Digital solutions for sustainability: ICT’s role in GHG reduction and biodiversity protection

Summary

This discussion focused on digital solutions for sustainability, examining both the environmental impact of the ICT sector and its potential role in climate action and biodiversity protection. The session was part of the AI for Good Summit and brought together experts from ITU, UNEP, UNCTAD, World Bank, and various industry representatives to address standardization, measurement, and implementation of sustainable digital technologies.

The conversation began with ITU’s strategic priorities of universal connectivity and sustainable digital transformation, emphasizing the need for technical standards to provide common measurement foundations and enable global scaling of sustainability innovations. Participants highlighted that the ICT sector currently accounts for 2-4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, comparable to the aviation sector, with projections showing a 50% increase in CO2 emissions within the next five years. This presents particular challenges for developing countries in Latin America and Africa, which face the dual burden of being furthest behind in digital adoption while being most impacted by climate change.

A significant portion of the discussion centered on the development of standardized methodologies for measuring ICT’s environmental footprint, including the ITU-T L.1472 standard and a pilot project to create a global database for emission and energy consumption data. The importance of harmonized data collection across different regions and ICT sectors was emphasized, with experts noting the need for capacity building among regulators who often lack basic knowledge of emission reporting frameworks.

The session also explored how ICT can enable climate action in other sectors, with examples including early warning systems for floods and droughts, applications for farmers to select drought-resistant seeds, and IoT sensors for Amazon biodiversity monitoring. Speakers emphasized that successful implementation requires not just connectivity and infrastructure, but also comprehensive digital public infrastructure including ID systems and mobile money platforms.

The discussion concluded with insights on smart cities’ digital transformation toward net zero goals, highlighting ten practical guidelines for cities to leverage ICT for energy efficiency, renewable energy integration, and citizen behavior change. Overall, the session underscored the critical need for international cooperation, standardization, and capacity building to harness digital technologies for environmental sustainability while minimizing their own ecological footprint.

Keypoints

## Major Discussion Points:

– **Standardization and Measurement of ICT Environmental Impact**: The discussion emphasized the critical need for standardized methodologies to measure and report the ICT sector’s environmental footprint, including greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, and water usage. ITU’s development of standards like L.1472 and L.1410 was highlighted as essential for creating consistent, comparable data across companies and countries.

– **Digital Solutions for Climate Action and Sustainability**: Participants explored how ICT technologies can be leveraged as tools for environmental protection and climate mitigation in other sectors. Examples included early warning systems for floods and droughts, apps for farmers to select drought-resistant seeds, and IoT sensors for biodiversity monitoring in the Amazon.

– **Capacity Building and Implementation Challenges**: The conversation addressed significant gaps in knowledge and capacity, particularly among regulators and developing countries. Speakers noted that many ICT regulators lack awareness of basic concepts like scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions, highlighting the need for training programs and simplified guidance.

– **Global Collaboration and Partnership**: The importance of international cooperation was emphasized throughout, with ITU working alongside UNEP, UNCTAD, World Bank, and other organizations. The discussion stressed that partnerships are essential for scaling digital product information systems and ensuring standards are implemented effectively across regions.

– **Smart Cities and Net Zero Transformation**: The session covered how cities can achieve carbon neutrality through digital transformation, presenting 10 practical guidelines including embracing comprehensive digital strategies, utilizing ICT for energy efficiency, promoting circular economy practices, and encouraging behavioral change through digital tools.

## Overall Purpose:

The discussion aimed to explore the dual role of ICT in environmental sustainability – both addressing the sector’s own environmental impact and harnessing digital technologies as solutions for broader climate action. The session sought to present ITU’s standardization work, showcase practical implementations, and foster collaboration among international organizations, governments, and industry stakeholders.

## Overall Tone:

The tone was professional, collaborative, and solution-oriented throughout the discussion. Speakers maintained an urgent but optimistic approach, acknowledging significant challenges while emphasizing concrete progress and opportunities. The atmosphere was highly technical yet accessible, with participants demonstrating strong commitment to international cooperation. The tone remained consistently constructive, with speakers building upon each other’s points and highlighting successful partnerships and initiatives.

Speakers

**Speakers from the provided list:**

– **Reyna Ubeda** – Works for ITU standardization sector, session moderator

– **Bilel Jamoussi** – Deputy Director of TSV (ITU)

– **Fabienne Pierre** – UNEP, Coordinator of the Green Growth Knowledge Partnership

– **Luis Adrian Salazar** – Professor at Latin University of Costa Rica, panel moderator

– **Laura Cyron** – Economy Affairs Office of UNCTAD

– **Jean-Manuel Canet** – Vice-chair of ITU-T Study Group 5 on Environment and Circular Economy, works at Orange

– **Rosendo Manas** – Co-founder of Resilio

– **Rosie McDonald** – Climate change officer of TDB-ITU (Development Bureau)

– **Sara Ballan** – Senior digital development specialist at the World Bank, leads Green Digital Business Line

– **Hiroshi Yamamoto** – Director and head of the standardization office at Nippon Telegraph and Telecom Corporation (NTT Inc.)

– **Cristina Cardenas** – Works at Coursera, leads government opportunities

– **Leonidas Anthopoulos** – Professor of e-business at the University of Thessaly in Greece, expert in smart cities and digital governance

– **Participant** – Works on Paris Agreement carbon mechanism and AI developments at UNFCCC

**Additional speakers:**

None identified beyond the provided speakers names list.

# Digital Solutions for Sustainability: Standardisation, Measurement, and Implementation

## Executive Summary

This session at the AI for Good Summit brought together international experts from ITU, UNEP, UNCTAD, World Bank, and industry representatives to examine digital technologies’ dual role in environmental sustainability. The discussion was structured as two fireside chats addressing both the ICT sector’s environmental footprint and its potential for enabling climate solutions.

The conversation highlighted a critical shift in global climate policy, with digital technologies emerging as a recognised issue at COP28 and COP29. While the ICT sector accounts for 2-4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, it offers significant opportunities for environmental solutions. Central themes included the urgent need for standardised measurement frameworks, capacity building challenges particularly in developing countries, and the gap between technical standards and political implementation.

Technical difficulties and time constraints affected the session flow, with some speakers experiencing connection issues and abbreviated presentations due to scheduling limitations.

## Opening Framework and Strategic Context

**Reyna Ubeda** from ITU’s standardisation sector introduced the session’s dual focus on digital solutions for sustainability while acknowledging the sector’s environmental impact. She outlined the structure as two fireside chats: first examining the ICT sector’s environmental footprint, then exploring ICT-enabled climate solutions.

**Bilel Jamoussi**, Deputy Director of TSV at ITU, emphasized ITU’s strategic priorities of universal connectivity and sustainable digital transformation. He noted a significant shift in climate discourse: “before COP28, I don’t think digital was one of the topics on the agenda of negotiators,” highlighting how rapidly digital technologies have gained recognition in international climate policy.

Jamoussi stressed that technical standards provide essential foundations for climate action by enabling stakeholders to “compare Apple to Apple” across companies and countries, though he departed partway through the session.

## First Fireside Chat: ICT Environmental Footprint

Moderated by **Luis Adrian Salazar**, Professor at Latin University of Costa Rica and former government minister, this segment focused on measuring and addressing the ICT sector’s environmental impact.

Salazar opened by noting the challenge of operating “in two worlds – the environmental world and the digital world” and emphasized the need to move beyond strategy proliferation: “stop to release strategies… We have a strategy for AI. We have a strategy for 5G. We have a strategy for the strategy, and it’s very confused for the different layers of the governments to implement solution.”

**Laura Cyron** from UNCTAD provided key statistics, noting that ICT’s current 2-4% share of global greenhouse gas emissions is projected to increase by 50% within five years. She emphasized that developing countries in Latin America and Africa face dual challenges: needing digital infrastructure for development while being disproportionately affected by climate change.

**Jean-Manuel Canet**, Vice-chair of ITU-T Study Group 5 from Orange, detailed the sector’s ambitious targets, including 45% greenhouse gas emission reductions by 2030 compared to 2020 levels. He highlighted key standards development including L.1472 for measuring CO2 footprints and L.1410 for assessing biodiversity impacts, providing frameworks for consistent industry measurement.

**Rosendo Manas**, co-founder of Resilio, presented a pilot project testing data collection frameworks with common definitions across ICT sectors and regions. The initiative aims to create a global database for emission and energy consumption data, addressing practical implementation challenges. He specifically invited collaboration: “if you want to participate in this pilot, please contact us.”

