Catherine Candano Published Book Chapter

8/6/2019 Catherine Candano Published Book Chapter

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/catherine-candano-published-book-chapter 1/15



Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)’s Kyoto Protocol, adopted in 1997 to

address global warming. Policy tools prescribed within it focus on the greatest

contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions, mainly deforestation, transport-

based emissions, and unsustainable energy sources such as fossil fuels: emissions

cap-and-trade, the Clean Development Mechanism as well as Joint Implementationprogrammes (UNFCCC 2007). Forest management and funds for climate-vulnera-

ble developing countries become additional policy tools (UNFCCC 2008).

A promising area not directly addressed within the Kyoto Protocol framework is

the linkage with ICTs. As ICTs inherently use energy to make and use, the sector in

itself constitutes an industry which emits greenhouse gases – covering technology

products from PCs to mobile phones, and associated infrastructure. The ICT

sector’s contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions is the same industry-

level emission estimate for the global airline transport industry (Gartner 2007).

Considering the ICT sector produces between 2% and 3% global greenhouse gasesemissions annually, it is usually an overlooked sector as a driver for climate security

within policy debates. The breakdown of industry-level emissions consists of the

use of computing technologies and telecommunications, which contribute approxi-

mately 75% of industry emissions (Fig. 28.1). Fixed-line, mobile, and LAN/office

telecommunications contribute to a third of industry emissions while personal

computing contributes to 40%.

In addition to a sector-specific perspective is a cross-sector consideration of ICT

and climate change. ICT applications are pervasive in the economy as enabling

technologies, having impact on society and development consequences. This view-point links ICT and climate change in a more integrated manner, proposing greater

potential contributions to address the issue. Reports indicate opportunities exist for

climate change mitigation when ICT is applied to reduce emissions in other higher-

emitting industry sectors (energy, transportation and buildings). Estimates indicate

Fig 28.1 ICT contributions to climate change emissions (ITU 2008a, b, c)

440 C. Candano



such ICT use could reduce global emissions by 15–40% depending on estimation

methods (The Climate Group et al. 2008). Potential to reduce emissions, and drive

energy-related cost savings, have driven voluntary efforts in the literature among

private sector actors within ICT. These voluntary efforts in developed countries

such as in Europe, North America, or Japan were undertaken often in relation tosustainability financial reporting and have garnered attention in terms of cases’

quantifiable impact. Policy proposals for an enabling environment have emerged

from the voluntary actors, highlighting the need for macro-level guidance and

governance to spur adoption of carbon-friendly ICT practices.

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) is the only global platform

that brings together state and industry actors on ICT issues of common concern, in a

domain where often public efforts to regulate ICT venture on a different roadmap

from the private sector. Its recommendations on standards for competing technol-

ogies often guide national regulators and industry players on compatibility; it has ahigh rate of participation among its member countries covering both developed and

developed countries among other historical strengths. In 2007, when ITU was

tasked by the United Nations Secretary General to lead ICT for climate change

efforts within the UN system, ITU was expected to respond and galvanize its

organization accordingly. This implied that no longer did climate change lie mainly

within the area of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

(UNFCCC), the UN body founded by the two specialized agencies the United

Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and World Meteorological Organization

(WMO), to facilitate a global treaty on climate change. Rather, climate change wasa responsibility of every UN agency under a unified platform, in line with the

current One UN reform programme (UN Acting on Climate Change 2008). As such,

this paper intended to explore the role of the International Telecommunications

Union (ITU), the main UN agency focused on ICTs, as it moves towards efforts on a

global policy towards ICTs and climate change. The policy gaps in the proliferation

of ICT for climate change solutions are identified herein as the need for coherence

among actors and catalysis among policy areas.

ICT’s Potential to Address the Issue of Climate Change

The literature considers the interplay between ICTs and climate change mainly in

the context of impacts. ICTs create both positive and negative impacts on environ-

ment when applied within ICT fields and across other sectors (Houghton 2008).

Potentially positive impacts can come from: the dematerialization and online

delivery of physical goods; the reduction in the need for travel upon applying

digital office technologies; the use of energy modelling, monitoring, and manage-

ment applications for energy efficiency in production and use. On the other hand,

potentially negative impacts can come from: the production and distribution of ICT

equipment; energy consumption in use (directly through application and indirectly

28 ITU: Moving Towards a Global Policy Framework on ICTs and Climate Change 441



for the cooling) of machines; the short product life-cycles (planned obsolescence)

of ICT, among others.

Beyond the cost–benefit analysis of ICTs on climate change in terms of only its

positive and negative impacts, it is helpful to consider a more nuanced view of ICT

impacts, to ascertain its implications for action and policy. The literature identifiesthree distinctive views of ICTs in terms of its scope and pervasiveness of applica-

tion and inherent properties of the technology (Fig. 28.2).

