Commissions aiming in the 98% direction regarding ICT and climate change: Time to celebrate

The “98% window of opportunity” perspective, i.e. don’t focus only on the 2% of the emission that ICT contributes to; focus more on the 98% of the emissions that can be reduced with smart ICT solutions, is now integrated into the Commissions language (read more about the 98% perspective here) . The latest press release was an official confirmation that the commission now is moving in the right direction:

“The Commission will encourage the ICT sector, which at present accounts for 2% of global CO₂ emissions, to lead by example the drive towards carbon neutrality. This will be done by reinforcing research, development and deployment of components and systems, complemented by voluntary agreements, for example on green procurement. The real gains from green ICT will come from developing energy efficient ICT solutions that impact the other 98% of global emissions.”

This is great and if it can result in concrete policy changes that would be amazing. One way to ensure that results will be achieved would be to use the roadmap for EU that WWF and ETNO put together in 2005, “Saving the Climate @ the Speed of Light”.

IT will also be important that the commission thinks carefully about "carbon neutral" as this in most cases is a PR tool today, might be a good thing to put a paper together on what a "Carbon Neutral Winner in a low Carbon Economy" would look like for the first meeting

The communication: "Addressing the challenge of energy efficiency through Information and Communication Technologies" can be downloaded here.