ITU-T Workshop on BSG Standardization and Climate Change

1. ITU-T Workshop on BSG Standardization and Climate Change Arthur LevinChief, ITU-TSB 29 June 2010 Cyberjaya, Malaysia

2. UN identified “it’s critical” “Climate Change is a global challenge that the world cannot lose.” Dr Hamadoun I. Touré ITU Secretary-General, 13 November 2008 “Climate change is the defining challenge of our era. ITU’s work to cut greenhouse gas emissions, develop standards and use ‘e-environment’ systems can speed up the global shift to a low-carbon economy. Ban Ki-moon United Nations Secretary-General, 12 November 2008

3. Why ICTs Matter • ICTs (excluding broadcasting) contribute an estimated 2-3% of global Greenhouse Gas emissions • Around 0.9 ton GtCO2e in 2007 • Telecoms contributed around one quarter of this total • Airplanes and shipping about 3% each Source: Gartner Group

4. Did you Know? • Facebook alone uses an amount of capacity more than the entire Internet in 2000 • It is estimated that the total electricity used in powering and cooling the 2 million servers of the 5 major search engines is around 5 gigawatts – which is the same amount of power used by the city of Las Vegas on the hottest day of the year • The Google data center in Oregon (US) consumes as much electricity each day as the city of Geneva • Data centers consumer more electricity than Argentina or the Netherlands • Whereas 80 Kg. of copper per line and per Km. were necessary in 1915 to carry a signal, only 0.01g of glass are sufficient today, a factor of 8 million • Between 16-50 Megatons of waste PCs and monitors are disposed of each year. This is enough to fill a container train of length equal to the circumference of the earth • 100 million customers receiving online phone bills would save 109,100 ton of CO2

5. What trends do ICTs have at the device level? • Market doubles every 5 years • E.g. Broadband expanding to more users • Until market saturates • Then upgrades replace “obsolete” devices • New devices become a “must have” • E.g. HDTV, Smartphones • Annual growth rate of internet traffic is high • 1.8 billion Internet users worldwide • 4.6 billion mobile subscriptions • Highest growth in data traffic; Internet of things • All three trends increase ICT demand for energy • the GeSI Smart 2020 report predicts growth in ICTs energy use of 70% over the period 2007-2020

6. REDUCING ICT SECTOR EMISSIONS

7. The ICT Enabling Effect • ICT responsible for 2-3% of global CO2 emissions • How can we reduce ICT own emissions • Next Generation Networks • ICT key to reduce the other 97% of CO2 emissions • The enabling effect by a factor of five • ICT as key enabler to reduce emissions in other sectors

8. GREEN By ICT The opportunities where ICT could play a driving role include: • Smart grid • Smart buildings • Smart logistics • Smart motor systems • Dematerialisation

9. DEMATERIALISATION The substitution of high carbon products and activities with low carbon alternatives: > Replacing face-to-face meetings with tele- and videoconferencing > Remote working > Paper with email/online billing > CDs with online music

10. Virtual Symposium on ICT&CC • Proved that this notion is actually feasible • Date: 23 Sept. 2009 • Some statistics • 23 speakers/moderators, out of which 19 participated virtually • 422 participated virtually out of total 580 • People from 49 countries participated • Around 65 People from 25 developing countries participated virtually • 17 people participated from the Americas in spite of inconvenient time • Details are available at: http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/worksem/climatechange/200909/index.html

11. Role of Standards: ITU • 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) • Grow the ICT industry in an environmentally friendly manner • Disposal of ICTs

12. Focus Groups • Flexible and Open • Works on a well-defined topic, scheduled for completion at a specific time • Goal: encourage participation of non-members/members of other forums • FG has lots of freedom to establish its own rules • Can keep own brand name and at the same time benefit from ITU’s branding • Output of FG: “ITU Deliverable” (not ITU-T Recommendation) • However, output of FG can be input to a study group to make it an ITU-T Recommendation

13. FG on ICT & CC Deliverables • 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 sector’s emission over the entire life cycle of ICT devices • Also covers reducing other sector’s 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

14. Related Study Groups (SGs) Study Group 5 is the lead Study Group on ICTs and climate change • For reduction of emission of ICT • SG 5: recycling of ICT equipments and facilities • SG 13: NGN, which requires 40% less power • SG 15: standardization for low power devices • For improvement of energy efficiency by the use of ICT • SG 16: multimedia systems for video conferences for replacing travel • SG 16: Intelligent Transport System (ITS) • JCA on network aspects of ID systems (including RFID) • Other related activities • SG 2: disaster relief and emergency services

15. SG 5 established 5 work areas • Q.17/5: Coordination and Planning of ICT&CC related standardization • Q.18/5: Methodology of environmental impact assessment of ICT • Q.19/5: Power feeding systems • Q.20/5: Data collection for Energy Efficiency for ICTs over the lifecycle • Q.21/5: Environmental protection and recycling of ICT equipments/facilities

16. Methodology • Q.18 initiated the following work items: • Methodology for environmental impact assessment of • general umbrella • ICT goods and services • ICT projects • ICT within organizations • ICT within countries

17. Universal charger ITU approved new Recommendation L.1000 Delivers 50% reduction in standby energy consumption, eliminates 51,000 ton of redundant chargers, and cuts GHG emissions by 13.6 million ton CO2 annually Current version covers charger for mobile terminals but will cover other ICT devices in future

18. GLOBAL FRAMEWORK • 2005 Kyoto Protocol came into effect • Annex 1 (developed countries) to reduce GHG emissions in period 2008-12; a reduction of 5% against 1990 baseline • aviation and shipping were excluded • Protocol established Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) • allows parties to earn and trade emission credits through projects either in developed or developing countries • ICT not recognized for projects • 2012 First commitment period under Kyoto Protocol will expire

19. TOWARD A NEW GLOBAL FRAMEWORK • COP-15 meets in Copenhagen • Plenary “takes note” of the Copenhagen Accord • 12 paragraphs of text (started with 200 pages) • More than100 countries have now signed up • Annex I commitments are all conditional on a new global agreement • Work on underlying Agreement continues • COP-16 in Mexico