ITU Forms Group to Work on Standards Related to ICT Impact on Climate Change
July 22, 2008 // Published as a news service by IHS
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The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) set up a focus group to work on standards related to the impact of information and communication technologies (ICT) on climate change.
The group will focus on the reduction of ICT emissions and how ICTs can assist in cutting emissions in other industry sectors such as energy, transportation and buildings.
Since the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, the number of ICT users tripled worldwide, according to the ITU.
It is estimated that the ICT sector produces between 2-3% of global greenhouse gas emissions. But ICTs are also seen as a part of the solution to the climate change challenge, said the ITU.
ICTs could help cut global emissions by between 15-40%, depending on the methodology used to make these estimates, said the ITU.
A key objective of the focus group will be to develop methodologies to describe and estimate the impact of ICTs on climate change, both directly and through their application in other industry sectors, said the ITU.
The importance of ICT standardization to deal with this issue was acknowledged following two symposia and a study by the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) - a group comprised of technology companies and organizations including the ITU.
Participants in the symposia called on the ITU to increase its activities in ICTs and climate change.
The ITU created the focus group on ICTs and climate change with a work plan to conclude by April 2009.
Source: International Telecommunication Union (ITU).