Archived Newsroom • Press Release |
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Digital solutions to drive progress toward United Nations
Sustainable
Development Goals by 2030
Focus on improving lives, fostering growth and environmental protection
Washington D.C., 14 June 2016 –
The information and communication technologies
(ICT) sector can play a vital role in helping
achieve the objectives of the United Nations 17
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030,
according to new analysis prepared for the Global
e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) by Accenture
(NYSE:ACN). This would involve deploying innovative
digital solutions to improve the quality of people’s
lives, achieve equitable growth and protect the
environment.
The GeSI report,
#SystemTransformation: How digital
solutions will drive progress towards the
sustainable development goals,
published in collaboration with
Accenture Strategy,
demonstrates the impact that digital technologies
can have on shaping a more sustainable future, and
highlights the opportunity for companies in the ICT
sector to drive growth and competitiveness by
investing in these initiatives. The report also
identifies roadblocks to realizing the full
potential of these digital solutions, including
policy, regulatory and supply-side constraints, as
well as barriers on the demand-side.
The report finds that every country has achievement gaps in more than half of
the 17 SDGs, and many fall short on all. While the greatest strides are needed
in the least developed countries and developing regions, the report demonstrates
that action is equally needed in developed regions to decouple their economic
growth from degrading the environment.
“GeSI is committed to leading the discussion about how the world should use
digital solutions to address the challenge of meeting the SDGs,” said Luis
Neves, chairman, GeSI. “By making the SDGs GeSI’s central framework for action,
we have defined an implementation roadmap that we will continue to refine to
guide our priorities up to 2030, and we commit to supporting our member
organizations to make this exciting vision a reality.”
Widespread deployment of digital solutions will
substantially contribute to all three dimensions of development covered by the
SDGs. For example,
- Improving people’s lives: 1.6 billion people could benefit from more
accessible, affordable and better quality medical services through e-healthcare,
while connected road vehicle solutions could save up to 720,000 lives annually
and prevent up to 30 million traffic injuries (SDG#3)
- Boosting equitable growth: Digital solutions like the Internet of Things and
robotics can help bring almost USD 1 trillion in economic benefits to industries
from smart manufacturing and smart logistics (SDG#9)
- Protecting the environment: Digital solutions could enable greenhouse gas
emissions reduction and drive market transformation for renewables, cutting
carbon emissions by around 20 per cent in 2030 (SDG#13)
“At Microsoft, our mission is to empower every person and
every organization on the planet to achieve more,” said Satya Nadella, CEO,
Microsoft Corp. “Through initiatives like GeSI, we believe digital technology
can be applied to help solve society’s most pressing challenges spanning
education, health care, environmental sustainability and urban planning.”
Timotheus Höttges, Chief Executive Officer, Deutsche
Telekom AG, said, “It is time to understand that the digital revolution can be
the answer to our global problems, therefore it is our #digital duty at Deutsche
Telekom to shape this revolution for the benefit of future generations.”
The report shows that by 2030, ICT sector companies could
realize USD 2.1 trillion in additional annual revenue by 2030 from services that
directly contribute to SDG achievement. This includes USD 400 billion per year
from connecting an additional 2.5 billion people to communication services by
2030. Additionally, USD 1.7 trillion can be realized from digital solutions
contributing towards SDG achievement, including e-Commerce (USD 580 billion),
e-Work (USD 537 billion), smart buildings (USD 200 billion), e-Government (USD
86 billion), and online learning (USD 75 billion).
“Through strategic deployment of digital solutions, the
ICT sector can act as the catalyst for helping the world’s nations solve
critical social, economic and environmental challenges,” said
Peter Lacy, managing director,
Accenture Strategy.
“The speed and reach of digital solutions allows them to spread quickly to reach
people irrespective of location or income bracket, and they are designed to
complement their use, so their uptake is rapid. Digital solutions also make good
business sense, as they contribute to new business models, create markets and
help solve some of the world’s most pressing problems in innovative ways.”
“Despite the promise and potential of global connectivity,
we cannot lose sight of the fact that more than four billion people have yet to
be brought online,” said Houlin Zhao, Secretary-General of ITU, the UN’s
specialized agency for ICT. “Connecting the unconnected and bridging the digital
divide must be addressed as an urgent policy priority requiring more innovative
public-private partnerships and finance and investment models.”
To fully utilize the power of
digital solutions and realize these benefits for
society, economy and the environment, three
roadblocks to large-scale ICT digital deployments
need to be removed. The report calls on
policymakers, multilateral and donor organizations,
NGOs and the private sector to take steps to address
the following hurdles:
- Political and regulatory constraints, particularly related to market entry
and data security. Differences in regulatory requirements slow the deployment of
sensors and smart technologies, as they increase the complexity associated with
their development and use, thereby also adding to their cost.
- Supply-side constraints, resulting from inadequate capital for
infrastructure projects or for testing innovative digital solutions. Efforts to
find capital for large infrastructure projects in developing and least-developed
regions are undermined by a lack of investment security and lack of
interoperable standards across technologies.
- Demand-side barriers, such as low affordability and a lack of digital skills
needed to use the new technological solutions. Underpinning this are
gender-specific barriers, such as lower purchasing power of women, their lower
literacy rates and a mismatch with cultural role expectations. The use of
technologies is also impeded because they are often not translated into local
languages.
Visit
www.systemtransformation-sdg.gesi.org
and
www.accenture.com/systemtransformation
for more information.
The GeSI #SystemTransformation
report was developed with the support of Deutsche
Telekom, ITU, Microsoft and Verizon.
For more information, please contact:
Paul Conneally
Head, Corporate Communications Division, ITU
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Chiara Venturini
GeSI
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Barbara Lyon
Accenture
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About ITU...
About GeSI (Global e-Sustainability
Initiative)
The Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) is a
strategic partnership of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
sector and organizations committed to creating and promoting technologies and
practices that foster economic, environmental and social sustainability. Formed
in 2001, GeSI’s vision is a sustainable world through responsible, ICT-enabled
transformation. GeSI fosters global and open cooperation, informs the public of
its members’ voluntary actions to improve their sustainability performance, and
promotes technologies that foster sustainable development.
GeSI enjoys a diverse and
global membership, representing around 40 of the
world’s leading ICT companies and partners with over
12 global business and international organizations
such as the International Telecommunication Union
(ITU), the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC), the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Business
Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), the
World Resources Forum Association (WRFA) – as well
as a range of international stakeholders committed
to ICT sustainability objectives to share and
develop ideas, launch joint initiatives, and
collaborate on a broad range of sustainability
projects. These partnerships help shape GeSI’s
global vision regarding the evolution of the ICT
sector, and how it can best meet the challenges of
sustainable development. For more information, see
www.gesi.org.
About Accenture
Accenture is a leading global
professional services company, providing a broad
range of services and solutions in strategy,
consulting, digital, technology and operations.
Combining unmatched experience and specialized
skills across more than 40 industries and all
business functions – underpinned by the world’s
largest delivery network – Accenture works at the
intersection of business and technology to help
clients improve their performance and create
sustainable value for their stakeholders. With
approximately 373,000 people serving clients in more
than 120 countries, Accenture drives innovation to
improve the way the world works and lives. Visit us
at
www.accenture.com
Accenture Strategy operates at the intersection of
business and technology. We bring together our capabilities in business,
technology, operations and function strategy to help our clients envision and
execute industry-specific strategies that support enterprise wide
transformation. Our focus on issues related to digital disruption,
competitiveness, global operating models, talent and leadership help drive both
efficiencies and growth. For more information, follow @AccentureStrat or visit
www.accenture.com/strategy