Page 25 - Turning digital technology innovation into climate action

Turning digital technology innovation into climate action

o Data flows: Cisco estimates that global mobile data traffic grew by 71% in 2017. Global
mobile data traffic reached 11.5 Exabytes per month at the end of 2017, up from 6.7 Chapter 2
Exabytes per month at the end of 2016. 16
o Energy use & energy efficiency across networks: International standards can help address
these concerns by providing common measurement methodologies. ITU has developed a
set of methodologies and key performance indicators (KPIs) to assess the environmental
impact including measuring carbon footprint, energy performance and efficiency across
telecom/ICT networks, goods and services.
o Data centres: The number of data centres is increasing rapidly worldwide, with a large
number being installed in Scandinavia (e.g. Iceland), where average temperatures are lower.
Data centres vary in their energy efficiency and energy sources. For example, Facebook has
committed to enough new renewable energy resources to equal 100% of the energy used
by every data centre built by Facebook in 2020, and always in the same state or power grid
as the data centre itself.
17
The good news is that some research also shows that ICTs do have the potential to enable up to one-
third of the first halving of global GHG emissions by 2030, by enabling efficiencies in lifestyle and in
other (non-ICT) sectors of the economy through the provision of digital solutions that can improve
18
energy efficiency, inventory management and business efficiency. Opportunities for environmental
19
load reduction through the use of ICTs include travel substitution, transportation optimization, working
environment changes, use of environmental control systems, use of e-business, e-government, and so on.
Figure 5 illustrates this overall projection, followed by Figure 6 that shows projections disaggregated
by ICT emissions sources.

Figure 5: Projection for halving of global GHG emissions by 2030 20

16 Cisco. ‘Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update.’ 2017-2022 White Paper. 18 Feb.
2019, www .cisco .com/ c/ en/ us/ solutions/ collateral/ service -provider/ visual -networking -index -vni/ white -paper -c11
-738429 .html.
17 Facebook. ‘Sustainable Data Centers.’ Facebook Sustainability, Facebook Inc., 24 June 2019, sustainability .fb .com/
innovation -for -our -world/ sustainable -data -centers/ .
18 Bergmark, Pernilla. ‘Halving Global Emissions by 2030 through Exponential Climate Action and Digital Technologies.’
International Telecommunication Union (ITU), 13 May 2019, www .itu .int/ en/ ITU -T/ climatechange/ symposia/ 201905/
Documents/ 3 _Pernilla _Bergmark .pdf.
19 Marchi, Beatrice, and Simone Zanoni. ‘Supply Chain Management for Improved Energy Efficiency: Review and
Opportunities.’ 16 Oct. 2017, www .mdpi .com/ 1996 -1073/ 10/ 10/ 1618/ pdf.
20 Bergmark, Pernilla. ‘Halving Global Emissions by 2030 through Exponential Climate Action and Digital Technologies.’
International Telecommunication Union (ITU), 13 May 2019, www .itu .int/ en/ ITU -T/ climatechange/ symposia/ 201905/
Documents/ 3 _Pernilla _Bergmark .pdf.

11