**Rosie McDonald**, Climate Change Officer of ITU’s Development Bureau, highlighted significant capacity gaps among regulators. Survey results showed many ICT regulators lack familiarity with basic emission scope reporting frameworks, creating barriers to effective environmental governance. She outlined efforts to address these gaps through regulator training programmes and e-learning courses.

## Second Fireside Chat: ICT-Enabled Climate Solutions

Moderated by **Cristina Cardenas** from Coursera, this segment explored how digital technologies can enable climate action across sectors.

**Sara Ballan**, Senior Digital Development Specialist at the World Bank, highlighted investments in solar-powered connectivity solutions that address both digital inclusion and environmental sustainability. She provided examples of ICT-enabled climate solutions including early warning systems, mobile applications for drought-resistant seed selection, and IoT sensors for Amazon biodiversity monitoring.

Ballan emphasized that successful implementation requires comprehensive digital public infrastructure, including national ID systems, mobile money platforms, and reliable connectivity – recognizing that individual applications cannot succeed without supporting ecosystem infrastructure.

**Hiroshi Yamamoto**, Director at NTT’s Standardisation Office, introduced perspectives on distributed data centre architecture connected by high-quality, low-energy optical networks. This approach could potentially reduce energy consumption while creating opportunities for developing countries to participate more fully in the digital economy.

## Technical Difficulties and Session Constraints

The session experienced several challenges that affected content delivery:

– **Leonidas Anthopoulos**, Professor at University of Thessaly specializing in smart cities, experienced significant connection problems. While he mentioned having “10 guidelines” for cities pursuing net zero objectives through digital transformation, technical difficulties prevented full presentation of this content.

– **Fabienne Pierre** from UNEP was introduced to discuss digital product information systems, but her introduction was cut off mid-sentence and she did not complete her presentation.

– Time constraints led to abbreviated discussions and limited the depth of technical exchanges.

## Key Areas of Consensus

Despite session limitations, several areas of strong agreement emerged:

**Standardisation as Foundation**: Participants agreed that standardised methodologies are crucial for consistent, comparable measurements of ICT environmental impact across companies and countries.

**Capacity Building Imperative**: All speakers emphasized extensive capacity building needs, particularly for developing countries and government officials lacking technical expertise in environmental measurement.

**Dual Role Recognition**: Universal acknowledgement that while ICT has environmental costs, it offers significant opportunities for climate action across various sectors.

**Partnership Necessity**: Consistent emphasis on collaborative partnerships across organisations, regions, and sectors for effective environmental governance.

## Implementation Challenges

Several critical challenges were identified:

**Political Translation Gap**: Salazar emphasized the fundamental challenge: “how can we convince the President, the Prime Minister, to be the leader in the digital strategy and the environmental strategy.” This highlighted the gap between technical capabilities and political implementation.

**Fragmented Approaches**: The tendency to develop separate strategies for different technologies instead of integrated approaches creates implementation confusion across government layers.

**Measurement versus Action**: Tension between focusing on standardised data collection versus prioritizing implementation of existing frameworks.

**Scaling Beyond Pilots**: Moving from successful pilot projects to global implementation, particularly in resource-constrained developing countries.

## Immediate Next Steps

The discussion identified several concrete action items:

– Continued testing of the proposed data collection framework through Resilio’s pilot project, with open invitation for participation

– Implementation of regulator training programmes and e-learning courses to address capacity gaps

– Development of extended greenhouse gas emission trajectories for the ICT sector to 2035-2040

– Increased participation from Latin America and Africa in standardisation efforts

## Conclusion

This session revealed both the urgency and complexity of addressing digital technologies’ environmental role. While there was consensus on the need for standardised measurement and capacity building, significant challenges remain in translating technical solutions into political action.

The emergence of digital technologies in international climate policy represents a significant opportunity, but realising this potential requires addressing the political and implementation dimensions beyond technical standards. As Salazar noted, success depends on securing high-level political leadership for integrated digital-environmental strategies rather than fragmented approaches.

The session demonstrated that while technical solutions are necessary, they are insufficient alone. The path forward requires continued collaboration to ensure digital technologies contribute positively to environmental objectives while minimising their ecological footprint, with particular attention to inclusive implementation across diverse global contexts.

Reyna Ubeda: Good afternoon, everyone. Many thanks for being here. Welcome to our sessions on digital solutions for sustainability. Recording in progress. Sorry, now we start again. Good morning, everyone. My name is Reyna Ubeda. I work for the ITU for the standardization sector. Welcome to our session on digital solutions for sustainability, ICT’s role in GHG reduction and biodiversity protection, and also from data to impact, digital product information system, and the importance of traceability for global environmental governance. To start this session, I would like to give the floor to Mr. Bilel Jamoussi, Deputy Director of TSV. Bilel, you have the floor.

Bilel Jamoussi: Thank you very much, Reyna. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the session. It’s really a pleasure to have you as part of the AI for Good Summit with us this week. The ITU has two strategic priorities, universal connectivity and sustainable digital transformation. These are the two strategic priorities agreed at our plenipotentiary conference in 22 in Bucharest. And so everything we work on is really guided by those two principles of universal connectivity and digital transformation that is sustainable, especially now that all industries are transforming and leveraging digital technologies. And this highlights the importance of a sustainable future for the digital tech industry, but also that this industry can be a powerful force for climate action. Technical standards are essential tools for action because they give us a common foundation to measure things. So we can compare Apple to Apple. They help us bring key innovation to global scale. When we uncover new opportunities to improve sustainability, standards can provide blueprints for everyone to benefit. Energy efficiency, for example, is fundamental to the cost efficiency and the climate action commitments of the digital tech industry. It’s also an area where digital technology companies are gaining new revenue from innovations improving energy efficiency in other industries. The optimizations, for example, through use of AI as one of the technologies, can help other industries reduce their energy use. And that’s why companies invest in the ITU standardization work. Our standards for sustainable power feeding and smart energy control help us optimize efficiency and make better use of renewable energies. Our standards provide climate impact metrics and measurements, methods to keep us on the right track. And very importantly, our standards are the result of collaboration and consensus decisions. They are voluntary commitments to new ways of working together. Standards help technologies to speak the same language, but they also support clear communication among companies, business… Hello, how are you? Good. Who was that? So our green digital action activities also work in service of this communication. And that’s why these activities engage so many partners. How many of you were in COP29? Right. Okay. So as part of these activities at the UN Climate Change Conference, digital tech companies have highlighted their commitment to greater transparency on climate impacts. And I’m glad to say that we are achieving strong progress. Before COP28, I don’t think digital was one of the topics on the agenda of negotiators. So we started this in COP28 in Dubai, COP29 with the declaration in Azerbaijan, in Baku, and we have a plan in working with Brazil for COP30. ITU members are working on standards for a new database on emission energy consumption. And I’m looking at my colleague here from BDT, Rosie, who is leading some of this effort for… We are launching a project to test the feasibility of the proposed data collection framework. We all need to agree on how we are going to collect the data. We will present this project today, as well as other key ITU standards for climate action. Our United for Smart Sustainable Cities initiative is also launching two new reports this week. This initiative includes 17 UN agencies that have been working on smart sustainable cities for a number of years based on an ITU standard for key performance indicators for smart sustainable cities. Methodologies to assess net zero progress in cities and guidelines for cities to achieve net zero through digital transformation. In the following session, we will look at how ITU standards are supporting the creation of sustainability passports for digital products with the aim of delivering data essential to circular economy. These standards are being developed in collaboration with ETSI. We have an amazing partnership with ETSI. We develop together and we publish together most of the standards in this area as technically aligned deliverables. And this work forms part of a broader global framework for digital product information systems developed jointly with One Planet Network, UNEP, the Wuppertal Institute and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and other partners. So partnership is a key in order for us to really work together and pool all of our resources and efforts towards achieving concrete outcomes. All of you, whether in government, industry, academia or civil society, can drive ITU standards work with your collaboration and consensus decisions. I welcome you all to join us. I thank our organizing partner today, One Planet Network, UNEP and UNCTAD. And I thank our expert speakers and everyone joining us for your contributions to this important discussion. And I’m looking forward to learning more about your latest thinking and priorities and how ITU could best support you. Thank you.

Reyna Ubeda: Thank you, Mr. Jamoussi. Now I would like to give the floor to Dr. Fabienne Pierre from UNEP. Fabienne, you have the floor.

