ICTs, ITU-T and Climate Change

1
ICTs, ITU-T and Climate Change

• Arthur Levin, Head, Standardization Policy
  Division (ITU-T)

Virtual Symposium 23 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.
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Evidence for Climate Change
Source IPCC 4th assessment report, 2007
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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)
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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)

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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

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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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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

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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
• 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)

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The Challenge in the Americas

• Deforestation
• 17-20 percent of GHG emissions
• Financing
• Who will pay the bill for using ICTS for
  adaptation and mitigation
• Region includes 5 of 10 most biodiverse countries
• At risk for large losses
• Impact of CC is costly and exceeds even though
  not a major source of emissions
• Hurricane damage will increase by 10-26 for each
  1 degree warming of sea

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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

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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

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Networks and Systems optical access
Although ICT networks and systems emit CO2, they
can also reduce direct CO2 output and have the
additional capability of enabling other sectors
of society to reduce their carbon footprint.

• With the introduction of fiber technology fixed
  networks gained additional speed and increased
  range while at the same time reducing power
  consumption.
• The energy efficiency improvement of fiber
  networks compared to copper networks is
  tremendous.

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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
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Case-study Comparison of GHG emissions of
postal mail and e-mail services
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What trends do ICTs have at the device level?

• Market doubles every 5 years1
• E.g. Broadband expanding to more users
• Until market saturates
• Then upgrades replace obsolete devices
• New devices become a must have
• E.g. HDTV
• Annual growth rate of internet traffic is 852
• Increasing the energy conversion depending on the
  relative efficiency of devices in J/bit
• Unsustainable growth at the micro level (see
  previous slide)
• All three trends increase demand for energy
  mostly sourced from fossil fuel
• the GeSI Smart 2020 report predicts growth in
  ICTs of 70 over the period 2007-2020

1 Source Lynn Hutcheson Ovum. www.ovum.com 2
cfp.mit.edu/events/jan08/presentations/ODLYZKO-tra
ffic-growth.ppt 3 http//www.smart2020.org/
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How do ITU standards contribute?

• Ensuring public safety
• E.g. Allocation of radio spectrum without
  interference (e.g. aviation frequencies,
  navigation systems)
• Ensuring interoperability
• E.g. devices from different vendors
• Focus market to ensure competitive supply
• High volumes, low prices
• Adopt best practice and de-risk supply
• Higher volumes
• In standards we have always worked towards higher
  efficiency solutions
• This will lead to lower emissions (when deployed
  within a GHG emission limited environment)
• We need now to consider GHG emissions reduction
  as a clear driver for standards
• Is there more we can do?

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ITU-T 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
• Disposal of ICTs
• Adopt green working methods

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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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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
• 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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Related Study Groups

• Lead SG SG5
• SG13
• Monitoring related Question Principles and
  functional architecture for NGN (including
  ubiquitous networking) (Q5/13)
• Future network related Question Future Networks
  (Q21/13)
• SG15
• Transport network related Questions Access
  networks (Q.1/15), Optical access (Q.2/15), Core
  networks (Q.3/15), Metal access (Q.4/15),
  Protection/restoration (Q.9/15)
• SG16
• RFID related Questions Q.21/16 (multimedia
  applications and services) and Q.22/16
  (multimedia architecture)

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Use of ITU-T Standards to mitigate climate
change ITS

• SG16 started related work
• Examples of advantages
• Dynamic Navigation (Collection of traffic,
  environment, and floating car data, Dynamic route
  guidance)
• ADAS (Adaptive Cruise Control(ACC), Intelligent
  Speed Adaption(ISA), etc.)
• Telemetric Services (Real-time remote
  diagnostics, Alteration of driver behavior, etc.)
• Delivery of congestion and danger spots
  information by using Vehicle-to-vehicle and
  vehicle-to-infrastructure communications.

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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