ITU Telecom World 2009 In Review 2009 Geneva 5-9 October Another panellist questioned the importance of green ICT and asked what was being done about it? Three issues were noted. Firstly, the demand for ubiqui-tous access for information and a shared view that this is the driver of future economic growth. Secondly, the imperative of creating a low carbon society. Thirdly is the wish of all businesses to lower their operating costs. Thus invest-ment in green IT is likely to be a key concern in any business. Therefore, busi-ness will be taxed and incentivize to reduced carbon emissions. Green ICT is equally a business practice and a business opportunity. Panellists stated that in their companies, green is a priority. Innovation and collaboration can do everything in terms of addressing this issue. People are forced to collaborate. However, the major challenge is to have a common strat-egy for climate change in different countries. The reality of this varies from country to country . For instance, climate change in Northern Europe is a real issue for consumers, for governance and for big corporations. In Spain it is also a real issue for big companies but not so much today in the domestic market. If we go to Latin America, the reality is that you see Brazil pushing very hard on climate change but this is not the same reality in Argentina, Peru or Mexico, for instance. Therefore, the challenge is how to implement a common strategy in differ-ent country’s realities. So, the idea is to look for a common strategy, thus the first idea is to agree on a global positioning which is that the ICT sector is in the center of the solution of climate change. Using ICT we are able to reduce emissions, cost and can be more efficient. In terms of internal management, Telefónica, for example, has created a climate change office launched by the CSR and Operations department. Technologies and innovation are both needed in parallel. For instance, we need to talk about business imperatives as well as providing opportunities for those who are stepped in certain passive development, The example of lBT’s work in Bahrain, building an intelligent urban environment was cited. This is an inter-esting project which has some green directive around it, there is a data center optimization, a connected environment and connected communities that one can derive business benefits. 114 Forum Summary Report