Excellencies,
Ministers,
Councilors
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
This morning we have the first of two sessions on climate change.
Our subject this morning is Combating Climate Change through ICTs.
This is an extremely important topic for our industry. By most
estimates, ICTs presently contribute 2 to 2.5 percent of total GHG emissions,
although this excludes emission caused by broadcasting.
There have been many success stories in the ICT field and the
sector is growing rapidly in terms of the number of ICT users, and deployment of
networks and services. But this very success raises the stakes for climate
change, as the sector must find ways to control and limit its emissions, while
continuing its growth.
New developments in technology can help. Next Generation Networks
are a major focus of our new standards and ITU recently published a Technology
Watch report showing that the energy savings from the deployment of NGN compared
to PSTN could be as much as 40%. Better use of power-saving modes for ICT
equipment can reduce emissions and this is another important area of our work to
address climate change. For example our new broadband standard VDSL-2 has three
power modes compared with VDSL-1 which was on full power all the time.
But what is more significant is the impact ICTs can have on
reducing the emissions of the other industry sectors which contribute most of
the GHG emissions: energy generation; transportation; and buildings. ICTs can be
a key enabling technology to reduce emissions in many sectors. Some studies show
that ICTs can reduce the total GHG emissions of other sectors by a factor of
five compared to the emissions produced by the ICT sector itself. Examples
include smart buildings, videoconferencing, on-line commerce, teleworking,
traffic management etc. Estimates of the savings vary from 15% to 40%, but even
taking the most conservative estimate the savings in energy consumption that can
be achieved through the application of ICTs would be around $900 billion by the
year 2020. There is therefore a tremendously good news story for the ICT
industry to exploit.
The potential role of ICTs in environmental protection and
sustainable development was first recognized in ITU back in 1994. Although its
role in environmental monitoring and disaster relief is well understood, its
role in combating climate change has only received a major emphasis in ITU over
the past year or so. As we will hear today and tomorrow, all three of ITU’s
sectors are active on climate change issues. For example, there are programs in
the Radio Sector to facilitate climate monitoring, and in Development Sector to
examine sustainability issues and emergency telecommunications. ITU’s increased
activity in this area was given a significant impetus by the UN
Secretary-General when he visited us last year and stated that ITU is one of the
most important stakeholder in terms of climate change, and encouraged us to play
a greater role.
Initially there was some skeptism as to what role ITU could play
in combating climate change. However after the publication of our Technology
Watch report on ICTs and Climate Change there was an enthusiastic response from
our membership and a number of initiatives were taken. We held major symposia in
Kyoto and London to consider the link between ICTs and Climate Change and more
events are being planned. One outcome was the establishment of a Focus Group to
develop internationally agreed standardised methodologies to measure the impact
of ICTs on climate change, both in direct and indirect terms.
At the recent World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly in
South Africa, the ITU membership adopted a major resolution on climate change.
The Assembly declared that ITU members will work towards reducing ICT’s carbon
footprint, while promoting ICT “as a potent and cross-cutting tool to measure
and reduce greenhouse gas emissions across all economic and social activities”.
The resolution resolves to work toward reductions in GHG emissions necessary to
meet the goals of UN Framework Convention. It invites the ITU Secretary-General
“to continue to cooperate and collaborate with other entities within the United
Nations in formulating future international efforts for the effective addressing
of climate change”. During the Global Standards Symposium which was held prior
to WTSA, leaders of industry recognized that the industry can set an example by
committing to specific programs with objectives to reduce overall GHG emissions.
ITU is also actively involved in work of the UN system to combat
climate change
Climate change is one of the priorities of the UN System and of
Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. We were fortunate to hear his message earlier
this morning and in his visit last year to ITU he stressed the important role
that ICTs can play in moderating climate change.
The UN system has made a commitment to attain climate neutrality
within three years and is also dedicated to 'Delivering as One' in its efforts
to help countries address this problem. Each agency and program of the UN is
contributing in its areas of expertise and we are fortunate this morning to have
present some of the leaders of the UN system in this effort.
Our session today is particularly timely, as a major meeting will
take place in Poznan, Poland next month on a new global agreement on climate
change, which is expected to be finalized in Copenhagen in December 2009. For
that reason, it is particularly welcome that part of the HLS is devoted to
climate change and we are fortunate to have an eminent group of speakers to
address this crucial topic today and tomorrow.
Let me then introduce all our speakers for this session and then
I will give each of them the floor.
Our opening Speaker is H.E. Mr. Ramon Linares, the First
Deputy Minster of Information and Communications of Cuba. Many scientists link
the increase in extreme weather events to climate change and Cuba is one of the
island states that have suffered greatly in the past years from the ravages of
hurricanes.
A key element to combat climate change is monitoring of
scientific and climate data. Mr. Michel Jarraud is Secretary-General of
the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) based in Geneva. ITU and WMO are
close partners in this effort.
Another neighbor in Geneva and member of the UN system is UNCTAD.
Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi is the Secretary-General of the United
Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). He was formerly
Director-General of the WTO and Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand. ITU has
worked closely with UNCTAD in many areas, including the Commission on Science
and Technology for Development.
There has been much discussion of the relation between climate
change, alternative fuels and food security. We will have a message on behalf of
Jacque Diouf, Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization,
based in Rome. The message will be delivered by Peter Holmgren, Director
of the Division of Environment, Climate change and Bioenergy.
Following the opening addresses I will open the floor to
Councilors for questions to the speakers or for general comments and remarks on
climate change.
So without further ado I invite H.E. Mr. Ramon Linares,
First Deputy Minster of Information and Communications, Cuba to give us his
address
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