Brussels, 18/03/2013 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is working with 27 of the world's leading technology associations and companies which aim to measure the carbon footprint that they leave from the production, transport and sale of ICT goods, networks and services. A study published on 18 March concludes that 10 measurement tools and standards pilot-tested by these organisations are comparable. The objective is to have a common measurement framework in order to better evaluate, and in the end reduce, CO2 emissions. European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes said: “Transparency in measuring the ICTs' environmental effects will empower all of us - citizens, public and private organisations - to make greener choices when we buy or use digital technologies”.
ICT products and services today consume 8-10% of the EU's electricity and produce up to 4% of its carbon emissions. According to current estimates, CO2 emissions from the sector vary widely and are closely linked to the different methods used. They can range from a few tenths of grammes to a few grammes of CO2 emissions depending on the type of energy used. It is essential to have more transparent environmental impact measures for the ICT industry if we want to foster a more sustainable global use of energy resources, the Commission underlines. It is in this context that the Commission published a recommendation four years ago on mobilising ICT to facilitate the transition to a an energy-efficient, low-carbon economy, calling on the ICT industry to develop a framework to measure its energy and carbon performance and adopt common methodologies (see EUROPE 9996).
The “ICT Footprint” initiative is conducted in line with the recommendation. The 18 pilot tests carried out as part of this initiative focused on ten international standards presented by normalisation bodies and organisations such as ITU (International Telecommunication Unit) and ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute). They were tested by companies and associations from the ICT sector over a period of ten months (from December 2011 to September 2012). The companies and associations that took part in the test are Alcatel-Lucent, AMD, AUO, BT, Cisco, Dassault Systèmes, EECA-ESIA, Ericsson, GSMA, Hitachi, HP, Huawei, Intel, Lenovo, NEC, Nokia, Nokia Siemens Networks, Orange, Segamcom, SAP, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, and TeliSonera. Three other participants asked to remain anonymous. The next step in this initiative will be to persuade the ICT and other relevant industries to put these methods into everyday use. In coming months, the Commission will start consultations with stakeholders and the industry on how best to achieve this. (IL/transl.fl)