ICT at COP21 : Enormous Potential to Mitigate Emissions
The transformational potential of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) was on display in Paris at the Twenty-First Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. ICTs, including the...
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| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2016
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/01/25793869/ict-cop21-enormous-potential-mitigate-emissions http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25007 |
| Summary: | The transformational potential of new
information and communication technologies (ICTs) was on
display in Paris at the Twenty-First Conference of the
Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change. ICTs, including the Internet, mobile
phones, geographic information systems (GIS), satellite
imaging, remote sensing, and data analytics, could reduce
yearly global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) 20 percent
by 2030, thus holding them at their 2015 level. Moreover,
ICT emissions are expected to decrease to 1.97 percent of
the global total by 2030, from 2.3 percent in 2020, while
emission reductions attributable to ICT will be nearly 10
times greater than those of the ICT sector. ICTs are also
critical for climate change adaptation, providing vital
tools for all phases of the disaster risk management cycle.
Although the opportunities for ICTs to support the climate
change agenda are enormous, much work remains in order to
realize them. Governments of developing countries must be
further encouraged to include ICTs in their national climate
change policies. And the international development community
will have to make significant efforts, particularly in
low-income countries, to develop ICT infrastructure as well
as the institutional capacities and skills to implement and
sustain these solutions. |
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