Archived Newsroom • ITU Backgrounder

Climate change, a truly global challenge:

“Climate change is another profound challenge that is at work transforming the face of the world…[it] is a global challenge that the world cannot afford to lose” – Dr Hamadoun Touré, ITU Secretary-General¹.

The dimensions and possible effects of climate change are hotly debated topics. There are varying views on its causes and longer term impacts, but most experts agree there are serious societal and economic implications for our planet if the current model of development continues. We will all experience problems, but most at risk will be economies highly dependent on agriculture and fisheries. Many species of animals and plants will suffer as they lose precious habitat to climate change and sea level rise. The ongoing consequences may be more severe still... for all of us.

Environmental issues appear in many different but related guises, from climate change to resource conservation, energy efficiency and toxic waste. Central to the climate change issue is the continuing production of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions as a by-product of industrial and commercial life, including energy production and consumption, manufacturing, raw materials processing, food production, and automobile use. In its fourth report the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimated that global GHG emissions have risen by 70% since 1970, and the rise in sea levels and temperature is related to this.

ICT must cut its own emissions…

As one of the key sectors of the global economy, the ICT industry itself contributes to GHG emissions. Experts estimate that 2 to 2.5% of emissions, equivalent to 1 Gigatonne of carbon dioxide, are caused by the global ICT industry, mainly through the consumption of electrical power excluding broadcasting and related radiocommunications activity².

Regardless of the total figure, the industry – with billions of customers – remains a large source of emissions and a big user of energy. Around 40% of the ICT emission figure is believed to be related to PC use, with fixed and mobile telecom networks accounting for 24%. A large data center may have the energy needs of a small to medium-sized city. In fact, data center activity is responsible for a 23% share of the total, a huge concentration of consumption but occurring in relatively few locations³, which may allow for focused energy efficiency programs to be implemented.

How the contribution of the ICT sector to GHG emissions will evolve remains unclear, as two opposing forces are currently taking place. On the one hand, the industry is becoming more aware of the importance of making devices and technologies more energy efficient to limit the emissions produced. As an example of this dynamic, next generation networks (NGNs) can consume a fraction of the power of previous technologies. On the other hand the growing adoption of ICTs will ensure that the GHG emissions of the sector grow at faster rates, as more users become connected and more devices are making use of always-on connectivity.

Last year, ITU correctly predicted that the number of mobile subscriptions would reach five billion globally by the end of 2010. This enormous penetration, coupled with the sophisticated, power hungry applications that advanced mobile technologies now offer may mean an increase in energy consumption at the consumer level if the ICT industry does not implement solutions to use power and spectrum bandwidth as efficiently as possible. Some analysis predicts that ICT energy consumption in Europe alone may grow to 10.5% of all energy consumption by 2018⁴.

But ICTs can facilitate monitoring and controlling emissions…

The ICT sector is, however unique: “it may cause 2.5% of GHG emissions but it can play a major role in controlling the other 97.5%”, emphasizes Dr Touré. For example, advanced broadband networks allow individuals and companies to reduce air travel and switch to video conferencing. Collaborative working approaches will increase further and paper resources can be replaced by the online distribution of documentation. Broadband will allow “atoms” to be substituted by “bits”. For example, streaming a movie online rather than buying a DVD.

ICTs will also allow for much better monitoring and control of systems of all kinds. Wireless technologies and global observation systems play a significant role in monitoring climate change. In addition, sophisticated remote sensing technologies and broadband networks can work with smart grids, manufacturing and process control systems to control and match energy generation and utilization, minimizing wastage and consumption of fossil fuel and emissions of GHG. Intelligent vehicle systems will reduce exhaust emissions and cut journey times and energy expenditures. Across the world, ICT networks can give early warning of climate and oceanographic changes, in real time, to allow governments to adjust and respond to natural disasters.

Climate change and e-sustainability are multi-faceted challenges and call for a wide range of responses. As a unique intergovernmental organization with participation from the private sector, ITU has been a major facilitator of initiatives to speed ICT-related GHG emission reductions, that reach across all its activities.

Specific ITU initiatives include the following:

• ITU is raising awareness about the role of ICTs to enable a low-carbon future and is promoting the exchange of experiences and best practices among the environmental and ICT community. Since 2008, ITU has organized a series of ITU Symposia on ICTs, the Environment and Climate Change. Past events have taken place in Kyoto, London, Quito, Cairo and Accra, with a virtual symposium being hosted by the Korea Communications Commission (KCC)⁵
• ITU in its standards making process is committed to the development of technical standards (Recommendations) that meet environmental sustainability and energy efficiency requirements. ITU-T ITU-T Study Group 5, which is continuing the previous work of the Focus Group on ICTs and Climate Change, oversees the aspects of standardization related to the environment and climate change. One recent high profile Recommendation was a Universal Mobile Charging Solution, which will enable users to use the same mobile phone charger for different models.
• ITU plays a key role in promoting the availability of spectrum to enable accurate monitoring of climate change. As the steward of the global framework for spectrum and through the Radiocommunication Sector and the World Radiocommunication Conference⁶, ITU is mandated to ensure the necessary spectrum and orbit resources are released to enable better climate monitoring, and facilitate better disaster prediction and response systems through ICTs.
• One of the key issues in assisting countries cope with the impact of climate change is adaptation. Small island developing states and low-lying coastal countries suffer as sea levels rise. ITU provides ICT tools that are incorporated into national climate change adaptation platforms. For example ITU designed early warning systems play an important role in mitigating disasters, many of today’s disasters are a result of climate change.

  In addition, well designed national emergency telecommunications plans can save lives. ITU assists countries to incorporate climate change issues into their national emergency telecommunications plans.

• Regulatory and legal frameworks are important in ensuring that strict codes, rules and procedures are followed by businesses and households in order not to increase current GHG emissions, ITU provides support for governments in this critical area including on e-waste management.
• ITU is mandated through Resolution 182 (Guadalajara, 2010), Resolution 66 (Rev. Hyderabad, 2010), Resolution 73 (Johannesburg, 2008) and Resolutions 644 and 673 (Rev. WRC-07), to support Member States with a wide range of activities, materials, toolkits and training resources relating to climate change.
• ITU actively participates and provides expertise in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and is a supporter of the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI), an industry-wide consortium that brings together leading ICT companies – including telecommunications service providers and manufacturers as well as industry associations – and non-governmental organizations committed to achieving sustainability objectives through innovative technology.
• ITU launched the Dynamic Coalition on Internet and Climate Change (DCICC) in 2007 as an open forum to study ways to moderate the environmental impact of the Internet as well as using it to reduce GHG emissions worldwide.
• Finally, and as an organization, ITU is deeply committed to achieving “climate neutrality” and raising public awareness on the strategic role of ICTs to address climate change. ITU is adopting new working methods to encourage paperless meetings and remote participation in ITU activities and adopting best practices which can then be shared with other organizations.

¹ ITU Secretary-General’s Declaration at the High-Level Segment of ITU Council 2008

² McKinsey & Company for The Climate Group and the Global eSustainability Initiative (GeSI): “The impact of ICT on global emissions.” November 2007

³ ITU Symposium on ICTs and Climate Change, Ecuador, 2009: ITU background report

⁴ European Commission: “Communication on mobilising Information and Communication Technologies to facilitate the transition to an energy-efficient, low-carbon economy.” March 2009

⁵ Further information at http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/worksem/climatechange/index.html

⁶ World Radiocommunication Conference 2007 (WRC-07)