Connected, sponsored by Sun Microsystems, confirms that the ICT industry has a compelling role to play in delivering a low carbon, sustainable future. To do this, the authors say, the ICT sector must move from a model based on ever increasing consumption of natural resources to a service-led future that is more efficient and less reliant on hard-wired solutions.

As the report indicates, by looking at the bigger picture, the opportunities for ‘greening’ the ICT sector actually lie, not in the production and use of ICT, but in its application.

The report identifies four key areas where ICT has the potential to deliver real improvements to people and the planet:

Work

- New jobs for skilled workers and economic growth
- New models for sustainable business: examples are Abel & Cole and eBay
- Improved energy efficiency via intelligent heating systems: the built environment currently accounts for more than 50% of the UK’s CO2 emissions.

Travel

- Reduced congestion through increased tele-working, intelligent traffic management systems and improvements in public transport. Sun Microsystems staff have benefitted from the openwork programme’. A 2-hour reduction in commute per week, 2 tonnes of carbon saved per year - and a personal financial saving of £1,000 in fuel per year.

Shopping

- Improved retail experiences will provide consumers with more information and better services whilst reducing the environmental impacts of the products they buy. Online retail spending is growing nearly 13 times faster than the retail sector overall.
- ICT can be used to help companies gather information on the use of their products and services and improve their design

Meeting

- Increased opportunities to network for social and business benefit, both locally and globally: mobile phones are key to increasing participation in community group activities in South Africa and Tanzania.
- The development of a global civic society with multi-lingual networking platforms: interaction online often encourages interaction off-line.

The report concludes with a number of recommendations for the ICT sector, including:

- Minimising the resources used in manufacturing hardware
- Maximising the social benefits for workers and communities in the supply chain
- Radically improving the efficiency of technologies
- Ensuring re-use, recycling and responsible disposal
- Reducing the need for people and things to be transported from place to place
- Innovating to solve the problems of how we live together sustainably across the world.

Peter Madden:

“The ICT sector is responsible for more C02 than aviation, so the industry clearly needs to get its house in order. But these tasks also offer enormous opportunities - to unleash creativity, bring people together and solve some of the world’s biggest problems.”