The three levels of ICT impacts relate to the creation and use of ICTs across

different sectors in society, and both the positive and negative consequences of its

applications to the natural environment. These views of ICT impacts move from

industry-specific impacts (namely the direct effect or first order impact), to its

presence outside the ICT industry (namely the indirect effect or second order

impact), and to its wider and broader impacts when present across more sectors

in society (namely the systemic effect or third order impact).First order or direct effects of ICT on climate change are impacts and opportu-

nities created by the physical existence and application of ICT and the

manufacturing processes involved, such as pollution, energy to manufacture

them, disposal, etc. This includes the direct use of ICT by the industry sector itself.

Second order or indirect effects cover impacts and opportunities created by the

ongoing use and application of ICT outside of the ICT manufacturing sector (other

industries, government, academia, society). One may consider this impact in terms

of ICT power-use and savings in these sectors. One recent report estimated that

indirect effects might account for 80% of ICT-generated GHG emissions. Thirdorder or systemic effects of ICT are those impacts created by aggregated effects of

mass ICT-use and application over the medium and long term, therefore enabling

changes in social behaviours to be felt through scaled-up adoption of such technol-

ogies. An example of such scaled-adoption would be in the case of a general

acceptance emerging, regarding telecommunications substitution effects for physi-

cal travel by organizations. The larger-scale impact of a hypothetical widespread

preference for telecommuting across sectors may therefore lead to a marked decline

in the use of transportation systems (and the carbon emissions implied by transport

use). Large-scale choices made about how to use ICTs to change structures andbehaviours may play a role towards a global response to the challenge of climate

change (IPTS 2007).

Fig. 28.2 Three distinct ICT effects on climate change (Adapted from IPTS 2007)

442 C. Candano



ICT intervention to address climate change is mainly related to three focus areas

associated in climate change solutions: climate change mitigation, monitoring, and

adaptation. Mitigating climate change refers to areas of action through the mitiga-

tion of the cause of climate change, the carbon emissions, by various sectors in

society. Monitoring climate change refers to areas of action undertaken in order tounderstand the extent of the issue and its related impacts on the physical environ-

ment and human development. Finally, adaptation to climate change refers to areas

of action aimed at reducing human vulnerabilities to climate change effects. The

three levels of ICT impacts are dispersed across the three climate change policy

areas. Richard Heeks (2009) summarized the literature describing the intermediary

effects of ICTs on the climate change causes and effects adapted in the succeeding

framework (Fig. 28.3).

Mitigation of climate change through ICT applications in consumption and

production processes would include examples such as dematerialization (replacingatoms with bits) and flexible work arrangements via telecommuting. Some case

results include: ITU Recommendations Online has saved 105 tonnes of CO2

annually compared with distribution of paper copies; Telstra held 7,500 video

conferences, saving 4,200 tonnes of CO2; video-conferencing to reduce business

travel in Europe by 1% would save 1 m tonnes of CO2 annually (Climate Risk

report for Telstra 2007; ETNO/WWF report, Toyota, ITU 2008a, b, c). The use of

smart grids and smart building designs could manage energy efficiencies remotely

and in an automated manner, also enabling mitigation of climate change through

ICT applications on energy generation, distribution, and usage in buildings, trans-port, and equipment.

Fig. 28.3 Framework demonstrating ICT’s potential applications in climate change




Monitoring climate change through ICT is another way of assessing the extent of

the problem and its impacts. Several agencies and programmes in place combine

atmospheric and environmental monitoring with early warning systems to manage

disaster and risk associated with climate change. In collaboration with the World

Meteorological Organization (WMO), the partnership for World Weather Watchincorporates telecom, data processing systems, as well remote sensing and environ-

mental monitoring. An example is the post-tsunami’s early warning system and

climate forecasting models to predict future warming (ITU 2008a, b, c).

Adaptation to climate change effects focuses on capacity building to manage

risks proactively for vulnerable communities. An example is the offline digitiza-

tion of maps to build adaptive capacity for disaster management begun by the

Hunger Project in southeast India after the tsunami. Knowledge management via

online platforms on adaptive strategies such as the Asia-Pacific Regional Climate

Change Adaptation Knowledge Platform (RCCAKP) are another example (UNEP2008).

ITU Policy Areas Under the UN Climate Change Strategy

Greater coordination as part of UN response to climate change has been high-

lighted, particularly under a collaborative effort to deliver specific strategy areas

across the UN agencies. As the first UN Secretary-General to visit ITU, Ban Ki-

moon identified the ITU as an important climate change stakeholder (ITU 2007).

