IT Can Reduce Climate Impacts, Costs – Reports

Existing information technology (IT) solutions can meet the demands of
today’s corporations, while also reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions, according to two new studies released by the World Wildlife Fund.

As world leaders work this year to gain agreement on global strategies to combat the worsening climate crisis, policymakers and corporations must collaborate to create solutions that reduce harmful emissions while creating jobs, saving money and driving innovation, the reports state.

“IT can be a significant driver of greenhouse gas reductions, but we need strong global climate policy to ensure these solutions are implemented at the speed and scale necessary to make a difference,” said Dennis Pamlin, a WWF Policy Advisor and co-author of the reports. “This research tells us that if relatively simple measures are implemented globally, we can achieve annual emissions reductions equal to at least half of current U.S. total annual emissions by 2050. But we must start to walk in the right direction now, before it’s too late.”

For example, the first report, “Virtual Meetings and Climate Innovation in the 21st Century”, highlights the significant impact employee travel makes on a company’s total carbon footprint–accounting for 50% or more among non-manufacturing companies. Virtual meetings are an existing alternative that can increase the efficiency of business while reducing costs and greenhouse gas emissions.

“Creating a global network of more than 4,000 high quality videoconferencing studios in cities around the world would help build a new infrastructure for the 21st century and would cost less than one and a half airplanes,” Pamlin noted.

The second report, “From Workplace to Anyplace”, highlights opportunities to employ existing technologies that enable one or more individuals to work or collaborate remotely. This would create new efficiencies and cut emissions created by daily commuting or business air travel.

In the report’s “smart world” scenario, where policies and IT industry users contribute to a climate smart future, roughly one billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions are avoided through tele-work in year 2030–-an amount equivalent to the total current annual carbon dioxide emissions from the United Kingdom and Italy combined. By the year 2050, tele-work could reduce almost 3.5 billion tons of emissions–-equivalent to more than half of the United States’ current carbon dioxide emissions.

The report also says that developed countries may deliver the majority of greenhouse gas emissions with increased tele-working in the short term, but developing countries can deliver the bulk of the reductions in the long term.

The two reorts are available at the link below.