107 / 287
[
] 108
Information and communication technologies
and climate change
Dr Hamadoun I Touré, Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union
T
he digital revolution and proliferation of information and
communication technologies (ICTs) has changed people’s
lives dramatically and boosted economic growth. ICTs
are now embedded in almost every part of the world economy
and society.
At the same time, ICTs have also had a negative impact on the
environment and contribute about 2.5 per cent of greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions.
1
This comes from a number of sources,
including:
• The proliferation of ICT users. The number of mobile phone users
rose from 145 million in 1996 to 4 billion in 2008. There are more
than 1.5 billion TVs and about 2.5 billion radio receivers
• An increasing number of data centres, which represent one of
the main ICT sources of GHG emissions, at 0.8 per cent
• The increasing number of devices used by individuals. Many
users own multiple devices such as a mobile phone, TV, radio,
DVD player, computer and set-top box
• Rising processing and transmission power. For
example, 3G mobile phones operate at higher
frequencies and need more power than 2G phones
• A trend towards ‘always-on’ usage and ‘stand-by’
modes, as well as a tendency to store rather than
delete older material.
However, ICTs have the potential to assist the rest of
the global economy in combating climate change. The
International Telecommunications Union (ITU), as the
specialized UN agency responsible for telecommunica-
tions/ICTs, initiated a new programme called
ICTs and
climate change
,
2
which focuses on the use of ICTs for
preventing and averting climate change. Its main goals
are to provide governments and the private sector with
methods for the use of ICTs as a very important compo-
nent in climate monitoring, climate change mitigation
and adaptation to climate change.
G
overnance
and
P
olicy
Taman Wisata Alam, Bandung, West Java, Indonesia
Image: ITU/C. Zavazava