Implicit in this stakeholder role is the focus on ICT governance and technical

expertise of ITU, as the main global platform on ICT governance within the UN

System, comprising 191 member states and non-governmental members.

ITU’s overall objectives include:

[promoting] the development of telecommunication networks and access telecommunica-

tion services by fostering cooperation among governments and a range of non-governmen-

tal actors that includes network operators, service providers, equipment manufacturers,

scientific and technical organisations, financial organisations and development organisa-

tions (ITU 2008a, b, c).

It spearheads the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS), a global multi-

stakeholder consultation and policy-making effort. More concretely, its technical

recommendations are taken as guidelines for national ICT policy and private sector

standards. Related activities include “standardising telecommunications technolo-

gies, services and operations, including tariffs and numbering plans; allocating

radio frequency bands to different services and coordinating and registering fre-

quency assignments and satellite orbital positions so as to avoid harmful interfer-

ence; promoting the development of telecommunications infrastructure and

services, regulatory institutions, and human resources in developing countries;

providing information on global telecommunications trends and developments”

(MacLean et al. 2007).

444 C. Candano



ITU is expected to contribute to, alongside other UN agencies covering climate

change mitigation, monitoring, and adaptation, the three ICT impact areas as

adapted from Heeks’s framework (UN Climate Change Strategy 2008). Climate

change mitigation areas cover: capacity building to implement new standards in

mitigation (particularly in technology needs assessments for developing countries)and impact methodology of ICT for climate change (particularly in energy use).

Climate change monitoring areas cover: observation of global climate change

system to link climate data to early warming and action networks (especially in

terms of policy options), as well as monitoring climate vulnerabilities and impacts

in developing countries. Climate impacts adaptation covers: capacity building for

mainstreaming climate change into development strategies; building an institu-

tional framework and assisting LDCs on effective disaster risk reduction; and

building on Global E-Sustainability (GeSI) efforts within the ICT sector.

Towards a Framework on ICTs and Climate Change

ITU holds the potential as a harbinger of coherence for stakeholders involved and as

a catalyst across related policy fields, within a system of fragmented efforts to

bridge the gap between ICTs and climate change. Within these potentials lies the

foundation for a global policy framework in the field that addresses some gaps in

both practice and policy.

Potential for Coherence

ITU’s potential to provide coherence within this emerging field is noteworthy due

to its complexity. Where a nuanced trade-off between levels of ICT impacts across

cross-sectoral efforts may be needed, technical expertise may enable navigation. It

is not surprising that various groups from IOs, IGOs, academia, governments, andbusiness organizations with such expertise have positioned themselves, staking

their claim, on some aspect of the debate particularly on standardization (Appen-

dix). It is not until the past 2 years that ITU began to be involved in environment

and ICT issues within the UN system itself. Previously, the issue was largely in the

realm of the UNEP, under its work on sustainable production and consumption

wherein ICT enabled products and processes were included.

Many voluntary players implied various policy stances, methodologies, codes of

conduct, and even technical expertise in the community. Currently, overall leader-

ship or management in terms of a comprehensive programme to address various

aspects of ICT and climate change links remains to be seen. As such, actors may

overlap work across various groups or those which fail to build on core competen-

cies to contribute innovations. Within such competing and fragmented efforts, some

coherence is needed. This is not to suggest that ITU position itself as a foremost




policy authority to encompass all aspects of the issue. Rather it would be helpful for

ITU to consider how it has the best position to enable consensus towards the more

urgent areas of focus. For example, ITU already has previously collaborated in

energy efficiency standardization for equipment and telecommunication networks

(Appendix). It would be good to consider which areas ITU could link or provide ageneral map of sub-roles given its stature in the global ICT community.

Potential for Catalysis

A number of reports have been published in recent years examining the relationship

among ICTs and environmental action nationally and regionally. Little attention

has been paid to how policy efforts which can enable innovation may contribute toaddress the issue. The annual sustainability reports developed by UNEP, UNDP,

and OECD barely discuss the link between ICT policy and environmental sustain-

ability, particularly its link to climate-related issues. Historically minimal inter-

agency coordination with the ITU, housing the ICT technical expertise within the

UN, may be the source of such omission. The catalytic role of ITU to champion

ICT-related solutions can potentially bridge this gap that exists across environmen-

tal assessment exercises and policy proposals.

Another context of ITU’s catalytic potential is in the nature of the ICT solutions

needed – the technological resources would need to be drawn from an innovativeprivate sector. Despite documented solutions ICT providers can use (Heeks 2009),

localized innovations across industries and the public sector on a macro-level will

be valued to enable relevant emissions impact with ICT applications. For systemic

level ICT impact, the supra-level actor on transboundary considerations in ICT such

as the ITU can play such a role across private–public partnerships. This supports the

UN Climate Change Strategy as it specifically highlights the potential of harnessing

existing ITU public–private partnership platforms on environmental ICT supply

chains, GeSi.