Fabienne Pierre: Thank you very much and thank you for this opportunity. So indeed, I work for UNEP. I am the coordinator of the Green Growth Knowledge Partnership. and well, before I say a few words about this and about the importance of the topics that will be discussed today during the session, I just want to say that indeed, I fully agree with what you just said and how important it is to harness the power of digital technologies to achieve sustainability and circular economy, but also how important it is to make sure that such technologies are part of the sustainability transition. And so in GGKP, which is a global initiative that is led by UNEP together with the World Bank, I know we have the World Bank today, UNIDO, the OECD and Global Green Growth Institute in Korea, our very objective as a partnership is indeed to leverage knowledge partnerships and digital technologies to facilitate the sharing, the flowing and the application of green and circular economy solutions. And we very much focus on actionable knowledge, knowledge from experience, knowledge for action that can guide stakeholders within value chains and high impact sectors, including the ICT sector into adopting a new standards and policies and norms and practices that support the transition to sustainability. So this is a very important topic for us and in the work that we are doing because we want to also contribute in the dissemination and making sure that those standards and norms and best practices actually reach the right stakeholders within value chains in a way that meets their needs and specific context. That’s a challenge that we’re facing to all of us have experienced that, that we are overwhelmed with the amount of information available out there. And at the same time, it’s difficult to navigate this ocean of information. How digital technologies can help us, including AI, help us access and channel and access this knowledge in a much more effective manner. And this is true for a. The product information is one of the topics for discussion today and indeed you said it also, digital technologies are reshaping industries today and we have tools that enable unprecedented data integration and innovation. So indeed digital product information systems that includes things like digital product passports are emerging as transformative tools to increase transparency and accelerate the transition to a circular and sustainable economy. Indeed those systems are meant to facilitate the sharing of standardized product data along the life cycle of products and include environmental performance but also resource composition and other relevant information that will impact potential end-of-life options. So digital product information systems are all about transparency, efficiency but also recyclability of products and informed choices and that’s what we want to highlight is how those instruments can empower consumers also in making informed decisions. And so how can we look at digital product information systems also as an essential tool for transparency within value chains that also informed consumption with detailed information about the products that we are purchasing and consuming from origin to end of life. In fact scaling, so there are many initiatives at the moment at country level, in regions working on different sectoral digital systems. So again such as digital product passports and they are focusing on specific areas or products like batteries or plastics, textiles, electronics. But how do we scale up those information systems and those initiatives? It really requires, as you mentioned, partnerships, coherence, coordination, harmonization. And so the question is how can we work together to ensure that such systems and initiatives talk to each other and how do we help them continue developing in a way that allows information and data to flow in an effective, accessible and verifiable manner within and across industries. So indeed UNEP and the One Planet Network is working in very close partnership with ITU and UNCTAD, the Consumer Information Program of the One Planet Network and many other strategic partners to develop a global framework for digital product information systems which is, as was highlighted, fundamental to harmonize and bring those initiatives and practices together, address the challenge of fragmented approaches and

Bilel Jamoussi: Thank you very much Fabienne. I am going to leave you in good hands with my colleague Reyna, who is the counselor for our Study Group 5. As you can imagine, we have many parallel sessions and I would like for you to excuse me and I’ll leave you in good hands

Reyna Ubeda: with Reyna. Thank you. Thank you, Bilel. Okay, thank you so much Fabienne for your words. Now allow us to start with the first fireside chat, exploring the environmental footprint of the ICT sector from standardized measurement to transition plans. And I would like to give the floor to Prof. Luis Adrián Salazar from the Latin University of Costa Rica that will be the moderator of this session. Thank you very much and good afternoon. We

Luis Adrian Salazar: have two challenges. The first of all is to talk about the environmental and digital world. And the second is to use extremely effective the 25 minutes that we have with four excellent panelists. So for that, all that I want to say is that this panel have a big goal and needs to try to give one idea in order to improve all that the people are doing to understand that we are living in the virtual world. However, it makes sense while we have a planet because we don’t have a planet and we lost all that we have in the environmental access, we’re going to fail. So my idea is to have two minutes in the and Dr. Laura Cyron. We are going to start with the first question and then to try to make a wrap-up with one idea. And after that we define ten questions with Reyna, we start to work in order to make two resume questions. I would like to present my panel. Laura Cyron from Economy Affairs Office of UNTAC, thank you very much. Jean-Manuel Canet is the vice-chair of ITU-T Study Group 5. Then Rosendo Manas, where is Rosendo? Rosendo is over there. He is co-founder of Resilio. Rosie McDonald, climate change officer of TDB-ITU. So thank you very much to all of you. The first question is how can standardization methodologies and harmonized data disclosure practice support more consistent, transparent and comparable measure of the ICT sector’s environmental footprint across companies and countries, covering the full life cycle, including scope-three emissions? Just one comment in this question. When we talk about countries, I will want to emphasize about how can we include countries in LATAM and Africa, because in some countries, like Europe, it is easier to be involved with the digital world and environmental in the same page. So I would like to include LATAM and Africa in your answer. Please, Laura.

Laura Cyron: It’s a small question with minor, well, very sub points. OK, so thank you very much, first of all, for having me. I am coming from this perspective a bit with the question of how does this problem fit into the question of trade and development, basically. So standardization, of course, is a very essential role in this case, because we in our work very much look for evidence-based policymaking approaches. And for that, we need data. And as we know very well that the ICT sector, and especially the measurement of its footprint, is something that is still well fragmented, to say the least, in the case of how we measure this. And therefore, of course, this implies that there is a lack of reliable and standardized data that we can use for the policy guidance that we try to offer to countries, particularly in developing countries that tend to be also somewhat further behind in measuring their ICT sector. In this context, just to maybe give a bit of context, so we think or estimate that the ICT sector emissions currently are somewhere between 2 and 4 percent of global GHG emissions, which is apparently close to the aviation sector, so quite sizable already. But this is somewhat outdated data. The International Energy Agency anticipates that within the next five years, the CO2 emissions of the ICT sector will rise by at least 50% after having already grown around 60% within the previous five years. And that, of course, is a significant concern, especially for developing countries, because in our work at UNCTAD, we quite often face this dual reality of digitalization, which will be a very helpful tool to make things more efficient for economic growth, but also in terms of climate solutions. At the same time, we are very keenly aware of the fact that the developing countries are the furthest behind and most impacted by climate change and environmental pressures, so that they are the ones that face this dual issue of a double burden, where they cannot harness digital technologies yet to the extent necessary. And that is, well, first of all, of course, one of the reasons why we very strongly support initiatives like the ITU-TL 1472, because this will bring more standardization to this area in terms of measuring the CO2 footprint. But what we also look at quite keenly in our work is sort of the more holistic lifecycle approach. So we are also quite concerned in the case of water use for the ICT sector and the impacts of biodiversity. But for that, of course, ITU also already has an approach, which is quite good in terms of L1410. So that is quite encouraging. And what is initially quite encouraging, I think, in the work today that we’re seeing is the growing awareness of this issue, so that the Global Digital Compact, for instance, has recognized the fact that we need more measurement and awareness of the ICT sector impact, as well as the recent intergovernmental group that we had at UNCTAD. And then I think just two days ago, the BRICS very keenly also emphasized the importance that we figure out what the AI governance will bring in positives, as well as in its environmental impact. So thank you very much.

Jean-Manuel Canet: Thank you, Laura. Jean-Manuel, please, the floor is yours. Thanks very much. Thanks very much for having me this afternoon. Very pleased to be here. representing the study group five, which is the lead study group on environment, climate, biodiversity, water topics. And so maybe to answer first to your question, we, so we, we develop standards and we develop standards cooperatively, and this is done with the participation of experts from all the regions. And we have seen in the past years, a strong participation, for instance, from LATAM, from Africa region, we have a lot of participation of experts coming from member states, from, let’s say, the industry, from academia. And this is very important for us because they bring a lot. And also in the study group five, we have the chance, the opportunity to have regional groups. And through these regional groups, the different members contributed, they coordinate, they give more strength to the effort. So this is very important. So that was to answer your first aspect of question. And then to continue, and thank you so much for mentioning all the standards that we have been developing. I can say first that it’s important to set a goal. And we did that. And we did that in cooperation with the International Energy Agency and with the so-called science-based target initiative. We set the goal for the ICT sector to reduce its GHG emissions by 45% in 2030 compared to 2020. We know some of the actors in the ICT sector are doing well, like telecom operators, because they are using much more renewable energy to power their networks in many regions of the world. And their emissions are decreasing. We know there are some challenges, of course, corresponding to the development of artificial intelligence in particular. And to address that, we collectively, the study group has decided to develop some new trajectories up to 2035-2040. We invite all of you to contribute to this work and to contribute to the trajectories. In terms of GHG emissions, we also have development of standards regarding the impact of the RCT sector on biodiversity, for instance. Water is another important topic that we are going to look at regarding the impact of artificial intelligence. As you mentioned, we have developed a standard to look at all the key indicators that should be collected in order to have the nice view, the full view on the RCT sector, GHG emissions, energy footprint at worldwide level, at national level. And for this, a pilot is going to start and I will let colleagues explain further about that. Thank you so much. Thank you very much, Rosendo.

