The Digital Unknown:

Assessing the Impact of ICTs on

Human Environment and Health

Lorenz ErdmannInstitute for Futures Studies and

Technology Assessmentwww.izt.de

A weightless and frictionless economy?

What do we know now?

• ICT waste: growth, „Exporting harm“

• ICT electricity: a few %s, growth

• Absolute growth of transport, energy, GHG, MSW

• ICT impact: –20 to + 30 %

• „E-Smog“: proof of biological, but not of adverse effects

• Digital opportunities: e.g. home care

• Stress: from ICT at work to pervasive computing

• New ethical questions: e.g. implantates

Environment Health

Need for new policy paradigms

ICT Efficiency Dematerialises the Economy

Framework Conditions

Decisive

Reactive and Regional

Policy

Participatory Technology Development

Technology Driven

Development

Proactive and Global

Policy

• Few incentives

• Rebound-Effects

• Pervasive Computing

• Acceptance Problems

• Innovation Dynamics

• Prisoners Dilemma

Conclusion

1. MEAs are crucial to take advantage of the dematerialisation potential of ICTs

2. A global Roadmap for Sustainable ICTs should be developed using existing networks as nuclei

3. New tasks for the EU and the UN include participatory technology assessment and transfer of well adapted ICTs for developing countries

Thank you!

Lorenz Erdmann

www.izt.de

www.sustainable-ict.info