Subsumed within the catalytic role would be an integrative and balancedapproach to understanding climate change and ICT potentials, primarily between

the different needs across developing countries and developed countries. From

Heeks’s framework, ITU’s centralization allows it to contribute across three levels

of climate change response – from end-of-pipe mitigation towards preventive,

proactive adaptation. However, most of the areas identified by the UN strategy

for ITU collaboration with other agencies relate to assisting developing countries to

put together strategies to climate-proof their development paths. The identified

areas emphasized in the UN Climate Change Strategy document include techno-

logical assessments, climate impact monitoring and disaster risk management. The

focus seemed to bulk up vulnerable countries’ needs related to state commitments

to undertake national communications and assessment reporting cycles under the

UNFCCC. Considering that historical responsibility for emissions lies with the

developed countries, it would be a more balanced direction to seek deliverables

446 C. Candano



which also address the issue of developed countries’ energy-dependent economies

and lifestyles. Only two specific tasks were relevant across both developed and

developing countries: impact methodology assessments of ICTs and related energy

use, as well as the mobilizing of the existing GeSI public–private partnership. The

ITU in cooperation with the UNEP set up the Global e-Sustainability Initiative(GeSI), as an environmental management supply chain initiative of ICT service

providers and suppliers in the early 2000s (ITU 2008a, b, c).

ITU’s Prospects on the Road

During the early days of the Kyoto Protocol in the late 1990s, very little interest in

addressing the link between ICT and climate change resulted in policies that wereprimarily focused on macro-level state intervention via carbon credit and offset

partnership schemes across states. As ITU moves to support the UN Climate

Change Strategy, there is likelihood that potentials for catalysis and coherence

can be acted upon. However, it is noted that prospects and gaps have arisen in ITU’s

ongoing programme of work internally within the organization. Opportunities in

policy areas outside of its immediate next steps, external to the organization, are

considered to chart the potentials under a macro-level perspective.

Micro-Level/Internal Forces

From an internal perspective, ITU has played on its strengths, but at the same time

inherent weaknesses of their atypical modes of practice exist also. Concretely, the

past 2 years has seen the ITU mobilize its existing platforms on ICT governance to

the task of mainstreaming climate change. Currently under the WSIS system, ITU

has developed a “Dynamic Coalition on Internet and Climate Change (DCICC)”, an

umbrella organization intended to catalyse multi-sectoral action on the issue. TheDCICC was initiated at the second Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in 2007 and

subsequently held its first physical meeting at the third IGF in December 2008. The

coalition partners covered IGOs, NGOs, academic institutions, industry players and

national ICT regulatory bodies: ITU, GeSI, OECD, Japan’s Ministry of Internal

Affairs and Communication (MIC), International Institute for Sustainable Devel-

opment (IISD); and industry partners British Telecom (BT), Deutsche Telekom,

Daisy Consortium, CAST (China Association for Science and Technology), Nepal

Wireless, Tama University Japan, CSDMS (Center for Science, Development and

Media Studies), Wipro Technologies, and CTO (Commonwealth Telecommunica-

tion Organization) (IGF 2008).

Internal limitations from this arrangement can be seen in terms of ITU’s struc-

ture, policy environment and timeframe it faces, its scope of influence, and its

potential to stimulate innovation. Structurally, the location of this coalition within




the context of the IGF – with its discussions on internet access, equity, security –

may dilute urgency of mobilization. This position may achieve the potential for

catalysis in two ways that could indicate whether or not action will be swift: either

through optimization of current multi-issue partnerships towards a separate priority

track with a climate change focus in IGF, or through a mainstreaming of climatechange impact considerations in the context of overriding IGF issues. The dyna-

mism and responsiveness of the DICC therefore remains to be seen.

Although urgent action is needed as directed by UN climate strategy, the

catalytic role of ITU has only begun to build up in the middle of 2008 up until

the present with the working group derived from the DCICC. So far, two meetings

of this sub-working group from the DCICC have taken place in Japan and UK, with

the next one to happen in mid-2009 in Ecuador – however, the preliminary

deliverables of the working group may limit a significant contribution when the

2009 UNFCCC Conference of Parties (COP) meet in Copenhagen to address thenew policy regime needed to replace the Kyoto Protocol. In terms of DCICC’s

scope of influence, the exclusion of broadcast technologies and search engine

companies not included in current public–private partnerships due to the converged

definitions of information industries, implies that the massive computing technol-

ogies of these sectors may be left unconsidered in DICC-led ICT climate impact

strategies. These two considerations may affect the potential of ITU to serve as a

force for coherence within the cacophony of various voices within the UN system,

across the IGOs, and in terms of the technological proposals related to climate

mitigation and adaptation that are expected to be more contentious. It is expectedthat, given the lack of consensus from states in the previous Poznan COP, the

various actors will likely be highlighting their own respective remedy to the post-

Kyoto climate policy regime at the Copenhagen COP in December 2009 for

agreement at the plenary.

