Conclusions of the Virtual Symposium The virtual Symposium on ICT and Climate Change demonstrated the power of ICTs to reduce GHG emissions and called on leaders to recognize the important role of ICTs in any future global agreements on climate change. ITU Secretary­General Dr. Hamadoun Touré, in his keynote speech, stated that ICTs are a major weapon at our disposal in the battle against climate change. ITU is contributing to tackle climate change in two ways; by reducing GHG emissions of the ICT sector and by helping to reduce GHG emissions of other sectors through the use of ICTs. Travel avoidance using conference call or video conference is one of the most typical examples where ICT can help to reduce GHG emissions of other sectors by the use of ICTs. Through this first­ever Virtual Symposium, it was proved that it is actually feasible. As remarked by ITU/TSB Director Mr. Malcolm Johnson, the Symposium witnessed the power of ICTs to tackle climate change through the success of this virtual event. There were 23 speakers/moderators, out of which 19 participated virtually, from the United States, Viet Nam, China, India, Switzerland, Sweden, Japan, the United Kingdom and Korea. Moderators and speakers were in different locations. As a result, the Symposium saved up to 600 tons of CO2 on the assumption of an average of at least 3 tons of CO2 per person that would have been expended by 200 people travelling to one place in the world. Below are some statistics about this Virtual Symposium:
· · · · 422 people participated virtually out of total 580 participants
People from 49 countries participated
Around 65 People from 25 developing countries participated virtually
17 people participated from the Americas in spite of inconvenient time These figures show that this Symposium offered all the benefits of physical participation without environmental costs, paving the way for a new direction in conducting events. In addition, this event’s virtual nature allowed more participation from developing and least developed countries.