Page 54 - Turning digital technology innovation into climate action

Turning digital technology innovation into climate action

• Improved national legislation and strengthened enforcement mechanisms in line with
international obligations and best practices
• Strengthened national capacity to formulate and implement integrated policies and practical
measures to improve e-waste management
• Investments in e-waste management systems and infrastructure promoted
• Transboundary movements are carried out in line with international requirements and illegal
traffic of e-waste is prevented or combatted
• Increased awareness and greater engagement of key e-waste stakeholders at the global, regional,
national and municipal/local levels
• Better coordinated and more efficient support provided to countries to reduce and manage
e-waste in ways that create jobs and business opportunities and that protect e-waste workers,
human health and the environment
• Data, statistics and knowledge base strengthened and made more easily accessible to all stakeholders
• Greater impact of the work of the United Nations and its key partners in the area of safe,
sustainable and circular e-waste management
• Promote opportunities for non-state actors including industry to become a part of solutions to
e-waste challenges
• Promote the implementation of international standards to tackle e-waste and achieve a
circular economy

6.4 Improving environmental efficiency of frontier technologies

The disruptive potential of artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), digitalisation, Big Data,
machine learning (ML), robotics, 3D printing, virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR), digital twins,
5G, clean energy technology, Space 2.0, etc., along with other frontier technologies, holds promise
for engineering smart innovations and solutions that may help combat climate change.
However, digital infrastructures are increasingly under pressure to cope with the increasing bandwidth
and energy demands from these cutting-edge technologies. At the same time, the energy consumption
of these frontier technologies continues to grow in parallel. Proper guidelines and benchmarking must
be in place to ensure the sustainable use of these new technologies.

To this end, ITU has already taken the first step to identify the energy requirements of frontier
technologies.

As explained previously (in Box 4), the Focus Group on ‘Environmental Efficiency for AI and other
Emerging Technologies’ (FG-AI4EE) was created in May 2019 to identify the standardization gaps
related to the environmental performance of AI and other emerging technologies.

In addition, ITU routinely organizes thematic forums and workshops to gather insights from industrial
leaders and sectorial representatives on the latest development of frontier technologies and their
developmental trajectories.

Most recently, ITU, along with eight other UN agencies and programmes, organized the 13th
Symposium on ‘ICT, Environment and Climate Change” in May 2019 (as seen in Figures 14 and
15). The Symposium bought together panels comprising leaders from the telecom sector, national
policymakers, service providers, the civil society, the academia, and UN representatives to discuss
the role of frontier technologies in combatting climate change and achieving a circular economy (CE).

As a result of this Symposium, a Call for Action was agreed in which the participants expressed their
interested in continuing to engage in global dialogues on examining the disruptive impacts of frontier

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