ICT and the environment

1. ICT and the environment Ahmed Zeddam, Chairman, ITU-T SG5 Global Standards Collaboration (GSC) GSC-15

2. Highlight of Current Activities: ITU-T • ITU-T SG5 Lead Study Group on ICTs and climate change: • Recent ITU-T SG5 meetings • Oct. 2009: SG5 meeting & JCA on ICT&CC • Jan. 2010: WP3/5 meeting & JCA on ICT&CC • April 2010: SG5 meeting • Nov.-Dec. 2010: SG5 meeting New • Contribution to Joint ITU-T/ISO IEC JTC 1 Leadership meeting • Work on E-waste and recycling • Recommendation L.1000 (approved in March 2010) • Universal charger solution for mobile terminals • The first ITU-T Rec. on ICT&CC • Work on L.1000 phase 2 started • Work on Methodologies : L.method. general principles (Oct 2010) • Work on Energy efficiency : Recommendation on Power feeding systems (2011) • Participation in UNFCCC process including COP-16 • Promotion of the role of ICTs in reducing GHGs • ITU-R and ITU-D ’s activities on climate change

3. Provides radio-frequency spectrum and satellite orbits for applications (space and terrestrial) employed in climate monitoring and climate change prediction Develops international treaty level standards for non-interference operation of radiocommunication systems involved in climate monitoring and mitigation of negative impact of climate change Carries out studies (through ITU-R Study Groups) for development of new wireless technologies Develops World-wide standards (ITU-R Recommendations) Facilitates the introduction and operation of modern radio technologies and systems with low-energy consumption Assists administrations in implementing radio systems by analyzing compatibility between new and existing systems Highlight of Current Activities: ITU-R As the steward of the global framework for spectrum, ITU-R: See ITU-R Web page “Radiocommunications and Climate Change” at: http://www.itu.int/ITU-R/index.asp?category=information&rlink=climate-change&lang=en

4. Highlight of Current Activities: ITU-D • New Questions • ITU-D SG1, Q24/1: Strategies and policies for the proper disposal or reuse of ICT waste material • ITU-D SG2, Q24/2: ICT and Climate Change • E-environment Toolkit for policymakers gives principles and guidelines for the development of applications and services in the area of the environment.  • Will help countries to assess the contribution that ICTs can make to reduce GHG emissions 4

5. Strategic Direction • Leader role on methodologies • Work on the methodologies for the evaluation of energy impact and GHG emissions has gained much visibility and generates strong expectations from many actors, such as the EC and the UNFCCC, which plan to rely on it and use it in the near future • Recommendations development plan: • Overview umbrella Rec. (Target: 2010) • Methodology for ICT goods and services (Target: 2010) • Methodology for ICT projects (Target: 2012) • Methodology for ICT in organizations (Target: 2011) • Methodology for ICT sector in countries (Target: 2012) • Coordination activities through JCA on ICT&CC • Coordination with SGs within ITU-T/R/D • Promote collaboration with other organizations : ISO, IEC, GeSI, ETSI, EC, OECD, UNFCCC, UNEP, WIPO, UNIDO, etc. • Invitation of non-member experts and/or organizations • Next Meeting to be held on 29 September 2010 • Attract general interest from wider scope of people through symposia and other events

6. Challenges • Since "ICT& the Environment" is broad in scope, collaboration with other bodies is indispensable to progress the work effectively without duplication • Multiple organizations are working on ICT & CC such as on universal charger and methodologies. • Expertise from other organizations helps the work • Non standards organizations are also working • Expectation for quick development is strong • We are expected to work even faster • Partnership between ITU, GeSI and WBSD (World Business Council for Sustainable Development)

7. Next Steps/Actions (1/2) • Acceleration of the ongoing work using interim F2F meeting, e-meeting, etc. • Q18: Methodologies (Overview umbrella Rec. and Recs in 4 major areas) • Q19: Efficient power feeding system (Higher voltage DC power supply within a telecommunication office, datacenter, etc.) • Q21: L.1000 phase 2, e-waste, recycling of rare metals, copper cables and optical fibers • Promotion of collaboration and coordination • JCA on ICT & CC • Invite relevant organizations or experts • Partnerships and others ways?