Rosendo Manas: Thank you, Jean-Manuel. It’s quite easy when someone introduces the work you’re doing right now. So exactly, we’re launching this pilot project. It is very simple. We have this database that we’re creating and the question is how or what should be included, what definition should be in it, because we can all say people should report on the carbon emissions, but what exactly should be inside, specifically so that everyone has the same language, same words, same wording, and knows exactly what to do, what to report on. And it’s really that common language that we’re trying to figure out in this project, this pilot project, as to later have those figures, that information, which will help all the sector guides and go through those towards that direction of the emissions. One of the key aspects that was mentioned before of this pilot project is that not only we’re looking at different sectors within the ICT, so looking at telecom operators, data central operators, as well as manufacturers from ICT, but also looking at that regional level, making sure that we have actors from all the different regions within the world, Spain, Europe, Africa, North America, Asia, and all the other different regions, basically. So to be able to, at the end, say we’ve actually covered all the scope. We have all the insights from all those different organizations and companies and that will help us create that standard, reinforce that LW1472, which we believe is key in order to help the whole sector, ICT sector, reduce those emissions. And yeah, lastly, we are inviting you all to help you contribute on our work. If you’re interested in what we’re doing, please come after the talk, reach us, talk to us. If you’re interested, happy to have this conversation, explain you in detail what we’re trying to do. We believe this is super important for everyone, for all the ICT sector. So really keen to help you on that.

Luis Adrian Salazar: Thank you, Rosendo. Rosie? Great.

Rosie McDonald: Thank you very much for having me here as well today. So I’m also a colleague in ITU and I’m in the Development Bureau. So we do a lot of work, particularly with countries and to complement the work going on within the Standardization Bureau and the database development. We’ve also been working with a group of experts from different countries to try and harmonize and sensitize different regulators specifically to start collecting this data. We saw that as a big gap when we start collecting data. A lot of regulations are not in place. A lot of ICT regulators don’t really collect environmental data. So we see this as a big opportunity to really help start collecting data to establish what indicators there are based on a first set, based on the standard, based on a report that we do, an annual green digital companies report, where we also collect data from 200 companies. So we know what data currently exists publicly. So we’re really trying to build capacity at the country level. And yeah, we have within that group quite a lot of experts from different regions, but we do see that as a gap currently. And there’s a couple of countries who are leading data collection efforts and, for example, the French regulator and the Norway regulator have been starting this work. So we’re really trying to feed in from their experience to really improve data collection globally and see how we can better populate this database over the next coming years. Thank you.

Luis Adrian Salazar: Thank you very much. We are going to make the second question. However, I will give you time to make a final reflection. I think that we have been talking about that. If we don’t have measures, we don’t have data, it is very difficult to have information, and the most difficult is to take decisions for public policy. I was Minister of Technology of Telecommunication in Costa Rica, and I know the difficulties that represent when you try to coordinate public policy in different areas. So, if we are talking about e-waste, GHG, water consumption, it is very difficult to put all of the people in the same line. But the most important and the most difficult thing is how can we convince the President, the Prime Minister, to be the leader in the digital strategy and the environmental strategy. So, in this line, I would like for you to make a final reflection about what you recommend. How can we implement some method to translate from the technical words to the political action, in order to measure but to make a call to action and replicate along the word. Please, Laura, it is your turn.

Laura Cyron: That is a good question. Well, as I said before, one of the main issues often missing, especially in an area that is evolving that fast, is data for background. But then at the same time, what we see a lot in our work is also just a lot of capacity building about the different technologies and why we are now all of a sudden talking about digitalization, but also the impact on the environment. So, I think that is something that you need to enforce, well, not enforce, but bring about a lot more, is that there is more capacity building about how quickly technology evolves and what the impact on the environment is, especially, for example, in resource-rich countries where there is a lot of mining effects, for example. Thank you.

Jean-Manuel Canet: Thank you so much. I believe that it is important to provide some examples showing that it is already existing. You mentioned, Rosy, the example of France. France is collecting data and it is working for several years. Other countries have started to show the example, to explain how to proceed in a relatively simple manner, to provide some clear guidance, simplified guidance, I would say, and then to delegate the effort. Because, of course, we need people to help us doing this effort in every country. So, some training would Dr. Bilel Jamoussi, Dr. Laura Cyron, Mr. Jean-Manuel Canet, Dr. Rosie McDonald, Ms. Cristina Cardenas,

Participant: Dr. Rosie McDonald, Mr. Hiroshi Yamamoto, Ms. Cristina Cardenas, Dr. Rosie McDonald, Dr. Rosie McDonald, Ms. Cristina Cardenas, Dr. Rosie McDonald, Dr. Rosie McDonald, Dr. Rosie McDonald,

Rosie McDonald: Dr. Rosie McDonald, Dr. Rosie McDonald, Dr. Rosie McDonald, Dr. Rosie McDonald, Dr. Rosie McDonald, And yeah, with the capacity building as well, I think that’s a really important aspect. We put out a survey to really try and understand what the knowledge of different regulators, for example, were on emission scope-free reporting, and a lot of them weren’t aware of the simple terms with scope 1, 2, 3 emissions, so I think that is a big gap, and it’s something we’re trying to improve and increase, and we have a new project at least, which is focusing on and piloting in a couple of countries in Asia-Pacific and Africa, and has a global component where we’ll do an e-learning course to really try and at least sensitize and improve that basic knowledge in terms of what the standards are, what the different landscape is to help collect, so yeah, I agree very much with what the colleagues have said. Thank you.

Luis Adrian Salazar: Thank you very much. I hope to accomplish with the time, Reyna, and thank you for my panel, because we practice to speak extremely fast, so this awake all of us. Just a little observation. I want to remark in the global awareness and the useful of a standard, and the action of ITU making more standard and replicate more standard is incredible, and just one recommendation is for the countries is stop to release strategies, and what mean that? We have a strategy for AI. We have a strategy for 5G. We have a strategy for the strategy, and it’s very confused for the different layers of the governments to implement solution for the different. Thank you very much for the opportunity, and please, an applause for all of my panelists. Thank you.

Reyna Ubeda: Thank you so much, Luis. Thank you for doing well with the time. It’s very much appreciated. But just wanted to add a bit of what this session, because I know it was just 20 minutes of discussion and we cannot talk about everything. But one, what is important is that standards, they should be implemented. And once they are implemented, we can know where is good, where is not good, what can be changed, what works for this country, what works for others. And for that, we need implementing partners. For example, our collaboration with UNTAC, with One Planet Network, with the World Bank, or with other organizations that are working on environment, this is very important. So, when you think about standards, don’t think, oh, they are written on stone, there’s no change. No. Standards are written by people in a nice venue, but then you need to implement it. Then you need to see how we can make it easier also for the regulators, for the other stakeholders, because sometimes they are technical. So, we need also this part on the raising awareness, the campaigns, the trainings that you are working on, and also for the governments. Don’t be afraid about the results. There are no bad results. There is just results that are giving an opportunity to improve. So, now, let’s go to the next session. Fireside Chat 2, Enabling ICT-Based Solutions for Climate Action. And I would like to give the floor to Cristina Cardenas. First, we learn about the impact of ICT, the GHG emission of ICT, and now how ICT can help other sectors to reduce their GHG emission. Cristina,

Cristina Cardenas: the floor is yours. Yeah, thank you. I hope I can be as fast as the panel before was. Well, good afternoon. I’m Cristina Cardenas. I’m in charge of leading all the opportunities that we have with Coursera in different governments. And I see the good part of technology. I always see how technology can impact and need no one behind in terms of education. But this time, we are going to talk about the other side of technology, but also how technology be a solution also for improving the conditions of the environment. So, we are going to talk about two main things here, how we measure and report the environment impact of the ICT, and the new digital tools that can help and protect the environment. And we have experts. I will also give some instructions of our panel, which is like two to three minutes to present what are they doing, the field of work. I know it’s very brief time, but we also rehearsed before. And also, we are going We are going to have two questions that we want to solve in each one. So I will start with Sara Valen, a senior digital development specialist at the World Bank where she collaborates with Green Digital Business Line and Sara supports countries in expanding digital access through sustainability investment and promotes the use of technology for green solutions. I know that you are going to talk about your experience, the perspective that you have on how innovation can drive environmental impact, so the floor is yours, Sara.

