[LINK] ICT's contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions expected to double to 4% by 2020

[Tom Worthington]

BIO Intelligence Service has released "ICT Sustainability Outlook: An 
Assessment of the Current State of Affairs and a Path Towards Improved 
Sustainability for Public Policies": 
http://www.biois.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/BIO_ALU_Green-Policy-Position-Paper_Final-EN.pdf

This is a white paper prepared with Alcatel-Lucent. It was completed 15 
November 2012, but not released until 6 March 2013, along with a media 
release: 
http://www.biois.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/BIO-ALU-ICT-Press-Release-EN-Final.pdf

The report finds that the environmental impact of the ICT sector will 
increase at a lower rate than the exponential increase in ICT would 
otherwise suggest, due to efficiency gains.The report estimates current 
ICT use contributing 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions (consistent 
with the first national study conducted in Australia in 2007). The 
report estimates emissions will increase to 4% by 2020.

The authors note that only eight OECD countries have policies to 
maximize ICT benefit across the economy. Despite its pioneering work, 
Australia is mentioned only once in the report, in reference to the 
production of rare earth elements.

The report recommends public policy makers:

1. build intelligently by deploying smart infrastructure and, in 
particular, the smart grid;
2. support energy efficient mobile network access;
3. anticipate and maximise the benefit of the cloud;
4. encourage and support advanced research;
5. support industry efforts to harmonise impact assessment methodologies


-- 
Tom Worthington FACS CP, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia  http://www.tomw.net.au
Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards
Legislation

Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Research School of Computer Science,
Australian National University http://cs.anu.edu.au/courses/COMP7310/