8. Next Steps/Actions (2/2) • 4th Meeting of the Dynamic Coalition on Internet & Climate Change (16 September 2010, Vilnius, Lithuania) during the next Internet Governance Forum • DCICC: is a body committed to moderating the environmental impact of the Internet, to seeking new ways to embrace the power of the Internet for reducing greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, and to enabling transformation in line with the objectives set and to be set under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). New • 5th Symposium on ICTs and the Environment & Climate Change (2-3 November 2010, Cairo, Egypt) • Topics to be discussed will include: adaptation to climate change, e-waste, cost-effective ICT technologies, methodology of environmental impact assessment of ICT and financing of climate change solutions. • Outcome: The symposium will issue the “Cairo Road Map”, a set of recommendations for action in relation to ICTs, the Environment and Climate Change. New

9. Supplementary Slides

10. ITU-T & Climate Change WTSA Resolution on ICTs & Climate Change: The World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly 2008 (WTSA-08) adopted Resolution 73, in which Member States recognized the important of action to address climate change, the important role that standards can play and requires all new ITU-T standards (Recommendations) to be checked against energy saving and environmental criteria. Policy & Technology Watch: Through its Policy & Technology Watch function, ITU-T has issued a series of briefing papers relevant to climate change, on the topics of: ICTs and climate change; telepresence (high-performance videoconferencing); remote collaboration tools; intelligent transport systems (ITS); NGNs and energy efficiency; distributed computing: utilities, grids & clouds; and batteries for portable ICT devices .

11. ITU-T & Climate Change Ongoing & Upcoming projects • Collaboration with the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) • TSB Director is a member of the GeSI Board • Collaboration in the Public Policy, e-Waste & Energy Efficiency Working Group • Collaboration with ICT Industry & UN Agencies • Organization of symposia in developing countries on energy efficiency, e-waste, cost-effective ICT technologies, methodology of environmental impact assessment of ICT and financing of climate change solutions. • Case studies & Background papers • Guidelines for an International Framework for Green Corporate Social Responsibilities Policies (to be jointly developed with BlackBerry, Telefonica, Alcatel Lucent, UNIDO, ect.)

12. ITU-T & Climate Change • Focus Group on Smart Grid: • In the building sector, ICTs can help manage smart buildings that power themselves and then feed energy back into the electricity grid. Smart grids will drive a decentralized system of energy production, which will put consumers in better command of their electricity use and pave the way for dramatic improvements in energy efficiency and renewable energy usage. • ITU-T Focus Group on Smart Grid (FG Smart) was established further to ITU-T TSAG agreement at its meeting in Geneva, 8-11 February 2010. • The Focus Group will, from the standardization view points: • identify potential impacts on standards development • investigate future ITU-T study items and related actions • familiarize ITU-T and standardization communities with emerging attributes of smart grid • encourage collaboration between ITU-T and smart grid communities • The next meeting of the Focus Group will be held in Geneva, Switzerland, from 11-15 October 2010 NEW

13. ITU-T & Climate Change Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS): ITS can clear our cities of debilitating pollutants and traffic jams, including through GPS-enabled traffic systems and intelligent ambient lighting. ITS can also be applied to public transport to respond more efficiently to customer needs and provide the means for electric cars to act as distributed energy storage in network downtime. In this cross-over area of ICTs and transport, ITU hosts an annual workshop to highlight the very latest developments in the field: the Fully Networked Car@Geneva Motor Show. Next Generation Networks: On-going standardization work on Next-Generation Networks (NGN) is being conducted through the NGN Global Standards Initiative. A study has estimated that NGNs could reduce energy requirements by up to 40 per cent compared with today’s networks through a combination of reduced number of switching centres, more modern equipment with multiple power modes (e.g., VDSL2+), reduced requirements for air-conditioning, support for advance services, and more efficient routing of traffic.