Sara Ballan: Thank you so much. Can you hear me? Great. So good afternoon, everyone. My name is Sara Valen and I work at the World Bank in the digital vertical. I actually work with Yolanda over here, so it’s great to have a colleague. I lead what we call the Green Digital Business Line and my role is twofold. As you mentioned, I work together with our country clients on greening the digital investments themselves. So we don’t measure as much as ITU, but we try to actually work with the clients when they invest in digital infrastructure to also reduce the footprint. And then I work with countries on how to leverage digital technologies for various green applications, including biodiversity, climate resilience and so forth. To give you an example, we do it for many different purposes because climate change is an issue, but we also do it very much for digital inclusion. So, for example, we invest in last mile connectivity solutions and there we also invest in solar. That’s good because it reduces the footprint of telecom infrastructure, but it’s even better because it reduces the cost of the connectivity. Diesel is super expensive. Others have mentioned orange. You have to have a car to drive it. So if we use solar, we do two things at once.

Reyna Ubeda: Thank you. Very fast. Into two minutes. And Sarah, can I ask you one of the questions? What are examples from the World Bank on ICT is used for climate action?

Sara Ballan: Yeah, no, good question. So I used to live in Kenya and Nairobi where I live, there are lots of floods and it creates lots of problems. In other parts of the countries, they have droughts and the farmers have to migrate because of droughts. So I have bank colleagues working on early warning systems using digital solutions. I have other bank colleagues working on apps for farmers to pick drought resistant seeds or apps that help farmers reduce the footprint of their production. So those are very practical examples together with our sectoral colleagues. So we support those, but we also work on the digital infrastructure that enable these. Another example is from Brazil. There we are working in the Amazonian region with different solutions that link to biodiversity with the Amazon IoT sensors. So very important work there. But without connectivity or data centers and so forth, there are no of these applications. So we also have investments in that kind of digital infrastructure. And the role of our teams are to link those investments in good ways to really accelerate these applications. Thank you.

Reyna Ubeda: My brother-in-law is doing that in Africa. I’m very used to that. So what type of enablers are necessary to scale these? You mentioned connectivity, you mentioned infrastructure, but what else?

Sara Ballan: Yeah. No, it’s a great question. So let me give you another example. So in Ethiopia, they also have droughts and they also have floods. And in Ethiopia, they have emergency cash transfers when that happens. So there we also invest in connectivity, data centers and so forth. But we also invest in digital public infrastructure. So ID systems, mobile money, so we can actually find the right people, get the money to them. So if we don’t have that full ecosystem, then we don’t get the applications and the impact.

Reyna Ubeda: Okay. Thank you so much. It seems very similar. What am I doing? It’s not only deploying the solution, but also a companion and guide the ones who are implemented. Thank you so much, Sara. Hiroshi? Yeah, we are neighbors now. He’s the director and head of the standardization office at Nippon Telegraph and Telecom Corporation where he leads global efforts in telecommunication standardization. He has a distinguished career in research and development, and he has represent entity in major international standard settings organizations. Today, he’s going to talk about what is he doing related to Redis Center. Thank you.

Hiroshi Yamamoto: Thank you. And I appreciate him giving me these precious opportunities. My name is Hiroshi Yamamoto from NTT Inc. Let me introduce NTT, recently has changed corporation name, NTT Inc. So our corporation name changed. And let me introduce my views from industry perspectives. The biggest entity groups started our business. We are the world’s third-largest data center providers, and recently widespread AI, such as MLMs, consumes considerable energy, an unexpectedly large size of energy required and it indicates our social responsibility also getting bigger, getting larger at the same time. So we expect ITU and these very strong partners to discuss practical measures to reduce reduce energy consumption in such a very big data center age. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. So can you talk us more about the solutions that you are implementing in there? Okay, thank you very much. As I mentioned before, now we are facing the limit of size of a single data center due to landscape and the power source limit our data center expansions from industry perspective. So we assume in the near future data center needs to be more distributed, distributed shape. In the past 10 years, most efficient investment is consolidation, consolidation in developed countries data center, but we think distributed data center requires also we need to invest developing country and need to connect these data centers at the very, very high quality and with very low energy efficiency. From technology perspective, we entity group now tackling to enable more optical technologies using end-to-end optical technologies into data center connections, even more user side we are trying. And furthermore, we are trying to, it’s very challenging, but we are trying to change current computing system into optical based, not electric, but optical computing systems that can reduce energy consumption considerably, we expect. But it’s currently R&D phase, but such kind of a combination of practical measures and this cutting edge technology can solve our problem, greenhouse gas problems we expect. Thank you very much.

Reyna Ubeda: Yeah, thank you. So we can keep generating more data. He will help us to reduce the impact on generating that data. Thank you so much. And well, I think I will continue with Carlos Riz. No. No. No. No. Okay. I will continue with Leonidas. Good evening, everybody. Can you hear me? I’m remote.

Participant: Oh, okay. That’s what I was trying to say to you. I’m going to introduce myself and I think I’m not going to be able to answer the questions that Carlos got because I’m from a different area. My name is Kim Barris. I’m leading the development of the Paris Agreement carbon mechanism and all the developments on AI and the UNFCCC. And I was trying to catch the topic. And more or less what I can say, and it’s nice to have entity here because I had several conversations with colleagues from entity. One of the things that I see in the area of data centers, I cannot measure everything. I have to focus on one area, is to establish a methodology that the ones that are doing a good job, they can create carbon emission reductions and sell these to the ones that are not doing a good job. This is an option, these methodologies. For that, we need to measure. That is clear. The other thing that I can say, because these are my areas of work, is what we are doing to accelerate climate action. UNFCCC is a political institution. We don’t implement anything, which means that if I tell you that I’m going to do natural whatever, it’s not true. But what we are doing is to, through a project that is named AI Diplomacy, we are trying to accelerate the knowledge of the negotiators in every topic. It means you have this massive delegations with 400 people that we see in COPS where they are super prepared with consultants and so on. And then you have some countries that they come there with three people, two people, and they have to catch up everything that is in several areas. That is almost impossible. Our objective is to use AI, one, to train new delegators. Second, to make easy for delegations to understand where the topics that are interesting to that nation are evolving. This is our proposal for this year. We are talking with government of Brazil in some aspects of that. They are really very interested in add technology and AI to the COP. It’s time. We are only three, four years late. That is quite good for UNFCCC. And that is our two places where we can help to reduce emissions. Okay, accelerating is not a direct exercise, of course, but I think AI diplomacy can have a good opportunity to accelerate climate action because if countries understand what they are debating, but it seems normal, but it’s not normal in many little countries, then they will be able to take action and take decisions instead of simply stopping the negotiations. Okay, thank you.

Reyna Ubeda: Yeah, well, and my question, it was not there, but based on what you mentioned and what was mentioned in the previous conversation, it is very hard to find the champions in the countries that are using what here is produced as standards. So you say that you also work in the diplomacy to reach that goal. So what do you think are the most successful or what are the conditions that a country needs to have of the people that need to be in those roles to make it happen? Because here are many who want that their standards that they create in the data that they are using are implemented. What are the main characteristics? Dr. Luis Adrián Salazar, Dr. Rosendo Manas, Dr. Rosie McDonald, Mr. Jean-Manuel Canet,

Participant: I don’t know, somebody’s putting data centers in the ocean and that is not a good idea. I think we need to measure that. It means there is no measures. That is a problem. We don’t know which actions are going to produce effect. And this is what we need to start to establish. I cannot answer the question who is doing well or not because it’s not my area. What I can say is that we need data, we need measures, and standards. OK, when you say standards, private runaway, OK? They, if they are on top, yes, they like standards because it’s making them, the competition easier. But if you are trying to create something, it’s, or you are in a developing country, I think the standard is difficult to achieve, OK? That’s why I think trying to establish baselines that indicate when you are working well or not, it’s, you know, by terabyte or by whatever measure you want to use, that can help at least to see how far are you from the optimization. And then try to find a win-win. If you spend less electricity, if you reduce waste, if you reduce heat, and you can sell that as in the carbon markets, maybe that also can be something interesting for these people to, because they need to do better, that’s clear, is what she was saying. It’s not about decision, it’s they have an opportunity.

