technical performance and its energy consumption. The Recommendation also details measurement methodologies to verify energy efficiency figures produced in accordance with L.1300.

For more on the work of SG 5, please see the group’s webpage here.

Geneva, 12 April 2012 – The seventh ITU Symposium on ICTs, the Environment and Climate Change aims to advance the ‘green ICT’ agenda by raising awareness of the power of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to aid in mitigating and adapting to climate change.

Organized by ITU and the government of Canada, and hosted by Prompt, an R&D partnership developer, the symposium will explore the many ways in which advanced technologies can play a role in improving the environmental sustainability of the ICT sector itself, how ICTs can help countries better manage the effects of climate change, and new strategies to help tackle e-waste.

With ICTs now an intrinsic element of every economic sector, the need to integrate ICT-based solutions into the climate change actions of each industry has become essential. The symposium will explore ways of achieving this integration, and will help plot the course of ITU’s future work in the field – whether it be using radiocommunications to monitor and analyze shifting climate patterns, developing new technical standards detailing best-practice application of green ICTs. The event will also form part of ITU’s activities in the lead up to the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), highlighting the key role played by ICTs as enablers in environmentally-sustainable economic development.

Full press release

ITU will hold an Information and Training Session on ITU Methodologies for Assessing the Environmental Impact of ICT at ITU headquarters, Geneva, 12 April.

The event will provide a tutorial on the content and application of ITU-T's new L.1400 series of Recommendations which detail standardized methodologies to assess the life-cycle environmental impact of ICTs, both in terms of their own emissions and the emissions-savings created through ICT applications in other industry sectors.

ICTs can play a key role in improving the environmental sustainability of all industry sectors, particularly in those most harmful to the environment; such as energy generation, transportation, building construction and waste disposal.

The new standard methodologies will generate figures upon which businesses can model future revenues, costs and efficiency gains provided by green ICTs; and figures enabling governments and regulators to identify the gains in social and economic welfare that green ICTs can achieve.

The workshop, for which remote participation is available, will cover the first three* Recommendations of the L.1400 series:
- Recommendation ITU-T L.1400: Overview and general principles of methodologies for assessing the environmental impact of ICT
- Recommendation ITU-T L.1410: Methodology for the environmental impact of ICT goods, networks and services
- Recommendation ITU-T L.1420: Methodology for energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions impact assessment of ICT in organizations

*final two parts of the L.1400 series, ICT in Cities and ICT in Countries or Groups of Countries, are under development by experts working on Question 18 in ITU-T Study Group 5

Following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between ITU and the four standardisation bodies of China, Japan and Korea (CJK) last year, see press release here Malcolm Johnson, Director of the ITU’s Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, led a delegation from the ITU Secretariat to the eleventh CJK Meeting (CJK-11) 14-16 March at the Seagaia Convention Centre in Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan. The Indian standards body GISFI also attended the meeting as an observer as it has requested to join the MoU.

The meeting addressed global ICT standardization questions of common interest to the region’s key standards bodies: ARIB, CCSA, TTA and TTC.

In his opening speech Johnson noted that CJK governments together account for 15 per cent of the total financial contributions received by ITU from Member States, and private entities from these nations account for 20 per cent of the contributions ITU-T receives from the private sector. Moreover, CJK makes a significant number contribution to ITU meetings: 38 percent more contributions in 2011 than in 2009.

Full speech can be seen here.

CJK meetings seek to maintain and improve the commitment to mutual understanding and cooperation, and recognise the imperative of coordinated international standards for the sound progression of each of the countries’ ICT industries.  The meeting identified the following topics as candidates for collaboration under the MoU: M2M and Dynamic Spectrum Access; Future IMT; smart grid; cloud computing and security; and the work on environment and climate change.

The Deputy Director of ITU’s Radiocommunication Bureau, Fabio Leite, also participated in the meeting stressing the importance of collaboration with ITU’s Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R), in particular on M2M access networks where there is a clear need for interoperability between radio-based systems.

