ICTs, ITU and Climate Change

1
ICTs, ITU and Climate Change

• Arthur Levin, Head, Standardization Policy
  Division (ITU-T)
• Session 3 Hotter Topics

Fiji, 16 September 2009
The views expressed in this presentation are
those of the author and do not necessarily
reflect the opinions of the ITU or its Membership.
2
Evidence for climate change
Source IPCC 4th assessment report, 2007
3
The Challenge in the Pacific

• Financing
• Who will pay the bill for using ICTS for
  adaptation and mitigation
• Impact of CC is costly even though Pacific
  Islands are not a major source of emissions
• Total GHG emissions of Pacific Island countries
  is around 0.03 of global total
• Typhoon/hurricane damage will increase by 10-26
  for each 1 degree warming of sea
• Half the population of island countries live with
  less than a mile of their coastlines coral
  atolls no more than 3 meters above sea level
• Impact of CC on marine environment, particularly
  on coral reefs, fisheries ad food security
• Global Humanitarian Forum estimates CC already
  killing 300,000 people annually (0.8C degree
  warming)

4
Pacific Islands Forum Call to Action

• Statement of 6 August 2009
• Calls for post-2012 outcome to limit increase in
  temperatures to 2 degrees Celsius or less
• calls on developed economies to take the lead and
  to slow and reduce emissions
• States to reduce global emissions by at least 50
  below 1990 level by 2050
• Global emission peak no later than 2020

5
Pacific Island Commitments

• Fiji electric authority to generate 90 of its
  needs from renewables by 2011
• Tonga expects to have 50 of electricity from
  renewables by 2011
• Tuvalu target of 100 renewable energy
• Nauru 50 renewable energy by 2015
• Samoa use wind and hydro to increase renewable
  by 20 by 2030

6
TOWARD A NEW GLOBAL FRAMEWORK

• COP-13 in Bali launched process for
  negotiation of new Agreement
• established AWGLCA (Ad Hoc Working Group on Long
  Term Cooperative Action) to develop work program
• AWGLCA meetings
• Bangkok (31 March4 April)
• Bonn (2-13 June)
• Accra (21-27 August)
• Meeting of COP-14
• Poznan, Poland (1-12 December)
• COP-15 meets and expected to conclude
  Agreement
• Bonn (29 March-8 April)
• Bonn (1-12 June)
• Three further sessions will be held prior to
  Copenhagen 10-14 August in Bonn (informal
  meeting) 28 September-9 October in Bangkok and
  2-6 November in Barcelona.
• Copenhagen (7-18 December)

7
WTSA-08

• Resolution 73 on Climate Change
• Notes conclusion of GSS that ICT industry can
  set an example by committing to specific
  programs with objectives to reduce overall GHG
  emissions
• Recognizes that ICTs can make a substantial
  contribution and be a major factor to mitigate
  the effects of climate change, for example
  through energy-efficient devices, applications
  and networks
• Resolves that CC is a high priority in ITU as
  part of our contribution to UN processes and
  global efforts to moderate climate change
• Resolves to promote adoption of recommendations
  to ensure greater energy efficient of ICT devices
  and reduce GHG emissions in all sectors

8
WTPF Opinion 3

• World Telecommunication and Policy Forum was held
  on 22-24 April 2009 in Lisbon, Portugal
• Lisbon Consensus - Opinion 3 ICT and the
  Environment
• Invited
• the ITU Secretary-General
• a) to bring the content of Resolution 73
  (WTSA-08) on Information and communication
  technologies and climate change to the attention
  of the ITU Council and take appropriate actions,
  taking into consideration the United Nations
  commitment to lead by example, to achieve
  climate-neutral status within three years
• b) to continue, within the mandate of the ITU,
  to cooperate and collaborate with other entities
  within the UN in formulating future international
  efforts for the effective addressing of climate
  change, and to report the results of these
  efforts to the Council
• The Deputy Secretary-General and the Directors of
  the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, the
  Radiocommunication Bureau and the
  Telecommunication Development Bureau
• a) to continue to work together, and with
  relevant study groups, to raise the awareness of
  these issues, especially in developing countries,
  as work progresses in their respective Sectors
• b) to promote liaison with other relevant
  organizations in order to avoid duplication of
  work and to optimize the use of resources.