14. ITU-T & Climate Change ITU-T SG 16 Multimedia coding, systems and applications ITU-T SG 16 is of particular importance in terms of standards for remote collaboration, such as the H series of ITU-T Recommendations on audiovisual and multimedia systems, including video-conferencing, which provide a means for people to collaborate at a distance without needing to travel. A new ITU standard called the Advanced Multimedia Subsystem (AMS), which will facilitate the next generation of remote working technologies, is in the works. ITU-T SG 15 (Optical transport networks and access network infrastructures) : ITU-T SG 15 develops Recommendations on, inter alia, environmental and safety procedures for outside plant, including the recycling of copper and optical cables materials. ITU-T SG 15 has prepared a technical paper (“Energy-saving checklist for standardization activities”) investigating ways to reduce the power consumption of telecommunications equipment. The widespread availability of broadband access is facilitating the wider use of telecommuting. The paper was adopted at the February 2008 meeting.

15. ITU-T & Climate Change Raising Awareness: ITU-T coordinated the organization of ITU Symposia on ICTs and Climate Change, which have taken place in Kyoto, 15-16 April and in London 17-18 June 2008, in Quito, Ecuador, on 8–10 July 2009, as well as a virtual conference in Soul, Korea on 23 September 2009. The results have fed into relevant meetings such as the OECD ministerial, the G8 summit in Japan, the UNFCCC and in particular WTDC-10. Resources on ICTs and Climate Change: A “Resources on ICTs & Climate Change” website which provides references to external resources: background papers, additional information, statistics, and examples, that cover the positive and negative impact that ICTs have on the climate is available at: http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/worksem/climatechange/references.html Calendar of Events A Climate Change Calendar of Events is available at: http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/climatechange/

16. ITU-R and Reduction of CO2 Emissions RADIO AS A CLEAN TECHNOLOGY ITU Regional Radiocommunication Conference 2006 (RRC-06) involved 120 countries, and developed a new digital broadcasting Plan GE06 which envisages significant reduction (by almost 10 times) of transmitter power and reduction of the number of transmitters (due to the possibility of transmitting several TV and sound programmes in one channel). Taking into account that there are roughly one hundred thousands transmitters in these countries with power of up to 100-150 kW each, most of them operating 24 hours a day the energy savings will be very important! ITU-R Study Group 5 has developed the ITU-R “Intelligent Transport System” - Handbook on Land Mobile (including wireless), Volume 4, which describes the use of radio technologies for minimizing transportation distances and cost with the positive effect on environment and on the use of cars as an environment monitoring tool to measure air temperature, humidity, precipitation, with data sent through wireless links for weather forecasting and climate control.

17. ITU-R and Climate Change Monitoring (1) World Radiocommunication Conferences (WRCs) analyze spectrum requirements and allocate radio frequency spectrum for radiocommunication systems and radio based applications employed for environment and climate monitoring including weather forecasting, natural disaster prediction, detection and mitigation. ITU-R Study Groups, decisions of the Radiocommunication Assemblies and the treaty status decisions of the World Radiocommunication Conferences provide necessary support for the development and operation of different systems involved in climate monitoring, weather and disaster prediction, detection and relief such as: - weather satellites that track the progress of hurricanes and typhoons and weather radars for tracking tornadoes, thunderstorms, and the effluent from volcanoes and major forest fires; • radio-based meteorological aid systems that collect and process weather data; • - different radiocommunication systems (satellite and terrestrial) used for dissemination of information concerning different natural and man-made disasters. Measuring sea level by a radio remote sensor from satellite with precision of 2-3 cm