Asier Arranz from Spain has been awarded $3000 and a Nokia Lumia mobile phone as first prize in the Green ICT Hackathon, an event organized by ITU and Telefónica and run in parallel to last week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Arranz’ proposed ‘Bicing Gamification’ application aims to encourage users of Bicing, the community bicycle program in Barcelona, to deposit bicycles at underserved Bicing stations. Currently, bicycle-moving vans are necessary to maintain an optimal distribution of bicycles around the city. The application therefore makes use of a geo-location system to notify Bicing users of the stations in need of more bicycles. To encourage users to deposit their bicycles at these underserved stations, Arranz suggests micropayments be made those who do, possibly in the form of deductions to their annual Bicing subscription fees.

“The aim of the ‘Bicing Gamification’ application,” says Arranz, “is to reduce costs and CO2 emissions and ‘gamify’ (turn into a game) this green transport system to encourage its use and make cities more sustainable.”

Second prize, $2000 and Nokia Lumia, was awarded to Dirceu Dirs from Brazil for an application targeting drivers of electric vehicles and petroleum-fueled cars alike. The “Easy Refuel” application was developed on the Arduino electronics platform and points drivers towards the nearest, cheapest fuel stations when their vehicles require refueling or recharging. 

Third prize, a Nokia Lumia, went to Aaron Franco from the USA for his “Jatrobot” application which aims to harness social interaction to encourage a widespread production of biodiesel. The name stems from the “Jatropha Curcas” tree, the seeds of which can be pressed to yield an oil used to produce biodiesel. The Jatrobot app allows users to signal their approval of an environmentally-friendly product by way of a ‘like’ button, an action which triggers the planting of Jatropha tree seeds by a web-connected robot.

The aim of the Green ICT Hackathon was to encourage the development of applications promoting “Sustainable Energy for All”. Of further importance to ITU and Telefónica is the Hackathon’s contribution to the creation of a global network of ‘green’ ICT developers, one promoting the use of ICT to improve energy efficiency and technology transfer; two key goals to be addressed at Rio+20.

ITU and Telefónica thank their partners in this initiative; Nokia, SAP and the Joint Research Center of the European Commission and WMO. ITU also wishes to thank Telefónica and, specifically, Telefónica’s Office of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency and BlueVia Movistar Spain (Telefónica Digital).

In addition to the Hackathon, ITU and Telefonica are organizing the 2nd Green ICT Application Challenge to find the best and most innovative Concept Paper for an ICT application to help promote “Sustainable Energy for All”.  Send us your Concept Paper by 13 April 2012. More information about the Hackathon and Challenge can be found at: http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/climatechange/greenict/201206/index.html or by contacting us at greenstandard@itu.int.

ITU and Telefónica co-host 2012 app-development contests

Geneva, 1 February 2012 - ITU and Telefónica have announced two challenges to uncover innovative ICT approaches to support the 2012 UN-declared ‘International Year for Sustainable Energy for All’.

The Green ICT Hackathon will take place on 28-29 February during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, while the 2nd Green ICT Application Challenge is now open for the submission of Concept Papers until 13 April, 2012.

Dr Hamadoun Touré, Secretary-General, ITU: “Sustainable energy for all is crucial to the future of modern civilization. ITU is committed to stimulating the creation of innovative ICT apps founded on new modes of thinking; ideas to effect the change needed to achieve a sustainable future.”

Alberto Andreu Pinillos, Chief Reputation and Sustainability Officer at Telefónica: “The Green ICT Hackathon is part of the joint activities of Telefónica’s Global Energy Efficiency and Climate Change Office, Movistar Spain and Bluevia, Telefónica’s global developer platform. These initiatives have a double objective – first, to support developers with great ideas, and second, to foster green ICT applications for energy efficiency and sustainable development.”

