Page 36 - Turning digital technology innovation into climate action

Turning digital technology innovation into climate action

Chapter 4. ICTs and climate

change mitigation

According to the IPCC, climate change mitigation is defined
as ‘limiting and preventing the emission of greenhouse gas
by enhancing activities that remove these gasses from the
atmosphere. The primary sources of GHGs can be found in the
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following sectors: energy, transportation, buildings, industry,
waste management, agriculture, and forestry. Accordingly,
mitigation actions – including several of the following – can
apply to every single one of these sectors:

• Energy: The energy supply sector represents the largest
contributor of global GHG emissions. Mitigation measures
may include: improving energy efficiency; reducing fugitive
emissions in fuel extract; switching to renewable energy; and
employing carbon dioxide capture and storage technologies.
• Transportation: Measures may include: improving vehicle and engine design to improve energy
efficiency; reducing the carbon intensity of fuel; and revitalizing city infrastructure to encourage
behavioural change.
• Buildings: Measures may include: reducing energy requirements in new buildings, retrofitting
existing buildings to reduce energy use in heating and cooling, and encouraging lifestyle changes.
• Industry: Measures may include: wide-scale upgrading, replacing and deploying best available
technologies; improving material use efficiency; encouraging the recycling and re-reuse of
materials and products; improving product service efficiency; and enhancing waste use to reduce
material demands.
• Agriculture, forestry and other land use: Measures may include: reducing deforestation;
improving land and livestock management; replacing energy-intensive building materials; and
reducing waste in the food supply chain.
• Human settlements, infrastructure, and spatial planning: Urban areas account for more than
half of global primary energy use and energy-related CO . It is difficult to determine the most
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effective mitigation actions given the complexity of a city. However, some potential mitigation
measures may include: implementing effective climate policies; and improving land-use as well
as energy policies.
Figure 9 below highlights the allocation of total GHG emissions in 2010. It demonstrates that the
energy (indirect emissions) and industry sectors have the largest impacts on climate. They are closely
followed by the Road/Transportation sector and the Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU)
sector. These development trends suggest that reducing energy use in buildings and relieving traffic
congestion have potential in reducing GHG emissions in cities.
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In addition, as indicated previously, the ICT sector itself has also been contributing to global GHG
emissions. Being the backbone of digital technologies, ICTs are powered by hundreds and thousands
of data centres. It has been shown that data centres are already consuming more than 2 per cent of

1 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). ‘AR5 Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change.’ 2014,
www .ipcc .ch/ report/ ar5/ wg3/ .
2 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). ‘Reports.’ https:// www .ipcc .ch/ reports/ .

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