ICTs and Climate
Change
Dr Tim Kelly, Head, Standardization Policy
Division (ITU-T)
Presentation of ITU Background Paper
ITU/MIC Japan
Symposium on ICTs
and Climate Change
Kyoto, 15-16 April 2008
International
Telecommunication
Union
The views expressed in this presentation are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the ITU or its Membership.
Agenda
ƒ The evidence for climate change
ƒ ICTs …
¾as a cause of global warming
¾in monitoring climate change
¾for mitigating climate change
¾for adaptation
ƒ ITU and Climate Change
15-16 April 2008
2
Evidence for climate change
15-16 April 2008
Source: IPCC 4th assessment report, 2007
3
ICTs as a cause of global warming
ƒ ICTs (excluding
broadcasting)
contribute an
estimated 2-2.5%
of global
Greenhouse Gas
emissions
ƒ Around 0.9
tonnes GtCO2e in
2007
ƒ Telecoms
contributed
around one
quarter of this
total
Source: Gartner Group (2007)
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4
ICTs at work for
monitoring climate change
ƒ WMO World Weather
Watch, incorporating:
¾ Global Observing
system
¾ Global Telecom System
¾ Global Data Processing
system
ƒ Remote sensing
ƒ Environmental monitoring
¾ Tsunami early-warning system
ƒ Digital climate forecasting models
ƒ GPS-enabled telemetry
ƒ Ubiquitous sensor networks
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5
Mitigating the impact
ƒ Directly, e.g., through energy-saving
¾ Next-Generation Networks (NGN) should reduce
GHG emissions by 40%
¾ Modern radio technologies reduce energy
consumption by transmitters ~ 10 times
ƒ Indirectly, e.g. ICTs for carbon abatement
¾ Video-conferencing to reduce business travel in
Europe by 1% would save 1m CO2 tonnes
ƒ Systemically, e.g., by “dematerialisation”
¾ Intelligent Transport Systems could reduce
vehicle carbon emissions below 130g per km
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6
Towards a climate
neutral ICT sector
ƒ BT has reduced carbon emissions by 60%
compared since 1996
ƒ ETNO Members reduced carbon emissions by
7% and carbon intensity by 14%, 2000-03
ƒ NTT’s “Total Power Revolution” saved 124m
kWh in 2007
ƒ Other initiatives:
¾ GeSI, Green Grid, WattWatt, FTTH Council Europe,
EU codes of conduct, CBI Task Force etc
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Using ICTs for carbon
abatement / displacement
ƒ Reducing / substituting for travel
¾ In 2007, Telstra held 7’500 video conferences saving 4’200
tonnes of CO2
ƒ Flexible work arrangements
¾ Each one million EU workers could save one million tonnes
of CO2 annually by telecommuting
ƒ Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS)
¾ In-car systems to assist in “eco-driving” can reduce CO2 emissions
by up to 20 per cent
ƒ Dematerialization (replacing atoms with bits)
¾ ITU-T Recommendations Online save 105 million tonnes of CO2
annually compared with distribution of paper copies
Sources: Climate Risk report for Telstra, ETNO/WWF report, Toyota, ITU
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8
ICTs for adaptation: ITU Role
ƒ Telecommunications/ICTs for disaster preparedness
¾ Tampere Convention
¾ PP-06 Resolutions 36 and 136 on use ICTs for
humanitarian assistance
¾ WRC Resolutions 646, 647, 673 on use of
radiocommunications for environmental
monitoring, public protection and disaster relief
¾ WTDC-06 Resolution 34 on the role of ICTs in
mitigation of effects of disasters and humanitarian
assistance
¾ Partnership Coordination Panel on Telecoms for
Disaster Relief (PCP-TDR)
¾ E.164 country code (888) for UN OCHA
¾ Recommendations E.106 on call priority and
X.1303 on common alerting protocol
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9
Towards a climate-neutral ITU
ƒ Developing a knowledge base and repository
¾ Conducting systematic review of ITU Recommendations
ƒ Positioning ITU as a strategic leader
¾ Developing a Resolution for WTSA-08
ƒ Promoting a global understanding through
international fora and agreements
¾ High-level segment at Council 2008
ƒ Achieving a climate-neutral ITU within three years
¾ Conducting carbon audit
¾ Using remote collaboration tools
¾ Developing projects under Carbon Development
Mechanism
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10
Thank you
International
Telecommunication
Union
Dr Tim Kelly
Head, Standardization Policy Division
<tim.kelly@itu.int>
15-16 April 2008
11
Some
Background
Materials
ƒ ITU Climate Change site
¾www.itu.int/climate
ƒ Climate Change symposia website
¾ www.itu.int/ITU-T/climatechange
ƒ Technology Watch Briefing Reports
¾ www.itu.int/ITU-T/techwatch/reports.html
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