Macro-Level/External Forces

Outside of its current programme of work, ITU has the opportunity to respond to

such potential through addressing ICT policy gaps on climate change in terms of

knowledge management, cleaner technology road-mapping and promotion of low

carbon tech lifestyles. The first potential area is in its knowledge management role,

the ITU being the logical choice as a global clearing house of best practice, high-

lighting potentials for catalysis and coherence. Ensuring adequate information-

sharing schemes and models to enable documentation of practice is critical, so as

to provide gentle guidance towards coherence across voluntary actors, than stan-

dardization. Also, ITU’s current roster of robust and diverse partnerships can be

catalyzed towards this innovative storehouse of practice. ITU’s ad hoc publications

and minimal website content provide promise for an endeavour such as this,

particularly as this is an expression of focus on dematerialization in commitment

to become a carbon-neutral ITU in 3 years (ITU 2008a, b, c).

448 C. Candano



The second potential policy area for ITU is the standardization of internet access

technology (across both infrastructure and equipment) which plays on its existing

work in the area of energy-efficiency standardization for network infrastructure and

computing equipment (Appendix). However, the potential for coherence herein lies

in its ability to provide what industry organizations have identified earlier: a road-map of clean internet technologies, which belies ITU’s historical expertise as the

standardization catalyst (Willard and Michael 2003). The proposals for DCICC to

examine a life-cycle approach to technologies may isolate the production and

consumption of such. In terms of real life application of ICTs, it is unlikely that

people will use ICTs in phases. In fact, ICT usage is often in parallel to substitutes,

especially when considering various types of internet access technologies. The use

of infrastructure to support a growing industry of internet-related businesses,

particularly search engines, proposes growing server needs, each of which need

to be powered by energy or need energy to be cooled. In this regard, the potential for coherence stems from the integrated viewpoint that ITU may take across internet

service provision and consumer access, which in turn may have catalytic effects

across the specific production and life-cycle studies of the technology towards

standardization.

The third potential policy area of the ITU is the promotion of lower carbon

technology lifestyles, which is something that has not been undertaken by various

UN agencies in a holistic manner, integrating understanding of technology use and

climate impacts. Such would be the ultimate expression of the potentials for

catalysis and coherence – not only from a supply side perspective, but also froma demand side perspective to viewing ICT impacts on climate change. ITU’s strong

technical expertise may be the necessary link between technology impact and

consumer use. This may make a difference between largely technology-determin-

istic solutions currently on the table. Although attempts to link growing innovation

in energy-efficient technology and relations to technology-user behaviour is tan-

gentially addressed by recommendations from the DCICC 2008 panel’s recommen-

dation, there is a concern that this may be too simplistic if viewed without

considering integrated effects and balance between supply and demand side pre-

scriptions.In general, the supply-side focused, technologically-deterministic approach of

the proposals is in providing methods to be aware of and educate users about the

emission potential of ICTs. Specifically, the DCICC proposals include the develop-

ment of industry and consumer tools to assess the impact of ICT use on climate

change; ways ICTs can reduce GHG emissions in other sectors; life-cycle analysis

in relation between ICTs and climate change, and awareness-raising among con-

sumers (IGF 2008). However, the positive impacts of digitization, dematerializa-

tion and substitution of physical goods and services may be offset with large-scale

ICT use if touted as a magic bullet. Consider a policy that encourages travel

substitution through video conferencing; if excessively adopted, it may not neces-

sarily create the expected net reductions of GHG emissions due to interactive

effects. Or consider a public–private partnership labelling effort to brand green

consumer ICTs, which in the end may encourage excessive use of electronics by the




consumer (i.e. being left running even when not in use, due to complacency about

inherent energy efficiency). This leads to the concept of “rebound effects”, where

initial carbon emission or energy savings may in fact contribute to exponentially

greater adoption of technologies, therefore not only possibly negating but exceed-

ing the incremental emission savings (IPTS 2007).

