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ITU-T Workshop ICTs: Building the Green City of the Future

This workshop at the ITU-T highlights the importance of ICTs in tackling climate change and introduces the role of ITU in shaping global standards to enable a sustainable future. The text is in English.

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ITU-T Workshop ICTs: Building the Green City of the Future

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  1. ITU-T WorkshopICTs: Building the Green City of the Future Arthur LevinChief, ITU-TSB United Nations PavilionEXPO-2010, 14 May 2010 Shanghai, China

  2. Tackling Climate Change • Why ICTs? • Why ITU?

  3. Introduction to ITU Founded in 1865, it is the oldest specialized agency of the UN system Standards making is the first ITU activities 191 Member States, 780 private sector entities HQ Geneva, 11 regional offices, 760 staff/80 nationalities Named as one of the world’s ten most enduring institutions by Booz Allen Five elected officials: Secretary-General Deputy Secretary-General Director of the Radiocommunication Bureau (BR) Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau (TSB) Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT)

  4. ITU Structure ITU-D World/Regional Telecommunication Development Conference ITU-T World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly ITU-R World/Regional Radiocommunication Conference RadiocommunicationAssembly Plenipotentiary Conference ITU Council General Secretariat TELECOM

  5. ITU Membership Member States: 191 governments ITU-T, ITU-R, ITU-D Sector Members (565) ITU-T Sector membership fee:31,800 CHF (= 20k EUR) Associates (154): have right to participate in one study group Associate membership fee:10,600 CHF (= 7k EUR) Today, 95% of the work in ITU-T is done by the private sector (Sector Members and Associates)

  6. ITU-T Recommendationsconnect the world… Without ITU-T standards you couldn’t make a telephone call from one side of the world to another. Without ITU-T standards the Internet wouldn’t function.

  7. ITU-T in a Nutshell • Work (mostly) done in Study Groups (10 of them) • + Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Group (TSAG) • ITU-T Product: Recommendations (= “standards”) • Freely available to the public • Unique partnership of private sector (Sector Members) & government (Member States) • Truly global • Consensus decisions • Fast procedures, transparent procedures • Common Patent Policy ITU-T/ITU-R/ISO/IEC

  8. ITU and Academia 1st Kaleidoscope event 2008: 140 contributions from academic institutions from around the world 2nd Kaleidoscope event: Innovations for Digital Inclusion September 2009, Mar del Plata, Argentina 3rd Event: Future Networks (India 2010) Best papers proposed as new work Published

  9. 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 • While the average lifespan of a mobile phone is 5 years, 100 million Europeans will replace a phone this year after only one year of use • 100 million customers receiving online phone bills would save 109,100 ton of CO2

  10. GLOBAL FRAMEWORK • 1992 Framework Convention on Climate Change • 1997 Kyoto Protocolwas adopted at COP-3 • while Convention encouraged developed countries to stabilize GHG emissions, the Protocol commits them to do so • 2001 Detailed implementation rules adopted at COP-7 in Marrakesh • Annex B (developed countries) to reduce GHG emissions in period 2008-12 (6 gases, notably CO2)) • average overall reduction of 5.2% against 1990 baseline; national targets vary • EU-15 countries have a tougher target of -8% • aviation and shipping were excluded • Developing countries: only to monitor and report GHG emissions • Protocol established Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) • allows parties to earn and trade emission credits through projects either in developed or developing countries • ICT not covered

  11. GLOBAL FRAMEWORK • 2005 Kyoto Protocol came into effect for 177 countries; 189 now have ratified • 2007 Fourth Assessment Report of IPCC • clear link between GHG emission and climate change • GHG emissions continue to grow as world continues to industrialize • 2012 First commitment period under Kyoto Protocol will expire • new framework is needed to deliver the stringent emission reductions the IPCC says are needed

  12. TOWARD A NEW GLOBAL FRAMEWORK • COP-13 in Bali launched process for negotiation of the new Agreement • established AWGLCA (Ad Hoc Working Group on Long Term Cooperative Action) to develop work program • 3 AWGLCA meetings: Bangkok, Bonn, Accra • **ITU is an observer • Meeting of COP-14: Poznan, Poland • 3 more AWGLCA meetings; ITU sends input • COP-15 meets in Copenhagen • Plenary “takes note” of the Copenhagen Accord • 12 paragraphs of text (started with 200 pages) • 100 countries have now signed up; but not China and India • Annex I commitments are all conditional on a new global agreement • Work on underlying Agreement continues • COP-16 in Mexico

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