University of Geneva “Parlons numérique" series
Digital Sustainability
21 October, 19:05 CEST
Keynote
Doreen Bogdan-Martin,
Director, Telecommunication Development Bureau, ITU
Good evening, everyone, and thank you for inviting me to open this important discussion on digital sustainability.
I am the Director of the development arm of the International Telecommunication Union, based here in Geneva. We are the oldest agency in the UN system and our mission is all about connectivity. We started with the telegraph and today it is all about the internet and the 3.6 billion that today don't have access or the ability to join discussions like this one.
But tonight I was asked to speak about how digital technologies and how digital technoligies can help us respond to the global climate emergency.
I also want to consider whether information and communication technologies, or ICTs, might actually be part of the problem, too – and if so, what we can do about it.
We are living at a time of profound disruption.
The COVID pandemic continues to rage worldwide; our economies have never looked more fragile; and the rise of new technologies like AI are challenging old business models and threatening many traditional employment sectors.
It can seem like the perfect storm, with so many crises besetting us simultaneously.
But of all the many problems we face, the global climate emergency is there, front and center. Man-made climate change is transforming our landscapes. It is changing our weather patterns.
So what role can technogy play?
Well, technology alone cannot solve the climate crisis.
To do that, we need a major re-set on the way we live and the way we consume.
But, given the will to change our ways, digital technologies can do much to help us protect and preserve our environment, to use our natural resources more wisely, and to tread more softly on this precious planet we call home.
One very obvious example is by helping us cut back on our need to travel, particularly on business.
ITU has been championing remote participation in meetings for well over ten years now, through the work of our global Study Groups. These Study Groups comprise engineers and experts from the private and public sectors, who work collaboratively under the auspices of ITU to develop technical standards that ensure digital equipment can seamlessly interconnect.
This way of working serves us well, but until now it had been hard to convince others to follow.
It took the COVID pandemic to open the eyes of many to the power of videoconferencing and online collaboration.
Suddenly, almost overnight, we seem to have entered a 'post-Zoom age', where digital is the new normal.
Using ICTs to replace travel is just one simple example; there are many, many more.
ITU's research on 'Frontier technologies to protect the environment and tackle climate change' looks at how digital technology can dramatically:
improve energy efficiency and manufacturing processes,
help recycling,
improve land and water use,
create more efficient 'smart cities',
and accelerate the much-needed transition to a circular economy.
In line with our mandate we are also trying to understand how we can 'Turn digital technology innovation into climate action'.
We increasingly understand the important role of digital in environmental monitoring, presenting evidence on a wide range of measures that are now being deployed to cut emissions and build resilience, from space sensing observation to smart grids.
Complementing this, our work on 'Radiocommunications and climate change' demonstrates how the use of satellite and land-based radio technologies can gather vital data, such as sea level measurements. This, of course, provides essential inputs into ongoing climate modelling.
Another area, Environmental monitoring, is where ICTs are starting to have a major impact. From IoT, to satellite mapping tools, GIS systems, big data, drones.
If we look at low-cost sensors using 'internet of things' technologies, we now have the power to cost-effectively measure a huge range of environmental variables, from air and soil quality to water consumption.
Conserving our natural resources is an important part of the fight against climate change: for example better water management helps protect against chronic environmental degradation through soil loss and erosion, and will help combat predicted water shortages in some parts of the world, allowing farmers to conserve water by choosing optimum times to irrigate as well as helping detect and repair ageing and leaky water networks, which can waste huge volumes of water en route to users.
At the same time, increasingly sophisticated satellite mapping applications are greatly improving our view of our physical environment, particularly in remote, poorly documented regions, while digital GIS platforms are using Big Data methods to interpret and model environmental data in new ways.
And in the future, AI may also have an important role to play in helping environmentalists and geographers quickly spot patterns that enable us to react and respond to environmental threats before they become major problems. Some of you may have joined our AI4Good series and linked to that, we have a focus group looking at Environmental Efficiency for Artificial Intelligence and other Emerging Technologies" (FG-AI4EE) .
I also want to mention drones. Low-cost drones are also helping us mitigate climate change, not just in the area of agricultural management, but in the increasingly important field of emergency response.
Let me focus for a moment on the emergency preparedness and response part.
Natural disasters now kill at least one million people each decade, leave many millions more homeless, and cause an estimated US$1.8 trillion dollars in damage.