Full press release

Today’s advanced technologies can transform social, industrial and business processes to effect the changes needed to achieve sustainability. But while the potential of ICTs to make a real difference is widely recognized by the technology community and government ICT ministries, it is still far from being understood and embraced by environmental lobby groups and policymakers.

Full press release

ITU, the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP)/ Secretariat of the Basel Convention and the United Nations University (UNU), in collaboration with the Solving the E-waste Problem (StEP) Initiative and the Center for Environment and Development for the Arab Region and Europe (CEDARE), have launched a joint survey on e-waste.

This survey aims to collect detailed data on e-waste management, policies and standards; constructing a comprehensive overview of the current e-waste landscape and identifying future challenges in this realm. Such a mapping of the e-waste issue will establish a base upon which the exchange of e-waste information and best practices can occur, and will form a valuable tool in communicating the gravity of the problem and promoting collaborative work in the future development of policy and management of e-waste.
The widespread use of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) has raised public awareness of its positive effects such as the reduction of the digital divide, but also of the negative environmental and health effects associated with the inefficient waste management of end-of-life electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE or e-waste).

There have been alarming reports of e-waste mismanagement in many countries, particularly in less developed nations and countries with economies in transition. E-waste is a significant contributor to the ICT industry’s impact on the environment, and urgent global action to address this issue is essential if the industry is to fulfill its commitment to a sustainable future.

For further information, please see the survey’s webpage: http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/climatechange/e-waste/index.html
 

On-line Registration

ITU has underlined its key role in green ICT with a raft of announcements today by Study Group 5 of its Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T).

A meeting of the group in Seoul, Korea has seen agreement on a globally-recognized set of methodologies to assess the environmental impact of information and communications technology (ICT). It also saw agreement to produce a report on due diligence guidelines for conflict minerals supply, and to study environmental protection and recycling solutions for batteries for mobile phones and other ICT devices.

Estimates of how much ICTs can reduce global emissions – and estimates of the emissions generated by the ICT sector itself – still vary widely, due to the application of different measurement methodologies. After the problem was raised by delegates to ITU’s ‘ICTs and Climate Change’ symposium in 2008, ITU took on the challenge and has pioneered adoption of a new globally-agreed set of standards.

To ensure consistency between different approaches, the new methodology has been developed in cooperation with other standardization organizations such as ISO, IEC, ETSI and ATIS. The new methodology is also aligned with the Digital Agenda of the European Commission. 

Dr Hamadoun Touré, Secretary General, ITU: “This methodology has been developed by ITU's industry members. This will be important in ensuring it gains wide acceptance by the world's ICT industry. An internationally agreed methodology means estimates of the impact of ICTs on greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption will now have much greater credibility. It will also show just how significant a contribution ICTs can make by reducing global emissions in other sectors.”

Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the European Commission: “I'm pleased that the industry is taking the task of measuring its own footprint so seriously. And I'm pleased that the ITU, as a UN agency, is doing such good work facilitating negotiations, reaching out globally to industry sub-sectors and to other standardization initiatives.”

New guidelines on conflict minerals

New ITU work on ‘conflict minerals’ will also begin in response to a request from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). ITU will make a survey of existing due diligence requirements and guidelines concerning sources of conflict minerals (in particular, those that are smelted into tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold), as well as their use in conformity with recognized international treaties and national legislation, where this exists.

Rare earth minerals are used in consumer electronics products such as mobile phones, DVD players, video games and computers. The report will provide guidance to ICT entities seeking to exercise due diligence on, and formalize the origin and chain of custody of, conflict minerals used in their products and on their suppliers to ensure that conflict minerals used in their products do not directly or indirectly finance armed conflict or result in labour or human rights violations. Agreement to address this issue demonstrates the ICT industry’s commitment to sustainability at all levels of the value chain.