Reyna Ubeda: Thank you so much. So we have Prof. Leonidas online.

Leonidas Anthopoulos: Unfortunately, remotely. Good afternoon from Greece.

Reyna Ubeda: He is a professor of e-business at the University of Thessaly in Greece. He is leading experts in smart cities and digital governance, having led transforming projects such as Smart Cities of Trikala. He will share insights on two key deliverables that he was developed as part of his contribution to the Working Group 4 of the United Smart and Sustainable Cities Initiative. So thank you so much, Professor, for joining us remotely. So the floor is yours.

Leonidas Anthopoulos: First of all, it’s my pleasure to be with you. I would like to thank you for inviting me and take place in this very interesting and very valuable meeting. As my colleague mentioned, I am a full professor at the University of Thessaly. I’ve been working with a smart city domain since its appearance back in 2000. And I’ve been working with the ITU during the last, I think, 12 years in several, serving several roles like a rapporteur for Study Group 20, rapporteur for Study Group 5, part of the United for Smart and Sustainable Cities in two working groups. And this really makes me happy and makes me feel that I contribute somehow around all these challenges that the globe has to deal with. Indeed, these two deliverables were part of this very interesting thematic group about digital transformation for people-oriented cities. I was leading the Working Group 4 and these two deliverables actually address. Very interesting, very important aspects about cities. As the titles try to mention, the first one deals with a methodology to assess net zero progress. I will try to present them in brief later. And we also try to provide cities with useful guidelines about how they can achieve net zero objectives, how they can transform to net zero cities with the use of digital technologies. Once again, thank you for inviting me to this session. Thank you, Professor. So can you give us a practical guidance and how can we provide the cities on their digital transformation to achieve carbon net zero that you just mentioned? I could do my best to present in brief the summary of the second report about the guidelines, which actually contain information about this question that you asked me. In the context of achieving carbon net zero and creating people-centered cities, city digital transformation plays a vital role. This is why this report is very important. Cities are enabled to leverage technology and address pressing environmental challenges and optimize resource management. With digital transformation, cities can unlock new opportunities for sustainability, innovation and citizen engagement. This report actually tries to show how can cities accelerate their transition to net zero with specific guidelines about ICT to enhance city service and building sufficiency. ICT, green ICT for city economic growth and ICT to transform citizen behavior. The practical guidelines that you asked me about. can be enumerated as 10. The first one has to do with how can cities embrace digital transformation. This can happen with a comprehensive digital strategy, with the adoption of interoperable platforms for data sharing and management, with the preservation of security, flexibility, data, and technological sovereignty, and with urban operation digitization. Second, with the utilization of ICT for energy efficiency and carbon neutrality, like the integration of ICT in the energy sector, ICT for energy and resource optimization, and tracing with the ICT recycling and reuse, and carbon management digital tools integration. The third direction has to do with harnessing renewable energy sources in conjunction with the ICT networks. Fourth direction, promotion of efficient mobility with the use of the ICT for active mobility, for micromobility, EV and EV sharing. The fifth measure has to do with the adoption of circular economy practices, where the ICT are integrated in the circular economy principles. The sixth direction, encouraging carbon-related behavioral change, which has been highlighted with all the experts that participate in the working group. This can happen via leveraging ICT-enabled ICT-based economic growth to promote upskilling and behavioral change that reduce carbon impact, and with digital tools adoption that can engage communities and businesses around carbon neutrality efforts. The seventh measure, how can cities assure city-level capabilities and competencies? This can happen with organizational technical design and monitoring capabilities, and with innovation centers that incubate Sustainable Technologies. Eight, promote environmental-friendly behavior with campaigns, interventions that label positive action and with the definition of socially desirable outcomes. Nine, with coordinated efforts and inclusive policies led by government agencies. And ten, strengthen cooperation across government levels to achieve shared net zero objectives and meet the evolving carbon neutrality goals. I hope I provided answer to this question.

Reyna Ubeda: Thank you so much, professor, for your participation. Thank you. Well, I think that because we are very much in time, I want to introduce Jean-Manuel Canet, Vice Chair of ITUT, Study Group 5 on Environment and Circular Economy. He will talk today about the work of the International Telecommunication Unit Study of the Group 5 on Environment and Climate. And he will also may add some points about what are they doing in Orange. OK, I understand for time reason,

Jean-Manuel Canet: I will keep it very short. So just to say that in complement to what I mentioned earlier in the first panel, it’s very important to be able to assess the positive impact in a robust manner of using ICT solutions. I can only agree with what you said earlier is very important. So the Study Group 5 has developed a methodology, a standard, L.1480, that provides a sound method to assess the actual impact of using a service. And we have recently published a new version, which is providing detailed examples, worked examples. So there is one example related to teleworking, and it shows how teleworking can help reduce GAG emissions because it cuts some travels under some specific conditions. The other example is on optimization of wind farms. And this also shows how, well, thanks to an ICT solution, we do have some benefits. And so it’s very important to be able to give some. and I think this is it, to keep it short.

Reyna Ubeda: Okay, perfect. Thank you. Well, I will ask you only one question. Why do you think it’s important to measure all this impact and bring these digital solutions? You mentioned the examples that can be…

Jean-Manuel Canet: Yeah, because we know the food, the ICT sector has its own footprint and it’s important to be able to assess, to measure the benefits that we can bring, because I believe that more and more in the coming years, these topics will be more and more looked at, because we are already facing extreme events, biodiversity loss and so on, so I do believe that in the future, these topics, they will become more and more important and so strategically for the ICT sector, it’s very important to be able to give some proofs of the benefits that it can bring.

Reyna Ubeda: Thank you so much. Well, we conclude this panel and we invite the second chat. Thank you. I think it will be… The AI, sorry. I have ITU in my, no, no, it will be, it will be nice because I know that follow COP, it’s super difficult, all the negotiations, and not even for COP, also for other assemblies, I don’t know, the assembly from ITU, for example, because they are very small delegations, or also for standards, you know, that we have 10 questions in a study group five, so how you follow all the 10 questions. So, it’s very nice, it will be nice to learn more about this tool. Thank you so much for presenting it.

Agreement points

Standardization is essential for measuring and comparing ICT environmental impact

Speakers

– Bilel Jamoussi
– Laura Cyron
– Jean-Manuel Canet
– Rosendo Manas
– Rosie McDonald

Arguments

Technical standards are essential tools for action because they give us a common foundation to measure things. So we can compare Apple to Apple

Standardization is essential for evidence-based policymaking and reliable data collection

Standards L1472 and L1410 provide frameworks for measuring CO2 footprint and biodiversity impacts

Pilot project is testing feasibility of proposed data collection framework with common definitions

Harmonizing data collection efforts globally through regulator sensitization and training

Summary

All speakers agree that standardized methodologies and frameworks are crucial for creating consistent, comparable measurements of ICT environmental impact across companies and countries

Topics

Infrastructure | Development

Partnership and collaboration are essential for scaling environmental solutions

Speakers

– Bilel Jamoussi
– Fabienne Pierre
– Jean-Manuel Canet
– Reyna Ubeda

Arguments

Standards help technologies speak the same language and support clear communication among stakeholders

Global framework for digital product information systems requires partnerships and harmonization across initiatives

Regional participation from LATAM and Africa is crucial for global standardization efforts

Standards must be implemented and tested to identify what works in different contexts

Summary

Speakers consistently emphasize that effective environmental governance requires collaborative partnerships across organizations, regions, and sectors to achieve harmonization and implementation

Topics

Development | Infrastructure

ICT can provide positive environmental solutions while having its own environmental footprint

Speakers

– Bilel Jamoussi
– Jean-Manuel Canet
– Sara Ballan
– Hiroshi Yamamoto
– Cristina Cardenas

Arguments

Digital technologies can be a powerful force for climate action through technical standards

Standard L.1480 provides methodology to assess positive impact of ICT solutions like teleworking

Early warning systems and farmer apps demonstrate practical climate applications of ICT

Distributed data centers with optical technologies can reduce energy consumption considerably

Technology can have dual impact – both positive environmental solutions and negative environmental effects

Summary

All speakers acknowledge that while ICT has environmental costs, it also offers significant opportunities for climate action and environmental solutions across various sectors

