UN agency examining ways to slash ICT emissions

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New York, Jul 12 : With the information and communication technology (ICT) sector accounting for 2 to 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, the UN telecom agency is examining how to slash its carbon footprint.

Since the Kyoto Protocol was adopted in late 1997, the number of ICT users has tripled globally, and the sector releases some 2 to 3% of all emissions, the UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU) said on Saturday.

But it stressed that these technologies are also part of the solution to climate change, and could help curb emissions by anywhere between 15 and 40%, depending on the methodologies used to come up with the estimates.

The agency’s newly-created Focus Group, which seeks to wrap up its work plan by next April, will create internally agreed standards to assess the effect of the technologies on the environment.“ICTs are a contributor to global warming, but more importantly they are the key to monitoring and mitigating its effects,” said the agency’s secretary-general Hamadoun Toure.