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ICT stakeholders set out carbon commitments
Paris Declaration urges ITU to take lead in
global green ICT strategies
Geneva, 24 September 2012 – Industry leaders outlined their
commitment to a green agenda with a Declaration issued at the end of ITU’s
Green
Standards Week which was organized together with TechAmerica Europe and
hosted by Microsoft in Paris. Agreed by over 150 participants from the private
and public sectors, the document includes carbon commitments from leading ICT
companies including: Alcatel-Lucent; AT&T; Cisco; Dell; Fujitsu; Hewlett
Packard; Huawei; Infosys; Intel; KPN; Microsoft; Nokia Siemens Networks; Orange,
Telecom Italia and Telefónica.
The Declaration urges ITU to create new best practices and standards for
green technologies and to create a ‘global platform’ to exchange information on
green ICTs. This initiative will aim to raise public awareness of the potential
positive effects of proper management of end-of-life ICT, for example
refurbishment to help reduce the digital divide, and recycling business
opportunities, but also of the negative environmental and health effects
associated with inefficient or non-existent e-waste management.
In addition, ITU was asked to address the business challenges faced by the
ICT industry in enabling other sectors to improve their business and
sustainability performance, and to develop indicators for green ICTs giving
rankings to countries that have agreed to participate.
ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun I. Touré said, “It is only by obtaining the
hard evidence, by influencing policy outcomes and by developing and adopting
environment friendly policies and standards in the ICT sector and beyond that we
can preserve the environment for future generations to enjoy.”
The principles of information sharing on the role of ICTs to enhance
environmental sustainability and capacity building were strong sentiments in the
Declaration and ITU took the opportunity at Green Standards Week to launch a
range of reports that aim to facilitate the move to greener ICTs as well as ICTs
to enable greener practices across different industry sectors.
The reports include:
The Declaration additionally states that, in addition to adopting smarter ICT
through procurement, governments should promote existing energy efficient
international standards and adopt an international regulatory framework that
will encourage the creation of new companies and innovative technologies. This
in turn will generate much-needed jobs and economic growth.
Green Standards Week also awarded the
winner of the second ITU Green ICT Application Challenge, a global
competition organized by ITU and supported by Telefónica to find the best and
most innovative ideas for an ICT application to help promote “Sustainable Energy
for All”. Designed by Andreas Kamilaris, from Cyprus, “SocialElectricity” is a
Facebook application that allows people to compare their electricity footprint
with their friends locally and nationally. The application aims to help people
become aware of their electricity consumption and manage it more rationally.
The event also saw a Call to Action on Smart Sustainable Cities from
participants of the
ITU-EC forum on “Greener Smarter Better Cities”. The document calls upon
municipalities, the ICT sector, policy makers, as well as international and
regional organizations to identify and agree on key priorities to boost the
development of sustainable, smart, climate-neutral urban areas. It highlights
priorities under the following headings: mitigation; energy efficiency; waste
management; water management; adaptation; smart architecture and infrastructure;
smart mobility; suburban areas; community engagement; and smart sustainable
cities.
For more information, please contact:
Sanjay Acharya
Chief, Media Relations and Public Information, ITU
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Toby Johnson
Senior Communication Officer
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