Topics

Development | Infrastructure

Capacity building and training are critical for implementation

Speakers

– Laura Cyron
– Rosie McDonald
– Luis Adrian Salazar
– Participant

Arguments

Standardization is essential for evidence-based policymaking and reliable data collection

Capacity building needed for regulators who lack basic knowledge of emission scope reporting

Need to translate technical standards into political action and presidential leadership

AI diplomacy can accelerate climate action by training negotiators and improving understanding

Summary

Speakers agree that successful implementation requires extensive capacity building, training, and knowledge transfer, particularly for developing countries and government officials

Topics

Development | Sociocultural

Similar viewpoints

These ITU representatives share a coordinated approach to developing and implementing standardized measurement frameworks for ICT environmental impact, working across different bureaus but toward common goals

Speakers

– Jean-Manuel Canet
– Rosendo Manas
– Rosie McDonald

Arguments

ITU developed goal for ICT sector to reduce GHG emissions by 45% by 2030 compared to 2020

Pilot project is testing feasibility of proposed data collection framework with common definitions

Harmonizing data collection efforts globally through regulator sensitization and training

Topics

Infrastructure | Development

Both speakers emphasize that comprehensive digital infrastructure ecosystems are necessary for effective climate solutions, whether at national or city levels

Speakers

– Sara Ballan
– Leonidas Anthopoulos

Arguments

Digital public infrastructure including ID systems and mobile money enables climate response programs

Cities can achieve net zero through comprehensive digital strategies and interoperable platforms

Topics

Development | Infrastructure

Both speakers recognize the critical gap between technical solutions and political implementation, emphasizing the need for better communication and training for decision-makers

Speakers

– Luis Adrian Salazar
– Participant

Arguments

Need to translate technical standards into political action and presidential leadership

AI diplomacy can accelerate climate action by training negotiators and improving understanding

Topics

Development | Sociocultural

Unexpected consensus

Developing countries as key stakeholders rather than just beneficiaries

Speakers

– Jean-Manuel Canet
– Laura Cyron
– Luis Adrian Salazar

Arguments

Regional participation from LATAM and Africa is crucial for global standardization efforts

Standardization is essential for evidence-based policymaking and reliable data collection

Need to translate technical standards into political action and presidential leadership

Explanation

Unexpectedly, there was strong consensus that developing countries should be active participants in creating standards and solutions, not just recipients. This represents a shift from traditional development approaches toward more inclusive governance models

Topics

Development | Infrastructure

Economic incentives as drivers for environmental performance

Speakers

– Sara Ballan
– Participant
– Hiroshi Yamamoto

Arguments

World Bank invests in solar-powered connectivity solutions that reduce costs and environmental footprint

Carbon markets and win-win solutions can incentivize better environmental performance

Distributed data centers with optical technologies can reduce energy consumption considerably

Explanation

There was unexpected alignment on using economic incentives and cost savings as primary drivers for environmental improvements, rather than relying solely on regulatory compliance or moral imperatives

Topics

Economic | Development

Overall assessment

Summary

Strong consensus emerged around the need for standardized measurement frameworks, collaborative partnerships, and capacity building for environmental governance in the ICT sector. Speakers agreed that ICT has both environmental costs and solution potential, requiring balanced approaches.

Consensus level

High level of consensus with complementary rather than conflicting viewpoints. The implications suggest a mature, coordinated approach to ICT environmental governance is emerging, with clear roles for different stakeholders and recognition that technical solutions must be paired with political and economic incentives for successful implementation.

Different viewpoints

Standards implementation approach for developing countries

Speakers

– Participant
– Jean-Manuel Canet

Arguments

Carbon markets and win-win solutions can incentivize better environmental performance

Standards L1472 and L1410 provide frameworks for measuring CO2 footprint and biodiversity impacts

Summary

The Participant argues that standards can be difficult for developing countries to achieve and suggests market-based incentives, while Canet emphasizes the importance of standardized frameworks with regional participation

Topics

Development | Economic

Focus on measurement versus implementation

Speakers

– Laura Cyron
– Luis Adrian Salazar

Arguments

Standardization is essential for evidence-based policymaking and reliable data collection

Countries should stop releasing multiple strategies and focus on integrated implementation

Summary

Cyron emphasizes the need for more standardized data collection and measurement, while Salazar argues countries should stop creating strategies and focus on actual implementation

Topics

Development | Legal and regulatory

Unexpected differences

Role of standards in developing countries

Speakers

– Participant
– Jean-Manuel Canet

Arguments

Carbon markets and win-win solutions can incentivize better environmental performance

Regional participation from LATAM and Africa is crucial for global standardization efforts

Explanation

Unexpected disagreement emerged where the Participant suggested standards might be problematic for developing countries (‘if you are in a developing country, I think the standard is difficult to achieve’), while Canet emphasized strong participation from these regions in standards development. This reveals tension between inclusive standards development and practical implementation challenges

Topics

Development | Economic

Overall assessment

Summary

The discussion showed relatively low levels of direct disagreement, with most speakers aligned on the importance of measuring ICT environmental impact and using digital solutions for climate action. Main disagreements centered on implementation approaches and the role of standards versus market mechanisms

Disagreement level

Low to moderate disagreement level. The implications suggest that while there is broad consensus on goals, there are important nuances in how to achieve them, particularly regarding developing country participation and the balance between standardization and practical implementation. This could affect the effectiveness of global initiatives if not properly addressed through inclusive dialogue and flexible implementation approaches

Partial agreements

Similar viewpoints

These ITU representatives share a coordinated approach to developing and implementing standardized measurement frameworks for ICT environmental impact, working across different bureaus but toward common goals

Speakers

– Jean-Manuel Canet
– Rosendo Manas
– Rosie McDonald

Arguments

ITU developed goal for ICT sector to reduce GHG emissions by 45% by 2030 compared to 2020

Pilot project is testing feasibility of proposed data collection framework with common definitions

Harmonizing data collection efforts globally through regulator sensitization and training

Topics

Infrastructure | Development

Both speakers emphasize that comprehensive digital infrastructure ecosystems are necessary for effective climate solutions, whether at national or city levels

Speakers

– Sara Ballan
– Leonidas Anthopoulos

Arguments

Digital public infrastructure including ID systems and mobile money enables climate response programs

Cities can achieve net zero through comprehensive digital strategies and interoperable platforms

Topics

Development | Infrastructure

Both speakers recognize the critical gap between technical solutions and political implementation, emphasizing the need for better communication and training for decision-makers

Speakers

– Luis Adrian Salazar
– Participant

Arguments

Need to translate technical standards into political action and presidential leadership

AI diplomacy can accelerate climate action by training negotiators and improving understanding

Topics

Development | Sociocultural

Key takeaways

Digital technologies can serve dual roles as both contributors to environmental challenges (2-4% of global GHG emissions) and powerful solutions for climate action across sectors

Standardization and harmonized data collection are essential for measuring ICT environmental impact and enabling evidence-based policymaking, particularly through ITU standards like L1472 and L1410

The ICT sector must reduce GHG emissions by 45% by 2030 compared to 2020 levels, requiring coordinated global efforts and standardized measurement frameworks

Digital product information systems and sustainability passports are critical tools for enabling circular economy and transparency in global value chains

Capacity building is urgently needed, especially for developing countries and regulators who lack basic knowledge of emission scope reporting and environmental data collection

Smart cities can achieve net zero through comprehensive digital strategies, ICT-enabled energy optimization, and behavioral change programs supported by digital tools

Successful implementation requires translating technical standards into political action, with presidential/prime ministerial leadership and integrated rather than fragmented policy approaches

Partnership and collaboration across organizations (ITU, UNEP, World Bank, UNCTAD) is essential for scaling digital solutions and harmonizing global frameworks

Resolutions and action items

Launch pilot project to test feasibility of proposed data collection framework with common definitions across ICT sectors and regions

Develop new GHG emission trajectories for ICT sector extending to 2035-2040 to address AI and emerging technology challenges

Implement capacity building programs including e-learning courses to sensitize regulators on emission scope reporting and environmental data collection

Continue development of global framework for digital product information systems in collaboration with One Planet Network, UNEP, and other partners

Expand regional participation from LATAM and Africa in standardization efforts through Study Group 5 working groups

Pilot AI diplomacy project to train climate negotiators and improve understanding of technical topics for developing country delegations

Test and implement ITU standards L1472 and L1410 for measuring CO2 footprint and biodiversity impacts across different country contexts