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ICTs as a cause of global warming

• ICTs (excluding broadcasting) contribute an
  estimated 2-2.5 of global Greenhouse Gas
  emissions
• Around 0.9 tonnes GtCO2e in 2007
• Telecoms contributed around one quarter of this
  total

Source Gartner Group (2007)
10
ICTs at work for monitoring climate change

• WMO World WeatherWatch, incorporating
• Global Observingsystem
• Global Telecom System
• Global Data Processingsystem
• Remote sensing
• Environmental monitoring
• Tsunami early-warning system
• Digital climate forecasting models
• GPS-enabled telemetry
• Ubiquitous sensor networks

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Mitigating the impact

• Directly, e.g., through energy-saving
• Next-Generation Networks (NGN) should reduce GHG
  emissions by 40
• Modern radio technologies reduce energy
  consumption by transmitters 10 times
• Indirectly, e.g. ICTs for carbon abatement
• Video-conferencing to reduce business travel in
  Europe by 1 would save 1m CO2 tonnes
• Systemically, e.g., by dematerialisation
• Intelligent Transport Systems could reduce
  vehicle carbon emissions below 130g per km

12
Towards a climate neutral ICT sector

• NTTs Total Power Revolution saved 124m kWh in
  2007
• BT has reduced carbon emissions by 60 compared
  since 1996
• Telefonica created a Climate Change Office and is
  committed to reducing its consumption of network
  electricity by 30 per cent by 2015.
• Other initiatives
• GeSI, Green Grid, WattWatt, FTTH Council Europe,
  EU codes of conduct, CBI Task Force etc

13
Using ICTs for carbon abatement / displacement

• Reducing / substituting for travel
• In 2007, Telstra held 7500 video conferences
  saving 4200 tonnes of CO2
• Flexible work arrangements
• Each one million EU workers could save one
  million tonnes of CO2 annually by telecommuting
• Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS)
• In-car systems to assist in eco-driving can
  reduce CO2 emissions by up to 20 per cent
• Dematerialization (replacing atoms with bits)
• ITU-T Recommendations Online save 105 million
  tonnes of CO2 annually compared with distribution
  of paper copies

Sources Climate Risk report for Telstra,
ETNO/WWF report, Toyota, ITU
14
ICTs for adaptation ITU Role

• Telecommunications/ICTs for disaster preparedness
• Tampere Convention
• PP-06 Resolutions 36 and 136 on use ICTs for
  humanitarian assistance
• WRC Resolutions 646, 647, 673 on use of
  radiocommunications for environmental monitoring,
  public protection and disaster relief
• WTDC-06 Resolution 34 on the role of ICTs in
  mitigation of effects of disasters and
  humanitarian assistance
• Partnership Coordination Panel on Telecoms for
  Disaster Relief (PCP-TDR)
• E.164 country code (888) for UN OCHA
• Recommendations E.106 on call priority and X.1303
  on common alerting protocol

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Towards a climate-neutral ITU

• Developing a knowledge base and repository
• Positioning ITU as a strategic leader
• Promoting a global understanding through
  international fora and agreements
• Achieving a climate-neutral ITU within three
  years
• Conducting annual carbon audits consistent with
  accepted International Standards
• Reducing ITUs own GHG emissions, e.g. through
  using remote collaboration tools
• Compensating for residual emissions e.g.
  supporting projects under Clean Development
  Mechanism

16
ITU-T Building Knowledge on Climate Change

• ITU-T issued TECHWATCH Reports on CC and positive
  impact of new technologies
• Next Generation Networks, Intelligent Transport
  Systems, etc.
• Organizing Major Symposia on ICT and CC
• 2008 Kyoto and London
• 2009 Quito and Seoul (virtual event)
• ITU-T pioneering energy efficient work methods
• Paperless meetings, on-line work tools, etc.
• ITU-T leading Dynamic Coalition on Internet and
  Climate Change as part of IGF

