InternationalTelecommunicationUnion

ICTs, ITU-T and Climate Change

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

The views expressed in this presentation are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the ITU or its Membership.

Virtual Symposium23 September 2009

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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

2007 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

2008 AWGLCA meetings Bangkok (31 March–4 April) Bonn (2-13 June) Accra (21-27 August)

2009 Meeting of COP-14 Poznan, Poland (1-12 December)

2009 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

NTT’s “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.

En

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MW

h/Y

Cost

M€/Y

(1

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*) Costs for air conditioning are not considered

GPON Energy and Cost efficiency

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

ADSL2+ PON FTTH

Energy Consumption (MWh/y) Cost (k€/Y)

80 % Energy & Cost savings

By replacing ADSL2+

With PON *)

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 7’500 video conferences saving 4’200 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 years[1] 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 85%[2] 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-traffic-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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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

ITU-T Challenges

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Deliverables: FG on ICT&CC

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

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FG on ICT&CC 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

ITU-T and Climate Change: Setting the

Standard

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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 sitewww.itu.int/climate

Climate Change symposia websitewww.itu.int/ITU-T/climatechange

Technology Watch Briefing Reportswww.itu.int/ITU-T/techwatch/reports.html