Conclusion

The study explored the potentials of climate change mainstreaming into global ICT

policy platforms at the ITU, as the main agency within the United Nations to

address ICT issues. With the new directive in recent years for the organization to

move towards a framework regarding ICTs and climate change, there has beengroundwork particularly under the UN-wide push to strategically consolidate cli-

mate change activities across all agencies. However, the literature indicated calls

for such interdisciplinary policy explorations of ICT and climate change were

ongoing prior to the issuance of the directive from UN Headquarters. Various

voices from the market, the business sector, and non-governmental fields had

already been generating policy recommendations on what type of enabling envi-

ronment could hasten the efforts and galvanize the benefits of climate-friendly

ICTs.

A combination of supply and demand-side analysis of the forces internal andexternal to the ecosystem of the ITU provided an indication of the potentials ITU

could contribute given its unique technical expertise and institutional memory. The

paper identified that ITU can enable greater coherence and catalysis among stake-

holders and policy areas from both demand and supply-driven perspectives. In

general, ongoing efforts have capitalized on the institutional strengths of the

organization, but not inasmuch as maximizing a potential role as harbinger of

coherence for productive collaborations among the multi-stakeholders in ICTs

and climate change. Furthermore, there is potential in the ITU to become a catalyst

across policy areas, especially based on the needs of various developmental statesacross climate responses of mitigation, adaptation, and monitoring.

At a critical juncture of the UNFCCC COP 15 in Copenhagen 2009, the threats

and challenges to such potentials are compounded by a rapidly changing eco-

system of players in state, IO, IGO, market, and civil society in the climate change

arena. With each player striving for greater relevance in an increasingly over-

crowded climate change forum, the monopoly of policy intervention is no longer

in the hands of the few traditionally known players, nor in the hands of the well-

capacitated technologists. With both foresight from the hill and a close ear to the

ground, a more nimble ITU could better position a policy contribution to be

more meaningful. The rosy picture touted from the supply side of ICT as a magic

bullet to limit GHG emissions is not entirely true if taken in a vacuum, without

a demand-sideperspective. For example, with ICTs, end users’ own agency to crea-

tively appropriate applications, the context of ICT application, scale, substitution, and

450 C. Candano



rebound effects is not solely in the hands of policy regulators who must contend

with these compounding effects for any climate change ICT intervention. Therefore,

a more dynamic and flexible context needs to be considered by the ITU as it moves

on the road towards a global policy framework on ICTs and climate change.

Acknowledgements The author wishes to acknowledge the support of the ASEAN Foundation

and the Japan-ASEAN Solidarity Fund.

Appendix: Table of Multi-sectoral Players in ICT and ClimateChange Standardization Work (ITU Working Group on ICTand Climate Change)

Overview of standardization work

Area Organization

International Others

Policies UNEP and World Bank,

International Energy

Agency

European Commission, OECD

Indicators and

statistics

WMO OECD

Data collection ISO TC 211 IEEE SCC 40, European Commission JRC

Environmental

management

ISO TC 207 –

Corporate

reporting

ISO JTC1/SC7 Greenpeace, GHG Protocol Initiative

Energy

efficiency of

equipment

IEC, ISO, ITU-T ATIS, CENELEC, Energy Star, ETSI, Energy

Efficiency Inter-Operator Collaboration

Group, European Commission JRC

Energy

efficiency of

networks

ITU-T Ethernet Alliance, Energy Efficiency Inter-

Operator Collaboration Group, FTTH

Council, IEEE P802.3az, TIA, European

Commission JRC

Energy

efficiency of

data centres

– Efficient Servers, Green Grid, TIA, European

Commission JRC

Electronic waste – Basel Convention (MPPI and PACE), European

Commission, TTA

Equipment

labelling

– Collaborative Labelling and Appliance

Standards Programme, CEN/CENELEC,

Energy Star, TCO, Electronic Product

Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT)




References

Erdmann L et al (2004) The future impact of ICTs on environmental sustainability. European

Commission Joint Research Centre, Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS),

Sevilla, Aug 2004. http://ftp.jrc.es/eur21384en.pdf . Accessed Mar 2009Ericsson (2008) Telecommunication contributes to a carbon-lean economy. http://www.

climateactionprogramme.org/books/2008/ca/p122-123.pdf . Accessed Mar 2009

European Information Technology Observatory (2002) The impact of ICT on sustainable devel-

opment. In: EITO 2002, European Economic Interest Grouping, Frankfurt am Main,

pp 250–283, http://www.digitaleu.org/uploadstore/eito_forum_2002.pdf . Accessed Mar 2009

Gartner Inc (2007) Gartner estimates ICT industry accounts for 2 percent of global CO2 emissions.

