Climate Action 2012-2013

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY
Assuming reasonable adoption of all eight
activities, the six countries featured in the study
can achieve net energy savings equivalent to 2 per
cent of their total energy consumption. The USA
can generate annual net energy savings of about
336 million barrels of oil, while France, Germany,
Italy, Spain and the UK can generate annual net
energy savings of 164 million barrels of oil –
equivalent to 2 per cent of the total energy use in
these countries.
At first glance, the total savings in this report
might seem small. However, when considered
in context, these eight activities represent only
a sample of the countries’ respective economies.
Even at this scale, these activities can generate a
larger benefit, equal to the total GHG emissions
impact of the ICT industry. Telecommuting
provided the largest energy benefit across the
EU-5 and US, generating about 83 to 86 per cent
of net energy savings respectively. Telecommuting
practices have the potential to have a multiplier
effect and facilitate greater low-carbon benefits,
for example, reduced driving time. The areas of
least savings were online news and e-education.
In these cases, consumers are likely to continue
old practices, such as reading a newspaper, while
adopting new broadband-enabled activities.
MOVE TO THE CLOUD
Continuing to develop its position as a thought
leader on ICT and climate change, GeSI
supported a study to examine the carbon
abatement potential of cloud computing in China,
Canada, Brazil and seven European countries.
Entitled The Enabling Technologies of a Low-Carbon
Economy – a Focus on Cloud Computing, the study
is being conducted by the Think Play Do Group,
a spin-out from Imperial College London, with
the support of GeSI and GeSI member Microsoft.
The study has been validated by researchers at
Reading University and the Harvard Business
School, and will be published in early 2013.
In October 2012, GeSI released preliminary
findings in relation to China in conjunction with
a workshop on connected cities in Shenzhen
(http://gesi.org/portfolio/project/2). The
findings revealed a number of important insights
concerning the carbon abatement potential of
cloud computing in China assuming that 80 per
cent of all organisations across the country adopt
the technology, while permanently switching off
their on-premise servers.
“As cloud computing services
become more prevalent, we
can expect further benefits.”
The increased use of cloud computing services
by businesses can reduce annual GHG emissions
by nearly 2 mega tonnes (1.9 Mt CO2e), which
is equivalent to the removal of over 700,000 cars
from Chinese roads, and would create nationwide
savings in energy bills of almost 900 million
Yuan. Around 65 per cent of these potential
savings relate to small or micro-sized firms.
Two mega tonnes is just the beginning as the
study focused upon readily available cloud-based
email, customer relationship management and
groupware applications. As cloud computing
services become more prevalent, we can expect
further benefits.
COLLABORATE FOR ONE-PLANET
LIVING
The ICT sector has both a profitable opportunity
and a critical role to play with other sectors in
deploying solutions needed to create a lowcarbon
economy and enable us to live within the
resources of one planet. To make this happen we
engage fully with a wide range of stakeholders to
clearly understand ICT’s potential and accelerate
the deployment of ICT services and solutions.
As GeSI has shown, the ICT sector seeks to fulfil
its mission to make the world a more sustainable
place for future generations.
“The ICT sector seeks to fulfil
its mission to make the world a
more sustainable place.”
Governments and policy-makers are vital to this
process. Their support is needed to play a key role
in expanding the demand for ICT solutions and
create a conducive policy environment. Policy
measures supporting the deployment of ICT
solutions include: developing global
methodologies and standards to measure the
GHG footprint of the ICT sector and assess its
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