Information and communication technologies
have a critical role to play in combating climate change through the
reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The increased use of ICTs
is undoubtedly part of the cause of global warming, as witness the
hundreds of millions of computers and more than one billion television
sets that are never fully turned off at night in homes and in offices.
But ICTs can also be a key part of the solution, because of the role
they play in monitoring, mitigating and adapting to climate change.
There are a number of different causes of climate
change, many of which are naturally generated (such as variations in solar
radiation, and volcanic activity). However, it is man-made climate change that
is of major concern because it appears to be leading to a progressive and
accelerating warming of the planet, as a result of the release of greenhouse
gases, primarily carbon-based emissions. The work of the United Nations
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) shows that global greenhouse
gas emissions have risen by 70 per cent since 1970.
The ICT sector itself (in this definition,
telecommunications, computing and the Internet, but excluding broadcasting
transmitters and receivers) contributes around 2 to 2.5 per cent of GHG
emissions, at just under 1 Gigatonne of CO2
equivalent. The main constituent (40 per cent) of this is the energy
requirements of personal computers and data monitors, with data centres
contributing a further 23 per cent (see Figure 1). Fixed and mobile
telecommunications contribute an estimated 24 per cent of the total. As the ICT
industry is growing faster than the rest of the economy, this share may well
increase over time. ICTs have the potential to assist in finding a solution to
reducing the remaining 97.5 per cent of global emissions from other sectors of
the economy.
ICTs contribute to global warming. This comes from a
number of sources, including:
the proliferation of ICT users (for
example, the number of mobile phone users rose from
145 million in 1996 to more than 3 billion in August
2007, and reached 4 billion by the end of
2008);
many ICT users now own multiple devices;
rising processing power and transmission power (for
instance, third-generation (3G) mobile phones operate at higher frequencies
and need more power than 2G phones);
a trend towards “always-on” usage modes, and a
tendency to store rather than delete older material.
Figure 1—
Estimated distribution of global CO2 emissions from
ICTs
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ICT use will keep growing, and so it is important that
the industry takes steps now to curb, and ultimately reduce, its carbon
emissions.
To further examine the link between ICTs and
climate change, ITU is organizing a number of major meetings on this
topic. ITU and its membership and partners launched two international
symposia on “ICTs and Climate Change” that took place in Kyoto, Japan,
on 15–16 April 2008, co-organized and hosted by the Ministry of
International Affairs and Communications (MIC); and in London, United
Kingdom, on 17–18 June 2008, supported and hosted by BT plc. Also, at
the High-Level Segment of the ITU Council session in November 2008,
ministers and delegates discussed this important issue.
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