Speech by ITU Secretary-General at GSMA Mobile World Congress 2010
"...The mobile industry has a huge role to play. Some time later this year we will surpass the five billion mark for mobile cellular subscriptions. And we know that mobile phones, like ICTs in general, have a positive effect on the environment – limiting unnecessary travel, for example, or making working practices more efficient.
But we must also do everything we can to ensure that mobile devices – and mobile networks – are themselves as ‘green’ as possible, with reduced energy consumption. Lower consumption of precious raw materials. And less waste.
New standards being developed within ITU – such as those for the Next-Generation Networks which will deliver the vast majority of mobile backhaul capacity in the future – can reduce network and data centre power consumption by up to 40%.
And the universal charger – which was championed by GSMA and has just been globally standardized by ITU – will deliver a 50% reduction in standby energy consumption, eliminate up to 80,000 tonnes of redundant chargers, and cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 13 million tonnes annually..."