Develop carbon market methodologies to incentivize better environmental performance in data center operations

Unresolved issues

How to effectively translate technical standards into political action and secure presidential/prime ministerial leadership for integrated digital-environmental strategies

Addressing the challenge of fragmented policy approaches where countries have separate strategies for AI, 5G, and other technologies instead of integrated approaches

Scaling digital solutions beyond pilot projects to achieve global implementation, particularly in resource-constrained developing countries

Balancing the growing energy demands of AI and data centers with sustainability goals and emission reduction targets

Ensuring that digital product information systems and sustainability passports can interoperate across different regional and sectoral initiatives

Determining optimal approaches for distributed data center architecture to reduce energy consumption while maintaining service quality

Establishing baseline measurements for countries and organizations that currently lack environmental data collection capabilities

Suggested compromises

Focus on win-win solutions where environmental improvements (reduced electricity use, waste reduction, heat reduction) can be monetized through carbon markets to incentivize adoption

Implement simplified guidance and training programs to make technical standards more accessible to regulators and policymakers with limited technical background

Use solar-powered connectivity solutions that simultaneously address digital inclusion goals and environmental sustainability by reducing costs and emissions

Develop flexible standards that can be adapted to different country contexts and capacity levels rather than one-size-fits-all approaches

Combine practical immediate measures (like energy efficiency improvements) with longer-term R&D investments (like optical computing systems) to address both short and long-term sustainability goals

Establish regional coordination mechanisms to balance global standardization needs with local implementation realities and capacity constraints

Before COP28, I don’t think digital was one of the topics on the agenda of negotiators. So we started this in COP28 in Dubai, COP29 with the declaration in Azerbaijan, in Baku, and we have a plan in working with Brazil for COP30.

Speaker

Bilel Jamoussi

Reason

This comment reveals a significant shift in global climate policy discourse – the emergence of digital technology as a recognized climate issue at the highest international level. It highlights how rapidly the conversation has evolved and positions ITU’s work within this broader policy transformation.

Impact

This comment established the urgency and timeliness of the entire discussion, framing all subsequent technical conversations within the context of high-level international climate negotiations. It elevated the importance of standardization work from technical necessity to global policy imperative.

We have a strategy for AI. We have a strategy for 5G. We have a strategy for the strategy, and it’s very confused for the different layers of the governments to implement solution for the different.

Speaker

Luis Adrian Salazar

Reason

This observation cuts through technical discussions to identify a fundamental governance problem – the proliferation of disconnected strategies that create implementation paralysis. As a former Minister, his perspective carries particular weight in highlighting the gap between technical solutions and political reality.

Impact

This comment shifted the conversation from technical capabilities to implementation challenges, prompting other speakers to address capacity building and the need for simplified guidance. It introduced a critical perspective on how standards and technical solutions actually get deployed in practice.

So, if we are talking about e-waste, GHG, water consumption, it is very difficult to put all of the people in the same line. But the most important and the most difficult thing is how can we convince the President, the Prime Minister, to be the leader in the digital strategy and the environmental strategy.

Speaker

Luis Adrian Salazar

Reason

This comment identifies the core challenge of digital environmental governance – the need for high-level political leadership to coordinate across multiple complex domains. It moves beyond technical solutions to address the political economy of implementation.

Impact

This prompted all panelists to shift from discussing what standards exist to how they can be made politically actionable, leading to discussions about capacity building, simplified guidance, and the need for concrete examples that can convince political leaders.

Don’t be afraid about the results. There are no bad results. There is just results that are giving an opportunity to improve.

Speaker

Reyna Ubeda

Reason

This reframes measurement and standardization from a compliance/judgment framework to a learning and improvement framework. It addresses a psychological barrier that may prevent organizations and countries from engaging with environmental measurement.

Impact

This comment helped create a more collaborative tone for the subsequent discussions, encouraging participation in pilot projects and data collection efforts by removing the fear of negative assessment.

In the past 10 years, most efficient investment is consolidation, consolidation in developed countries data center, but we think distributed data center requires also we need to invest developing country and need to connect these data centers at the very, very high quality and with very low energy efficiency.

Speaker

Hiroshi Yamamoto

Reason

This comment reveals a fundamental shift in data center architecture driven by energy constraints, and importantly connects this technical evolution to development opportunities in developing countries. It shows how environmental constraints can drive inclusive technological development.

Impact

This introduced a new dimension to the discussion – how environmental pressures on the ICT sector could create opportunities for developing countries, shifting from a focus on burden-sharing to opportunity creation.

OK, when you say standards, private runaway, OK? They, if they are on top, yes, they like standards because it’s making them, the competition easier. But if you are trying to create something, it’s, or you are in a developing country, I think the standard is difficult to achieve, OK?

Speaker

Participant (Kim Barris)

Reason

This comment introduces a critical perspective on standards as potentially exclusionary tools that may favor established players over innovators and developing countries. It challenges the assumption that standards are universally beneficial.

Impact

This comment introduced tension into the discussion about standardization, prompting consideration of how to make standards more accessible and how to create incentive structures (like carbon markets) that could help developing countries participate rather than be excluded.

Overall assessment

These key comments fundamentally shaped the discussion by moving it beyond technical specifications to address the political, economic, and social dimensions of digital environmental governance. Salazar’s interventions as a former minister were particularly impactful in grounding the technical discussions in political reality, while Jamoussi’s framing of the COP evolution established the global urgency. The comments collectively shifted the conversation from ‘what can be measured’ to ‘how can measurement drive action,’ and from ‘what standards exist’ to ‘how can standards be made accessible and actionable.’ The discussion evolved from a technical briefing to a more nuanced exploration of the barriers and opportunities in implementing digital solutions for environmental challenges, with particular attention to developing country perspectives and the need for political leadership.

How can we include countries in LATAM and Africa in standardization methodologies and harmonized data disclosure practices for ICT environmental footprint measurement?

Speaker

Luis Adrian Salazar

Explanation

This is important because some countries, particularly in Europe, find it easier to integrate digital and environmental considerations, but developing regions may face greater challenges in implementation and participation.

How can we convince Presidents and Prime Ministers to be leaders in both digital strategy and environmental strategy?

Speaker

Luis Adrian Salazar

Explanation

This is crucial because coordinating public policy across different areas (e-waste, GHG, water consumption) requires high-level political leadership and commitment to align various stakeholders.

How can we implement methods to translate from technical words to political action for measuring and replicating solutions globally?

Speaker

Luis Adrian Salazar

Explanation

This addresses the gap between technical standards development and practical implementation at the policy level, which is essential for scaling solutions worldwide.

How do we scale up digital product information systems and initiatives across different sectors and regions?

Speaker

Fabienne Pierre

Explanation

This is important because there are many fragmented initiatives at country and regional levels focusing on specific products, but coordination and harmonization are needed for effective global implementation.

How can we work together to ensure that digital product information systems and initiatives talk to each other across industries?

Speaker

Fabienne Pierre

Explanation

This addresses the challenge of fragmented approaches and the need for interoperability between different systems to enable effective data flow within and across industries.

What are the most successful conditions or characteristics that a country needs to have, or people that need to be in roles, to make standards implementation happen?

Speaker

Reyna Ubeda

Explanation

This is important for identifying champions in countries who can effectively use and implement the standards being developed, bridging the gap between standard creation and practical application.

How can we establish baselines that indicate when countries or organizations are working well in terms of environmental performance, especially for developing countries?

Speaker

Participant (UNFCCC)

Explanation

This is crucial because standards can be difficult to achieve for developing countries or those trying to create new solutions, so baselines could help measure progress and identify optimization opportunities.

How can we better measure the impact of data centers, including unconventional deployments like ocean-based data centers?

Speaker

Participant (UNFCCC)

Explanation

This is important because there are emerging data center deployment strategies that may have unknown environmental impacts, and proper measurement is needed to assess their sustainability.

How can AI diplomacy tools be effectively implemented to accelerate climate action and help smaller country delegations better understand and participate in climate negotiations?

Speaker

Participant (UNFCCC)

Explanation

This addresses the disparity between well-resourced delegations and smaller countries with limited representation at climate conferences, potentially improving global climate action through better-informed negotiations.

How can we develop new trajectories for ICT sector emissions reduction up to 2035-2040, particularly addressing challenges from artificial intelligence development?

Speaker

Jean-Manuel Canet

Explanation

This is important because while some ICT sectors like telecom operators are reducing emissions, AI development presents new challenges that require updated emission reduction trajectories beyond the current 2030 targets.