Climate change

• Climate change has been recognized by the United Nations as “one of the greatest challenges of our time". 
• ICTs play an important role in climate change monitoring, mitigation and adaptation. At the same time, increased digital adoption escalates energy and water consumption, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, materials usage, and e-waste. 
• The transition to a circular economy for electronics is proving challenging for many governments and industries. Limited repair, recycling and remanufacturing highlight the difficulties in moving from a take-make-dispose economy to a circular one. Better data, statistics, policy, and legislation are needed to support this transition, but above all, a change in mindset. 
• The ITU is actively addressing climate change both caused by and mitigated through ICTs. ITU develops standards that provide tools for emissions tracking, smart energy consumption and control, green data center practices, circular economy and procurement initiatives, and measuring the impact of ICT in other sectors.
• ITU supports the growth of satellite surveillance and monitoring services from space, which enhance weather forecasting accuracy and the prediction of extreme weather events related to climate change. This includes more precise predictions of the strength, path, and landfall location of tropical storms. 
• ITU's work on addressing climate change contributes towards SDG6 (Clean water and sanitation); SDG7 (Affordable and clean energy); SDG12 (Responsible Consumption and Production); SDG 13 (climate action); as well SDG 14 (Life below water) and SDG 15 (Life on land).  

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Digital technologies can be key tools to accelerate the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as they play a key role for climate monitoring, early warning systems, and overall climate adaptation and mitigation. Digital technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) and big data can play a central role in optimizing energy consumption of our digital world. For example, by harnessing AI algorithms, data centers can optimize energy efficiency, streamline operations, and reduce their carbon footprint. 

At the same time, the growing uptake of digital tools and services increases energy and water consumption, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, materials usage, and e-waste generation. Rapidly increasing digitalization requires more energy, resulting in GHG emissions. Estimates of the ICT sector's share of global carbon emissions vary across the literature ranging from 1.5% to 4%, but precise data on GHG emissions for the sector remains elusive, hindering policy-making and mitigation efforts.   

Connecting the 2.6 billion people currently offline will require more infrastructure and devices, which will further drive demand for scarce energy and water resources, as well as rare-earth elements and critical raw materials, and drive emissions and e-waste generation even higher if targeted interventions are not implemented. 

Growing data storage and processing needs, including for AI systems, are further increasing the ICT sector's carbon footprint and require a significant amount of energy, leading to emission and energy supply concerns. Additionally, data infrastructure consumes refrigerants and large amounts of water for cooling. 

ITU seeks to enable environmentally sustainable digital transformation. Recognizing the pivotal role of digital technologies in climate action and sustainable development, ITU is committed to greening the digital transition and minimizing its environmental impact. 

Working with over 1000 public and private sector members, ITU seeks to mitigate the impact of e-waste, and leveraging the positive impacts of ICTs in climate change monitoring, adaptation, and response.  

• Through the development of standards and guidelines on ICTs, environment and climate change, ITU helps the ICT sector improve energy efficiency and minimize (and hopefully, ultimately reduce) GHG emissions. ITU standards help measure the carbon footprint of ICTs by evaluating their environmental performance, to facilitate measurement of the impact of ICTs on emissions and support meaningful reporting and comparisons. Standards help establish the business case to become more environmentally friendly, support informed consumer choices and introduce climate-friendly business procurement practices. ITU-T Study Group 5 studies 'Environment, EMF and the circular economy'. The group has been working on developing international standards (called ITU-T Recommendations) that support more sustainable use of ICTs (including products, services, installation, infrastructure, etc.). 
• ITU provides data, knowledge and research on the environmental impact of ICTs, including on e-waste generation and ICT sector GHG emissions from countries and companies. ITU's work to improve the quality, collection and interpretation of ICT sector emissions and energy data supports policy-makers in taking informed decisions to minimize ICT sector emissions and manage energy resources. ITU-D also has a Study Group Question 6/2 on ICTs and the Environment about climate change, its effects and assisting in the transition towards a green and circular economy. 
• Data from Earth observation and remote sensing systems are crucial for climate monitoring, weather prediction, and disaster monitoring and mitigation. ITU plays a key role in creating the regulatory and technical bases for the development and effective operation of satellite and terrestrial climate monitoring and data dissemination systems. ITU-R Working Party 7B (WP 7B) studies space radiocommunication applications relevant to climate change. ITU-R Working Party 7C (WP 7C) studies the remote sensing systems that are important for monitoring and tracking the extent, pace and acceleration of climate change. 
  
• ITU is playing a leading role in ensuring digital technologies are central during all stages of disaster management and risk reduction. Digital technologies present new opportunities to reach billions of people faster and more effectively, whether before, during, or after disasters. Working with partners ITU is supporting Member States with setting up early warning and monitoring systems and providing emergency telecommunications equipment when disasters strike. 
• ITU and over 40 partners launched the Green Digital Action initiative in the run-up to the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), to be held from 30 November to 13 December 2023. The initiative aims to accelerate concrete climate and environmental sustainability activities through a collaborative multi-stakeholder process. Green Digital Action aims to continue leveraging UNFCCC COPs to emphasize the importance of digital technologies and services to help combat and mitigate the climate crisis.   

Links and resources: 

• ITU Environment and Climate Change 
  
• Green Digital Action  
• ITU-T, Environment, Climate Change and Circular Economy  
• ITU-T Study Group 5: Environment, EMF and Circular Economy  
• ITU-D Environment 

Last Update: July 2024