It is a great pleasure to welcome you to the launch of the ITU and World Bank good practice case study, ‘Measuring National ICT Sector Environmental Impact’, another milestone in our partnership with France’s regulatory authority, ARCEP, and our joint commitment to improving how we understand, track and reduce the environmental impact of the digital sector.
This case study builds on the foundations laid by our ITU and World Bank publications like ‘Measuring the Emissions & Energy Footprint of the ICT Sector’, and the ‘Green Data Centre Guide’. It highlights the lessons other countries can learn from ARCEP’s pioneering approach to environmental data collection.
Digital technologies are essential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but they also have a growing environmental footprint, making up as much as 4% of global emissions, so it is essential to have in place a regular emissions reporting and tracking system as a first step.
By collecting and assessing country-level climate data, ICT regulators can help inform policy decisions that drive sustainability.
ARCEP is the first to regularly publish environmental data, and its regular reports have helped the French Government embed digital and environmental strategies in national policymaking, so this case study serves as a blueprint for other regulators worldwide.
The urgency for global climate action has never been clearer, so this launch is about building a culture of shared commitment to data-driven climate strategies in the digital sector, and ITU and the World Bank are on hand to support countries in harmonizing emissions and energy use data collection.
We are also excited about a new ‘Sub-group on National Greenhouse Gas Emission Monitoring Indicators’, under the ITU-D Expert Group on Telecommunication/ICT Indicators which will work to develop a harmonized set of indicators that will allow countries to collect data to help measure the climate impact of the ICT sector.
Additionally, I look forward to sharing the upcoming 4th edition of the ITU’s report, Greening Digital Companies – Monitoring Emissions and Climate Commitments, tracking the environmental commitments of over 200 tech companies.
Finally, then, I urge all ICT regulators, policymakers and stakeholders worldwide to take inspiration from ARCEP’s collaborative model and to join the ITU-D Expert Group on Telecommunication/ICT Indicators environmental indicator sub-group. I hope to see this important climate topic also on the agenda at the Global Symposium for Regulators taking place in September in Saudi Arabia.
Once again I thank the World Bank and ARCEP for partnering with us on this important topic and all of you for being here today.
