Joint ITU-GISFI Workshop on
“Bridging the Standardization Gap: Workshop on
Sustainable Rural Communications”
(Bangalore, India, 17-18 December 2012)
METHODOLOGIES TO ASSESS THE
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF ICT
KEVIN J HOUSTON,
CEO CARBON MASTERS
Member of Independent Expert
Panel advising the EU on ICT
standardisation efforts
KEVIN@CARBONMASTERS.CO.UK
Bangalore, India ,17-18 December 2012
Agenda
3 Recommendations published :
L.1400 Overview and general principles, available
http://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-L.1400
L.1410 Environmental impact of ICT goods, networks
and services, available
http://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-L.1410
L.1420 Environmental impact of ICT in organisations,
available
http://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-L.1420
3 Recommendations under preparation :
L.1430 Environmental impact of ICT projects
(consent expected in 2012-2013)
L.1440 Environmental impact of ICT in cities
(consent expected in 2013)
L.1450 Environmental impact of ICT in countries
(consent expected in 2013)
Bangalore, India ,17-18 December 2012
Questions on methodologies
ITU, the UN agency responsible for ICT
193 Member States, more than 700 Sector
Members and
over 40 Academia Members
Co-operations on methodologies with :
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Recommendation L.1400
General principles :
Assessment of environmental impacts should
be performed on a full life-cycle perspective for
goods, networks and services
Boundaries should be selected, quoted,
documented and made available for
verification
Quantification methodologies should be
selected, quoted, documented and made
available for verification
Reliable data should be researched. Used data
should be quoted, documented and made
available for verification
Bias and uncertainties should be documented
and reduced as far as it is practicable
It should be noted that results of assessments
may vary significantly depending upon the
selection of boundaries, the quantification
Bangalore, India ,17-18 December 2012
methodologies selected and data used
L.1410 : What is it ?
It is a Recommendation that complements ISO
14040 and ISO 14044 and provides guidance on
how to assess environmental impacts of ICT
Goods, Networks and Services
built with a large number of representatives
from the ICT sector and governments.
built to be consistent with EC/JRC, ETSI, IEC
and GHG Protocol ICT supplement initiatives
It focuses on energy consumption and GHG
emissions
More than 100 contributions and inputs were
received and taken into account.
Bangalore, India ,17-18 December 2012
L.1410 : What is it ?
There are 2 Parts in the Recommendation:
Part I : ICT Lifecycle assessment: framework and
guidance
Part II : Comparative analysis between ICT and
baseline scenario : framework and guidance
L.1410 : What is it for ?
identify what the major activities and life cycle
stages impacting the environment, design and
prepare action plans, prioritize actions
with the rising costs of energy and introduction of
carbon taxes, L.1410 aims to help :
save costs
retain customers in the future
develop new opportunities
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Benefits of an LCA approach
To provide an assessment of the
environmental impact of a product system
as a basis for improving it
To understand the relative importance of
different life cycle stages /activities where to put best efforts for improvement
To monitor performance improvements
over time
RAW
MATERIAL
ACQUISITION
PRODUCTION
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USE
END OF LIFE
ICT LCA Challenges
Complexity
Hardware, software, networks and services
Rapidly changing product specifications, and
service offerings
Multitude of components and subcomponents
Long, complex and dynamically changing supply
chains that span the globe
Multitude of suppliers
Second-order and third-order effects
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Data availability and data quality
L.1410 : What are the steps to follow
?
 General requirements
 Goal and scope
definition
 Functional unit
definition
 System boundaries
definition
 Data quality
requirements
 Life Cycle Inventory
 Life Cycle impact
assessment
 Life cycle interpretation
 Reporting
 Cut-off rules
N.b. For Part II which is a comparative analysis between an
ICT system and a reference product system the above
steps need to be carried out on BOTH the ICT system and
the reference product system using the SAME functional
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unit
L.1410 Part I Reporting : example
GHG em issions
[kg CO2e per subscriber per year]
Raw material
acquisition
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Production
Use
EoLT
Other EoLT
ICT specific EoLT
Metal recycling
Transports
ICT goods use
Transports
Assembly
Parts production
Raw material processing
Raw material acquisition
L. 1410 Part II, example of reporting
GHG emissions (kg-CO 2 e)
Percentage of change in
environmental load through
introduction of ICTs: Y %
Reference product sysytem
Targeted ICT
Disposal/Recycling
Removal
Use
Installation
Production
Example of comparative evaluation between ICT
and reference product system with categories of
life cycle stages.
Bangalore, India ,17-18 December 2012
Agenda
Introduction : Questions on methodologies
Recommendation L.1400 : General
principles
Recommendation L.1410 : ICT Goods,
Networks and Services
Recommendation L.1420 ICT in
organisations
Future Recommendations L. ICT in cities,
ICT Projects
Conclusions
Bangalore, India ,17-18 December 2012
What is L.1420 ? What is it for?