Following on from the success of ITU’s Universal Charging Solution for mobile devices (Recommendation ITU-T L.1000), the meeting also agreed to study the benefits and disadvantages of the standardization of batteries for mobile terminals and other ICT devices, looking at energy efficiency over the battery life cycle, eco-design information, battery lifetime and exchangeability, safety and environmental protection, recycling and reuse. This could lead to a reduction of harmful materials used in batteries and an increased lifespan of ICT products. Battery manufacturers, device manufacturers, operators and users will all benefit, say experts. 

Ahmed Zeddam, Chairman of ITU-T Study Group 5: “This has been the most productive and significant meeting in the long history of Study Group 5. Twelve new important standards have been agreed, including many critical to methodologies to assess the environmental impact of ICT and the protection of home networks and next generation network (NGN) equipment from electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and environmental effects. The meeting also saw revisions to a key set of standards on resistibility to overvoltages or overcurrents of telecoms equipment. ITU is the only organization producing these important global standards.”

For more information, please contact:

Toby Johnson
Senior Communications Officer
E-mail: toby.johnson@itu.int
Tel: +41 22 730 5877;
mobile: +41 79 249 4868

Sarah Parkes

Chief, Media Relations and Public Information,
E-mail: sarah.parkes@itu.int
Tel: +41 22 730 6135;
mobile: +41 79 599 1439

The first ITU Green Standards Week closed Friday with a call on international bodies, NGOs, standards bodies, governments, regulators, industry and academia to collaborate more closely on the application and development of information and communication technologies (ICT) standards to help combat climate change. Particular emphasis was placed on a globalized methodology to assess the environmental impact of ICTs, reducing e-waste, and the use of submarine cables for climate monitoring and disaster warning.

ITU has been working with industry and government members aiming to achieve agreement on an internationally recognized set of methodologies to be approved by the end of the year. Included is a methodology which ICT companies can use to measure their own carbon footprint, as well as a way to estimate the considerable savings in global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and energy that can be achieved in other sectors through the use of ICTs.

Full press release

The application “Smart Recycling” has been awarded the winner of the first ITU Green ICT Application Challenge. The global competition was organized by ITU and supported by Telefónica and Research In Motion to identify innovative applications that can help improve energy efficiency and combat climate change. Designed by Lis Lugo Colls, from Spain, the application aims to help mobile users locate recycling and garbage bins within their area, and provide advice generally on recycling. The application will benefit citizens, government recycling programs and private recycling companies by creating a more sustainable and resource-efficient future through community engagement and eco-design.

Four special mentions were made by the jury to the applications “Make Me Green – Delivering Context-Specific Suggestions for a Green Lifestyle”, by Stephen Reiter and Simone Ferlin (Germany), “Effi-e Play Green”, presented by Maria Dolores Rodriguez De Azero (Spain), “Mobile App to Use a Vehicle to its Fullest Capacity”, by Praneel Raja (India) and “A Community-Based System for Biodiversity Degradation”, by Euphraith Muthoni Masinde (Kenya).

These applications touch upon related issues such as raising awareness of the impact that lifestyles have on the environment, monitoring energy and water consumption in hotels, promoting car sharing and sharing traditional and indigenous knowledge on biodiversity and conservation.

The winner of the competition - Lis Lugo Colls - will present their application during the upcoming ITU Green Standards Week, to be held in Rome (Italy) from 5 to 9 September 2011. As winner Lis Colls will receive a cash prize of USD 10,000 to further develop the application.

ITU would like to thank all developers for their interest and participation in this first App challenge. Overall 54 applications were received covering topics such as monitoring climate change, measurement of GHG emissions, adaptation and mitigation to climate change, and community engagement.

Click here for further information on the competition. More information on ITU’s activities on climate change is available at www.itu.int/climate

ITU is organizing the first Green Standards Week from 5 to 9 September in Rome, Italy. The cluster of workshops, hosted by Telecom Italia and supported by Huawei, RIM, Alcatel Lucent and Microsoft, will focus on raising awareness of the importance of using ICT standards to build a green economy and combat climate change. Full remote participation will be made possible with video, streamed audio and the ability to send questions via a moderator.