17
ITU Challenges

• Develop a methodology to measure impact of ICTs
  as part of national GHG reduction programs
• Identify priority sectors where ICTs can reduce
  emissions (e.g. smart buildings
• Grow the ICT industry in an environmentally
  friendly manner
• Disposal of ICTs

18
ITU-T and Climate Change Setting the Standard

• FG on ICTCC concluded with 4 Deliverables in
  March 2009.
• Inputs from non-ITU members (e.g., academia) were
  also taken into considerations
• Mandate of SG5 was expanded at the last TSAG
  (28-30 April 2009)
• New SG5 title Environment and climate change
• SG5 created a new WP 3/5
• All SGs examining impact of recommendations on
  climate change
• SGs developing standards for new energy efficient
  technologies
• E.g. SG-13 on Next Generation Networks
• NGN estimated to be 40 more energy efficient

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Deliverables FG on ICTCC

• Deliverable 1 Definition
• Defines the terms needed to analyze the major
  relationships between ICTs and Climate Change
• Deliverable 2 Gap analysis and standards roadmap
• Shows ongoing work (done by ITU, other standard
  bodies, universities, etc.) and future study
  issues
• Deliverable 3 Methodologies
• Covers the assessment of ICT sectors emission
  over the entire life cycle of ICT devices
• Also covers reducing other sectors emission by
  the use of ICT
• Deliverable 4 Direct and Indirect Impact of ITU
  Standards
• Provides tools and guidelines to evaluate the
  reduction of emission of ICT sector and of other
  sector by the use of ICT

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WP3/5 structure

• Chairman Keith Dickerson(UK)
• Vice Chairmen Eunsook Kim (Korea) and Takeshi
  Origuchi (Japan)

Rapporteur Associate Rapporteur
Q17/5 Paolo Gemma (China) Franz Zichy (US)
Q18/5 Jean Manuel Canet (France) Takafumi Hashitani (Japan)
Q19/5 Kaoru Asakura (Japan) Didier Marquet (France) (Acting)
Q20/5 Gilbert Buty (France) Dave Faulkner (UK)
Q21/5 Didier Marquet (France) Julio Cesar (Brazil) Xia Zhang (China) Paulo Curado (Brazil)

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New and revised Questions

• Q14/5(revised) Guides and terminology on
  environment and climate change
• Q17/5(new) Coordination and Planning of ICTCC
  related standardization
• Q18/5(new) Methodology of environmental impact
  assessment of ICT
• Q19/5(new) Power feeding systems
• Q20/5(new) Data collection for Energy Efficiency
  for ICTs over the lifecycle
• Q21/5(continuation of Q.19/15) Environmental
  protection and recycling of ICT
  equipments/facilities

22
Joint Coordination Activity (JCA)

• Established at the last TSAG meeting (28-30 April
  2009)
• Objectives
• To co-ordinate across ITU-T SGs (in particular
  SGs 5, 9, 13, 15 and 16), and with ITU-R and
  ITU-D.
• To seek co-operation from external bodies
  including non-ITU member organizations
• Convener
• Mr. Ahmed Zeddam (France)
• Co-convener
• Mr. Dave Faulkner (UK)
• Invitations for the first meeting during the next
  SG5 meeting (Oct. 2009) to various bodies to be
  sent shortly

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Climate Change is a global challenge that the
world cannot lose. Dr Hamadoun I. Touré ITU
Secretary-General, 13 November 2008
Climate change is the defining challenge of our
era. ITUs work to cut greenhouse gas
emissions, develop standards and use
e-environment systems can speed up the global
shift to a low-carbon economy. Ban
Ki-moon United Nations Secretary-General, 12
November 2008
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SomeBackgroundMaterials

• ITU Climate Change site
• www.itu.int/climate
• Climate Change symposia website
• www.itu.int/ITU-T/climatechange
• Technology Watch Briefing Reports
• www.itu.int/ITU-T/techwatch/reports.html