If you’ve read anything about Green ICT lately (including this blog) you can’t have missed the stat highlighting that ICT currently accounts for 2% of global CO2 emissions, as much as the airline industry. The Climate Group and the Global e‐Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) have just released their report “SMART 2020: Enabling the Low Carbon Economy in the Information Age“.
While confirming the current 2% figure it also suggests that this could double by 2020. But amongst these worrying figures they recognise the unique ability ICT has to monitor and maximise energy efficiency both within and outside of its own sector. This could potentially cut CO2 emissions by up to five times this amount and would represent a saving of 7.8 Giga‐tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2020 – greater than the current annual emissions of either the US or China. Tele‐working, video‐conferencing, e‐paper, and e‐commerce are reconised to have a part to play but by far the biggest global opportunities lie in exploring smart building design and use, smart logistics, smart electricity grids, and smart industrial motor systems.