In: Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2007 emerging trends, Stamford, Apr 2007. http://www.gartner.

com/it/page.jsp?id¼503867. Accessed Mar 2009

Gartner Inc. and World Wildlife Fund (2008) Gartner and WWF assess low carbon and environ-

mental leadership among global ICT companies. In: Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2008, Cannes,

Nov 2008. http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id¼792412. Accessed Mar 2009Global Action Plan (2007) An inefficient truth. Global Action Plan, London, Dec 2007. http://

www.globalactionplan.org.uk/upload/resource/Full-report.pdf . Accessed Mar 2009

Hanson A (2007) Global governance for environment and sustainable development. IISD, Winnipeg,

2007, p 20. http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2007/igsd_global_gov.pdf . Accessed Mar 2009

Heeks R (2009) ICTs climate change and development overview model. Centre for Development

Informatics¸ University of Manchester, Manchester

Hilty L et al (2006) The relevance of information and communication technologies for environ-

mental sustainability – a prospective simulation study. Environ Modell Softw 2:1618–1629

Houghton J (2008) ICT impacts presentation. Centre for Strategic Economic Studies, Victoria

University, Melbourne

Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (2007) The future impact of ICTs on environmen-tal sustainability powerpoint. In: Proceedings of OECD Conference on ICTs and Environment

International Telecommunication Union (2007) ICTs and climate change. ITU Background

Report, ITU Symposia on ICTs and Climate Change. http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/worksem/

climatechange/ . Accessed Mar 2009

International Telecommunications Union (2008) ICT and climate change: the ITU perspective.

http://www.climateactionprogramme.org/books/2008/ca/p116-121.pdf ). Accessed Mar 2009

International Telecommunications Union (2008a) ITU for e-environment: guidelines for develop-

ing countries, with a focus on climate change report. http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/cyb/app/docs/

itu-icts-for-e-environment.pdf . Accessed Mar 2009

International Telecommunications Union (2008b) Leaders address climate change and cybersecurity

at the high-level segment of the council 2008. ITU News, Dec 2008. http://www.itu.int/itunews/ manager/display.asp?lang¼en&year ¼2008&issue¼10&ipage¼09&ext¼html. Accessed Mar

2009

Internet Governance Forum (2008) ICTs and an environmentally sustainable internet: another

challenge of connecting the next billion internet users. In: Proceedings from the Internet

governance forum workshop, Hyderabad, 5 Dec 2008

IPCC – Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2007) Climate change: Mitigation. Contri-

bution of Working Group III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel

on Climate Change (IPCC), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/

assessment-report/ar4/wg3/ar4-wg3-ts.pdf . Accessed Feb 2009

MacLean D et al (2007) Internet governance and sustainable development; Towards a common

agenda. IISD, Winnipeg. http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2007/igsd_common_agenda.pdf . AccessedMar 2009

Madden P, Weissbrod I (2008) Connected: ICT and sustainable development. Forum for the Future,

London, Apr 2008. http://www.forumforthefuture.org.uk/files/Connected.pdf . Accessed Apr 2009

Mallon Karl et al (2007) Towards a high-bandwidth, low-carbon future: telecommunications-

based opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Climate Risk Pty, Australia. http://

452 C. Candano

http://ftp.jrc.es/eur21384en.pdf

http://www.climateactionprogramme.org/books/2008/ca/p122-123.pdf


http://www.digitaleu.org/uploadstore/eito_forum_2002.pdf

http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=503867





http://www.globalactionplan.org.uk/upload/resource/Full-report.pdf


http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2007/igsd_global_gov.pdf

http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/worksem/climatechange/



http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/cyb/app/docs/itu-icts-for-e-environment.pdf


http://www.itu.int/itunews/manager/display.asp?lang=en&year=2008&issue=10&ipage=09&ext=html







http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg3/ar4-wg3-ts.pdf


http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2007/igsd_common_agenda.pdf

http://www.forumforthefuture.org.uk/files/Connected.pdf

http://www.climaterisk.com.au/wpcontent/uploads/2007/CR_Telstra_ClimateReport.pdf17


http://www.forumforthefuture.org.uk/files/Connected.pdf

http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2007/igsd_common_agenda.pdf















http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2007/igsd_global_gov.pdf








http://www.digitaleu.org/uploadstore/eito_forum_2002.pdf



http://ftp.jrc.es/eur21384en.pdf



www.climaterisk.com.au/wpcontent/uploads/2007/CR_Telstra_ClimateReport.pdf17. Accessed

Feb 2009

Neves L (2008) Climate change: ICTs to the rescue? In: ITU/MIC symposium on ICTs and

climate change, Kyoto, 15–16 Apr 2008. http://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itut/oth/06/0F/

T060F0060080003PDFE.pdf . Accessed Mar 2009

OECD (2007a), Innovation and growth: rationale for an innovation strategy. OECD – Organisationfor Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris. http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/2/31/