Unfortunately, human impact on the global climate means extreme weather events are becoming increasingly common.
Digital technologies cannot avert a natural disaster, but they can help nations prepare for, and limit, the damage caused by extreme weather.
Drones, GPS systems and wireless platforms are invaluable in post-disaster clean-up operations, helping humanitarian teams quickly locate survivors, track and share real-time maps of post-disaster conditions and priority areas, coordinate and mobilize rapid healthcare response, and even deliver vital medicines.
Online platforms also provide powerful and accessible way for disaster victims to rapidly locate missing loved ones.
ITU work in the field of emergency response includes not just the supply of vital emergency equipment like satellite phones and laptops to disaster-hit areas, but assistance to countries in setting up Multi-hazard Early Warning Systems, incorporating protocols like the Common Alerting Protocol – or CAP.
CAP is a message exchange format, confirmed as an ITU global standard, that allows warning messages to be disseminated simultaneously over many different systems, dramatically increasing the speed and effectiveness of disaster communications.
Our work in emergency telecommunications also includes helping our Members develop National Emergency Telecommunication Plans to ensure the continued availability of reliable and resilient networks, services, and platforms when disaster strikes.
Since 2018, we have supported Member States in vulnerable zones, including Vanuatu, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Guatemala, Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, and, most recently, Afghanistan and Saint Lucia.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Digital technologies have immense potential to protect our planet. But this does not not negate the fact that ICTs are also a contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.
And rapid technological evolution has led to millions of tons of e-waste piling up in landfills around the world. Last week the world celebrated World Standards Day and International E-Waste Day This dovetailing of days could not be timelier, as e-waste surges globally – to the tune of 21 per cent in 5 years.
Today we have just over half the world connected to the internet. As more and more people come online, and as data-heavy applications like streaming and photo sharing platforms grow in popularity, so does demand for energy-intensive ICT equipment.
While the idea of the 'cyber cloud' may be E-theoryal (ethereal), the impact of data centres on the physical world is all-too tangible. ICTs consume somewhere between 5 and 9 per cent of the world's electricity[1], and the ICT ecosystem accounts for more than 2% of global carbon emissions, emanating not just from server farms but from ICT manufacturing, and energy consumption linked to use and disposal.
The disposal itself that has become problematic; globally, the world now produces over 50 million tonnes of electronic waste every year.[2]
Our Global E-waste Monitor reports that e-waste is now the fastest-growing element of the world's domestic waste stream, with about 7 kg of e-waste produced every year for every single person on the planet. Yet right now, less than 20 per cent of that waste is being collected and recycled.
The challenges are complex, but not insurmountable. …
The use of green energy to power data centres – and ICT equipment itself – will cut the sector's carbon footprint.
So will a focus on giving ICT equipment a second life through re-use, repair and recycling.
We are beginning to see positive trends in this direction, with new recycling techniques being pioneered to extract valuable metals like lithium, mercury, lead and cadmium, and community-led recycling initiatives like Repair Café International Foundation. Since starting up in Amsterdam in 2009, this organization has grown to nearly 2,000 repair groups in 35 countries around the world. [3]
Certainly, there is a long way to go. ITU is striving to play its part by developing technical standards to help reduce waste, increase the global e-waste recycling rate, and increase the number of countries implementing specific e-waste legislation.
We are also working closely with membership to develop green technical standards that promote sustainable deployment of digital technologies, including solutions to improve energy efficiency and a landmark new standard that provides guidelines for aligning the emission trajectory of the ICT sector with the targets set in the Paris Agreement.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I know this has been a lot to digest, so let me leave you with a simple message: Digital technologies offer huge potential to minimize our carbon footprint, and better ways of managing our use of technology will help reduce our own industry's footprint, too.
Alone, technology will not solve our climate problem. But in the hands of committed policymakers, it can be a very powerful tool for change, and will be an essential part of our work, in this final, vital, Decade of Action, to meet the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Thank you.
https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/focusgroups/ai4ee/Pages/ToR.aspx
https://www.worldstandardscooperation.org/world-standards-day/world-standards-day-2020/
[1] https://www.ft.com/content/b08eb6c2-53d5-11ea-90ad-25e377c0ee1
[2] https://rethink.ft.com/articles/growing-problem-ewaste/?utm_source=FT&utm_medium=editorial_backfill
[3] https://rethink.ft.com/articles/growing-problem-ewaste/?utm_source=FT&utm_medium=editorial_backfill
