ITU To Assess How Technology Vs. Climate Change

UN telecom agency to assess how technology impacts climate change

11 July 2008 - The United Nations International Telecommunication Union (ITU) today announced that it is examining how to slash greenhouse gas emissions from information and communication technologies (ICT).

Since the Kyoto Protocol was adopted in late 1997, the number of ICT users has tripled globally, and the sector releases some 2 to 3 per cent of all emissions.

But ITU stressed that these technologies are also part of the solution to climate change, and could help curb emissions by anywhere between 15 and 40 per cent, depending on the methodologies used to come up with the estimates.

The agency's newly-created Focus Group, which seeks to wrap up its work plan by next April, will create internally agreed standards to assess the effect of the technologies on the environment.

"ICTs are a contributor to global warming, but more importantly they are the key to monitoring and mitigating its effects," said the agency's Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré.

ENDS

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