•
Provides guidance on how to assess
environmental impacts of ICT in
organizations.
•
Built with a large number of
representatives from the ICT sector and
governments. It deals with energy
consumption and GHG emissions.
•
It builds upon and complements ISO
14064-1 and the GHG Protocol.
Bangalore, India ,17-18 December 2012
What is L.1420 ? What is it for?
This Recommendation covers:
The assessment of the life cycle
environmental impact of ICT Goods,
Networks and Services used by an
organization (“Non-ICT organizations”)
The assessment of the environmental
impact of an ICT organization (“ICT
organizations”)
The reporting of these impacts to ensure
fair and transparent communications
Bangalore, India ,17-18 December 2012
L-1420 for ICT – What are the steps
to follow
Setting the Organizational boundary
Setting the Operational boundary
Selection of quantification methodology
Annual assessment/Establishment of a base year
Recalculation of energy and GHG inventory
(restatements)
Uncertainties
Reporting
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Emission sources
Assessment and reporting for scope 1 and
scope 2 emissions are mandatory.
Assessment and reporting for scope 3
emissions are optional
Selection of quantification
methodology
Selection or development of GHG emission factors
Calculation of GHG emissions as under
GWP factors for GHG taken from
IPCC Time frame of 100 years
The results are expressed in Tons of CO2e
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Annual assessment / Base year
Assessments shall be carried out on an annual basis with the date
of publication of L.1420 as a reference.
However, a different base year could be chosen when:
The organization estimates that the quantity and/or quality of
available verifiable data for this particular year would
guarantee a more accurate evaluation of its GHG emissions
and energy consumption.
The organization has already put in place an assessment and
reporting process based on a different base year, compliant
with this Recommendation.
The activities carried out by the organization generate unusual
fluctuations of GHG emissions and/or energy consumption in
such a way that the base year might not be significant.
Any choice of a different base year shall be documented
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Recalculation of energy and
GHG inventory
Applies under 2 circumstances:
Structural changes which include mergers,
acquisitions and divestments and/or
outsourcing or in-sourcing of GHG emitting
activities.
Discovery of significant errors contained within
the base year emission calculations which can
necessitate a change in the emissions
inventory.
L.1420 makes no recommendations as to what
constitutes a “significant” change and thus the
need to adjust base year emissions
Bangalore, India ,17-18 December 2012
L.ICT projects (to become L.1430),
under preparation
This Recommendation will specify principles, requirements and
methods in order to quantify, monitor and report GHG emission
reductions, energy consumption savings, energy efficiency
improvements resulting from ICT projects, in complement to
ISO 14064-2 and GHG Protocol.
It is built with a large number of representatives from the ICT sector and
governments and in relationship with the UNFCCC.
It is expected that L.1430 will provide requirements and
guidance for :
planning an ICT project and its baseline scenario;
identifying and selecting GHG sources, sinks and storages relevant to the
ICT project and baseline scenario;
identifying and selecting energy consumption sources, generators and
storages relevant to the ICT project and baseline scenario;
managing data quality;
monitoring, quantifying, documenting and reporting ICT project
performance; and
validating and/or verifying the ICT project plan or report.
Bangalore, India ,17-18 December 2012
L.ICT in cities (to become L.1440),
under preparation
This Recommendation will present general principles on how
to evaluate the environmental impact of Information
communication technologies (ICT) in cities, or other urban
areas with a focus on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
It is built with a large number of representatives from
the ICT sector and governments and in relationship with
UNEP and UN-HABITAT.
It is expected that L.1440 will cover the following :
aggregation of impacts at cities level of ICT
organizations
Impacts of ICT projects in cities, for instance in the
construction sector, the energy sector, the transport
sector
It is expected that L.1440 will in particular cover how to
assess the impacts of the use of ICT in cities to reduce the
GHG emissions of other sectors
Bangalore, India ,17-18 December 2012
Conclusions
ITU-T Recommendation L.1400 provides general principles
ITU-T Recommendation L.1410 complements ISO 14040 and 14044 for
Life Cycle Assessment of ICT Goods, Networks and Services.
ITU-T Recommendation L.1420 complements ISO 14064 part 1 and GHGP
!410 covers both ICT Lifecycle assessment and Comparative analysis
between ICT and a baseline scenario.1420 covers environmental
impact of ICT in organisations
They are currently being used by several organisations in particular
in the frame of European Commission pilots
It is expected that L.1410/20 will be revised taking into account the
results of the European pilots and other inputs
Further suggestions for improvements are welcome
ITU-T Recommendations L.ICT projects and ICT in cities are under
development
Suggestions and contributions are welcome. Next meeting to discuss
contributions will take place in Geneva on January 29 to February 7th,
2013
Bangalore, India ,17-18 December 2012