Opening Remarks by Malcolm Johnson, ITU Deputy Secretary-General
14th Symposium on ICT, Environment, Climate Change and Circular Economy
24 October 2022 - Rome, Italy
Welcome to this year’s symposium on ICT, Environment, Climate Change and Circular Economy. Many thanks to the Italian Ministry of Economic Development and Tor Vergata University of Rome for hosting us.
Climate action is now more critical than ever before, as has been made abundantly clear by the experts, the science, and the evidence of our own eyes. Also evident, is the significant contribution of new emerging digital technologies to fight climate change.
ITU, as the UN specialized agency for ICTs, has for many years played an important role in mobilizing digital technology for climate action, in particular in critical areas such as smart cities, earth monitoring, natural disaster risk reduction, e-waste, and energy consumption. ITU’s expert group, ITU-T Study Group 5, leads the vital work on environment and circular economy to ensure digital transformation supports the path toward more sustainable societies.
While there is greater recognition of technology’s role in achieving the more ambitious commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, there is also the need to improve the environmental performance and sustainability of the ICT sector itself.
This month in Bucharest, the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference reaffirmed the important role of telecommunications and ICTs to protect the environment. It encouraged the ICT sector to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030, in line with the climate targets set by the Paris Agreement, and to strive for net-zero targets in the long term.
Meaningful partnerships and collaboration are the foundation for accelerating progress on climate action. ITU, itself a partnership between the public and private sectors, including academia, is pleased to collaborate with others such as the Secretariat of the Basel Convention, UNFCCC, UN Environment, UNIDO, GeSi and the European Green Digital Coalition.
So I encourage you to explore ways can ensure that digital transformation plays a key role in climate action.
Thank you.