A High-Level Segment (HLS) will provide Ministers and senior representatives from the ICT industry with an opportunity to exchange views on how ICTs can help in the implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in the run-up to Durban (COP-17) and in preparation for the Earth Summit Rio +20 to be held in 2012. The HLS will aim to set transparent policy objectives and targets to measure and improve government green ICT strategies and standards, including ICT-enabled applications across the economy.

During the event the winner of the Green ICT Applications Challenge will be announced and be given the opportunity to present their concept for an app to combat climate change.

The first workshop will focus on methodologies for environmental impact assessment of ICT and will examine work underway to measure the impact of ICTs on climate change and how to standardize the way to calculate the reduction of GHG that ICTs have. This workshop will be jointly organized with the European Commission.

A second workshop will look at moving to a green economy through ICT standards will explore how ICTs can help to address climate change and build a green economy, shedding light on standards, policies and best practices. This workshop will be jointly organized with Telecom Italia.

The last day will see a workshop on using submarine communications networks to monitor the climate and will aim to encourage the development of new technologies and standards and will explore business opportunities for telecommunication companies to become active players in monitoring climate change. This workshop will be jointly organized by ITU, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Green Standards Week will bring together leading specialists in the field, from top policy-makers to engineers, designers, planners,
government officials, regulators, standards experts and others. It is open to participation by the press.

ITU’s message to global climate change conference

Geneva, 13 July, 2011 - Ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP-17) in Durban, South Africa, attendees at the ITU Symposium on ICTs and Climate Change in Ghana have renewed calls for global leaders to recognize the power of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change.

An outcome document asks that ITU, as the UN specialized agency for ICTs, lead a coalition urging COP-17 delegates to look to the enormous potential of ICT solutions to cut emissions across all sectors. The document calls for the adoption of a ‘closed loop’ approach to manufacturing and recycling which will reduce the need to extract and process raw materials. It also asks for recognition of the value of ICTs in monitoring deforestation, crop patterns and other environmental phenomena.

Full press release

ITU will hold the Fifth Symposium on ICTs and the Environment & Climate Change in Cairo, Egypt on 2-3 November 2010. The Symposium will be hosted by the Ministry of communications and Information Technology (MCIT) Egypt, and the Ministry of state for Environmental Affairs (MSEA) Egypt.

The event is particularly timely, as it will take place less than a month before the opening of the 16th UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP 16) which will take place in November 2010 in Cancun, Mexico. COP 16 will focus on adopting an achievable balanced outcome on climate change.

The Fifth Symposium on ICTs and the Environment & Climate Change will focus on the issue of ICTs, the environment and climate change in Africa and the needs of developing countries. Topics to be discussed will include adaptation to climate change, e-waste, cost-effective ICT technologies, methodology of environmental impact assessment of ICT and financing of climate change solutions. It will bring together leading specialists in the field, from top policy-makers to engineers, designers, planners, government officials, regulators, standards experts and others. The main purpose is to raise awareness of the importance and opportunities of using ICTs to monitor climate change, to mitigate and address its effects. The conclusions of this event will contribute towards ITU’s future work in this area.

A draft programme is available at: http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/worksem/climatechange/201011/programme.html

Online registration is available at: http://www.itu.int/cgi-bin/htsh/edrs/ITU-T/workshop/edrs.registration.form?_eventid=3000188

More about the Symposium can be found at: www.itu.int/ITU-T/go/egypt

• How “green ICT” initiatives and applications, such as smart grids, cloud computing, videoconferencing, e-government and dematerialization of content, can play a major role in reducing CO2 emissions, and ensuring sustainable development and green growth;
  
  
• How to measure the impact of "green ICT" on climate change and how to standardize a methodology to calculate the impact of ICTs on GHG emissions;
  
  
• How a standardized methodology, and other initiatives, might assist countries to obtain and make best use of ICTs to address climate change;
  
  
• How the ICT industry can promote awareness and implementation of "green ICT".