39374789.pdf . Accessed Mar 2009

OECD (2007b) ICTs and environmental challenges: scoping outline. OECD Directorate for

Science, Technology and Industry (DTI), Committee for Information, Computer and Commu-

nications Policy (ICCP), Working Party on the Information Economy (WPIE), Paris

OECD (2008) Environmental outlook to 2030: Summary in English OECD. OECD, Paris. http://

www.oecd.org/dataoecd/29/33/40200582.pdf . Accessed Mar 2009

Pamlin D (ed) (2002) Sustainability@the speed of light. WWF Sweden. http://assets.panda.org/

downloads/wwf_ic_1.pdf . Accessed Mar 2009

Pamlin D, Szomolanyi K (2007) Saving the climate @ the speed of light: First roadmap for reduced

CO2 emissions in the EU and beyond. Report by the World Wildlife Fund and Magyar Telekom,European Telecommunications Network Operators (ETNO). http://www.etno.be/Portals/34/

ETNO%20Documents/Sustainability/Climate%20Change%20Road%20Map.pdf . Accessed Mar

2009

Standage T (2009) More silicon, less carbon. In: The Economist: the world in 2009. Print edition, 19

Nov 2008. http://www.economist.com/theworldin/displayStory.cfm?story_id¼12494618&d¼

2009. Accessed Feb 2009

Telstra Australia (2007) Towards a high-bandwidth, low-carbon future: telecommunications-

based opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. http://www.telstra.com.au/abouttel-

stra/csr/reports.cfm#climate. Accessed Mar 2009

The Climate Group and the Global e‐Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) (2008) SMART 2020:

enabling the low carbon economy in the information age. GeSI, Vancouver UN (2007) Secretary-General’s appeal at the UN climate change conference, Bali, Indonesia,

15 Dec 2007 – Statement attributable to the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General at the

adoption of the decision of the 13th Conference of Parties of the UNFCCC. http://www.un.org/

apps/sg/sgstats.asp?nid¼2914. Accessed Apr 2009

UN (2008) Acting on climate change: delivering as one. United Nations Climate Change Strategy,

United Nations, New York. http://www.un.org/climatechange/pdfs/Acting%20on%20Climate

%20Change.pdf . Accessed Apr 2009

UNDP (2007) Fighting climate change: human solidarity in a divided world. In: Human Develop-

ment Report 2007/08. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke. http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/

hdr_20072008_en_complete.pdf . Accessed Mar 2009

UNEP (2007) GEO-4: environment and development. In: Global environment outlook. http:// www.unep.org/geo/geo4/report/GEO4_Report_Full_en.pdf . Accessed Mar 2009

UNEP (2008) Regional climate adaptation knowledge platform for Asia. http://www.weadapt.org/

initiative/8. Accessed Oct 2009

UNFCCC (2007) Mechanism of the Kyoto protocol. http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/mechanisms/

items/1673.php. Accessed Mar 2009

UNFCCC (2008) Report of the conference of the parties serving as the meeting of the parties to the

Kyoto Protocol on its fourth session, Poznan, 1–12 Dec 2008. Part One: Proceedings. http://

unfccc.int/resource/docs/2008/cmp4/eng/11.pdf . Available Mar 2009

Von Geibler J et al (2005) Governing new technologies towards sustainability: international

organisations and social indicators. Paper prepared for the 2005 Berlin Conference on the

Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change – International Organisation and GlobalEnvironmental Governance, Berlin, Germany, 2–3 Dec 2005

Willard T, Michael H (2003) The information society and sustainable development: exploring the

linkages. IISD, Winnipeg. http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2003/networks_sd_exploring_linkages.pdf .

Accessed Mar 2009



http://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itut/oth/06/0F/T060F0060080003PDFE.pdf


http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/2/31/39374789.pdf




http://assets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_ic_1.pdf


http://www.etno.be/Portals/34/ETNO%20Documents/Sustainability/Climate%20Change%20Road%20Map.pdf


http://www.economist.com/theworldin/displayStory.cfm?story_id=12494618&d=2009



http://www.telstra.com.au/abouttelstra/csr/reports.cfm#climate


http://www.un.org/apps/sg/sgstats.asp?nid=2914



http://www.un.org/climatechange/pdfs/Acting%20on%20Climate%20Change.pdf


http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/hdr_20072008_en_complete.pdf


http://www.unep.org/geo/geo4/report/GEO4_Report_Full_en.pdf


http://www.weadapt.org/initiative/8


http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/mechanisms/items/1673.php


http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2008/cmp4/eng/11.pdf


http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2003/networks_sd_exploring_linkages.pdf

http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2003/networks_sd_exploring_linkages.pdf






























