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As an OCED report states: “ICTs, including the Internet, are having profound environmental impacts, both positive and negative.” ICTs, including the Internet, have greatly improved the efficiency of production and transportation processes, thus reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, increased efficiency has resulted in lower costs and higher demand. It is not obvious that increased demand would have occurred without ICTs, and it is not obvious whether the efficiencies realized thanks to ICTs have been offset by the greater demand. Thus, it is very difficult to quantify the net impact of ICTs on the environment.
The direct negative effects of ICTs and the Internet on the environment are essentially their contributions to environmental pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
E-waste constitutes a significant, and worsening, environmental issue. It is being combated by a number of programs, including in ITU. In our view, states should consider acceding to the 2012 International Telecommunication Regulations, whose article 11 states: “Member States are encouraged to adopt energy-efficiency and e-waste best practices taking into account the relevant ITU-T Recommendations.” As far as we are aware, this is the only treaty-level provision relating to e-waste.
While certain (mostly OECD) Member States support ICT-related proposals in trade agreements (including in WTO), we are not aware of any proposals regarding e-waste in trade agreements. We note in passing that the very same states that support ICT-related proposals in binding treaty-level trade agreements object to discussing such proposals in ITU, on the grounds that treaty-level provisions are not necessary, cannot be sufficiently flexible, and could hamper innovation. This appears inconsistent.
Regarding greenhouse gas emissions, it appears that the ICT industry’s contribution is comparable to that of the aviation industry, and that the Internet accounts for a significant proportion of global energy consumption and the consequent greenhouse gas emissions. ITU Recommendation L.1470 provides guidance on how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the ICT sector.
A small number of web sites, including adult entertainment sites and gaming sites, account for a significant proportion of web traffic and thus of greenhouse gas emissions. News also accounts for a significant proportion, but a significant proportion of news is misleading (fake news). This is due to the current advertising-driven revenue model. A tax on digital advertising could reduce the volume of collected data, and thus reduce the consumption of electricity
Data centers and content delivery networks also account for a significant proportion of greenhouse gas emissions (for example, it has been estimated that Bitcoin consumes as much electricity as countries like Indonesia or Sweden).
International data flows also account for a significant proportion of greenhouse gas emissions. Undesirable international data flows can also be reduced by enabling users to control what data are collected and stored, as is done by the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Unnecessary international data flows can also be reduced by promoting data localization, and customs duties on international data flows, including for e-commerce. Consequently, the current WTO moratorium on customs duties for e-commerce should be abrogated, and there should be no international agreements limiting data localization requirements, or preventing national limitations of cross-border data flows.
While robocalls (which are facilitated by the Internet) do not account for much traffic, most of them do not appear to provide social or economic benefits, thus their suppression would seem to be a priority item and indeed many countries, and the ITU, are taking measures to combat illegitimate robocalling.
At present, the Internet is a “best effort” network, that does not allocate priority to any particular type of traffic, so reasonable quality of service is achieved by allocating the bandwidth that will likely satisfy peak demand. Use of a signaling network might achieve higher efficiency, and thus less use of electricity for the same throughput. It is suggested that studies be initiated on the use of signaling networks to improve the efficiency of Internet traffic.
The respective roles of stakeholders are clearly set forth in paragraph 35 of the Tunis Agenda, however, we suggest a refinement that would more clearly specify the roles and responsibilities of the different stakeholders.
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