18. ITU-R and Climate Change Monitoring (2) - WRC-07 and Radiocommunication Assembly (RA-07) adopted a number of Resolutions on studies related to remote-sensing, which is a vital component in the science of climate change. - ITU-R Recommendations on radiocommunication systems and radio-based applications operating in Earth-exploration satellite, meteorological-aids and meteorological satellite services, today provide most of data for the Global Observing System (GOS) and Global Climate Observing System (GCOS). - ITU-R Study Group 7 (Science services) in cooperation with the World Meteorological Organization produced WMO and ITU Handbook “Use of Radio Spectrum for Meteorology” providing information on development and a proper use radiocommunication systems and radio-based technologies for environment observation, climate control, weather forecasting and natural and man-made disaster prediction, detection and mitigation. Published on ITU-R Web page at:http://www.itu.int/publications/publications.aspx?lang=en&media=electronic&parent=R-HDB-45-2008

19. ITU-R and Adaptation to Climate Change World Radiocommunication Conference 2007 (WRC-07): - analyzed the results of ITU-R studies and proposals of ITU Member States and allocated additional spectrum for radiocommunication systems involved in climate monitoring and disaster prediction, detection and relief. - invited ITU to carry out studies to carry out studies related to further development of these systems. • adopted Resolution 647 (WRC-07) “Spectrum management guidelines for emergency and disaster relief radiocommunication” requesting the Radiocommunication Bureau (BR) to establish a database of currently available frequencies for use in emergency situations, which are not limited to those listed in Resolution 646 (WRC-03). • This Resolution also urges administrations to provide the relevant up to date information concerning their national frequency allocations and spectrum management practices for emergency and disaster relief radiocommunications operations.

20. ITU-R and Adaption and Mitigation ADAPTATION (continued) Radiocommunication Assembly 2007 (RA-07): • approved Resolutions ITU-R 53 and 55 instructing all ITU-R Study Groups to carry out studies on the use of radiocommunication in disaster prediction, detection, response, mitigation and relief. • MITIGATION In many cases, when disaster strikes the “wired” telecommunication infrastructure is significantly or completely destroyed and only radiocommunication services can be employed for disaster relief operation (especially radio amateurs and satellite systems). ITU-R’s Study Groups have developed Recommendations, Reports and Handbooks related to the use of radiocommunications for mitigation of negative effects of climate change, natural and man-made disasters. Mitigation of the negative effects of climate change is another important area of the ITU Radiocommunication Sector activities. See ITU-R Web page “Emergency Radiocommunication” at:http://www.itu.int/ITU-R/index.asp?category=information&rlink=emergency&lang=en

21. ITU and UN Delivering As One on Climate Change • ITU is contributing to the effort of the UN system to “deliver as one” to address climate change and is taking the necessary steps to deepen the global understanding of the relation between ICTs and climate change. • Read the Report: "Acting on Climate Change: The UN System Delivering as One" • ITU is co-facilitator in issues related to WSIS Action Line C7: e-environment • Side events and press conference in Copenhagen with Mr. Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General in Copenhagen in December 2009 • Ongoing Collaboration with UNEP, WIPO and UNIDO • On 5 June 2010,ITU together with UNEP and other partners celebrated the World Environment Day

22. ITU and UNFCCC • Ongoing role in UNFCCC process • Promotion of role of ICTs in reducing GHGs • Side events and press conference in Barcelona and Copenhagen • Partners: WIPO, GeSI, WWF, WMO, OECD, UNFCCC, Analysis Mason, Cisco, Microsoft, NTT, Government representatives from Japan, Ecuador, UK, etc. • ISeeT Kiosk – Daily briefings from high level ICT business people • High level meetings • ITU, partner of the Nairobi Programme

23. Related Links • ITU and climate change http://www.itu.int/themes/climate/ • ITU-T and climate change http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/climatechange/ • ITU-T Study Groups http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/studygroups/index.html • ITU events on climate change: http://www.itu.int/themes/climate/meetings.html • ITU Symposia on ICTs and Climate Change http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/worksem/climatechange/