Through their manufacture, maintenance and use, information and communication technologies (ICTs) currently contribute an estimated 2% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The recent SMART 2020 GeSI/TCG report – “enabling the low carbon economy in the information age” confirms that, despite the major anticipated advances in the energy efficiency of products, the ICT sector’s own footprint is expected to grow at six per cent per year (CAGR) and double by 2020 (from 2 to 3%) driven by increased technology uptake in the world.

But the new report reveals also significant opportunities for emissions reductions and how cost savings can be leveraged by applying ICT to global infrastructure and industry. Through enabling other sectors to reduce their emissions, the ICT industry could reduce global emissions by as much as 15 per cent by 2020 – a volume of CO2e five times its own footprint in 2020.

If global businesses systematically used ICT to realise all of the solutions indicated in the report they would unlock global energy efficiency savings of over EUR 500 billion*.

A new study on “Impacts of Information and Communication Technologies on Energy Efficiency”, commissioned by the European Commission**, supports these findings. Given the political framework in place, the net energy savings enabled by ICT in 2020 can amount from 111.3 Twh of EU-27 total electricity consumption to 2,127 Twh.

This enabling effect is due to ICT’s unique ability to allow us to measure, optimise and therefore manage energy consumption.

As part of a major new initiative on the overall topic of ICTs and climate change, International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in partnership with Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) and the European Business Council for Sustainable Energy (e5) will organize a side-event on "ICTs and Climate Change: Finding Solutions" where top decision-makers from governments, international organizations and industry will share their views and solutions on how ICTs can help to address climate change.

Programme