Government To Launch Green CIO Guide Following COP15

UK government IT officials are preparing to release a new guide in January for CIOs wanting to adopt a sustainable ICT strategy and Catalina McGregor, in her ITU capacity, is meanwhile renewing calls for IT to be front-and-centre at the UN climate summit in Copenhagen in December.

The Cabinet Office Green ICT Delivery Unit is working on a Green ICT workbook which includes the latest version of the EU code of conduct for data centres, as well as advice on how to reduce emissions in every area of ICT, from printers to mobile phones.

The government’s recommendations are based on research from a number of countries. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has completed a standard methodology for measuring the energy consumption of individual products throughout their life cycle – from manufacture right through to disposal – and will now expand that model to include raw materials, packaging and transport.

At a round table briefing today, Malcolm Johnson of the the ITU told eWEEK Europe that, although a wide range of studies have been carried out on this subject, the ICT community needs to consolidate its efforts to establish future standardisation requirements.

Once the common methodology is implemented to monitor energy efficiency, the ITU will be able to produce a green label to indicate which products have reached suitable standards. It also intends to set up a public database to list the efficiency of different products.

These efforts are part of the government’s attempt to refresh its ICT strategy following the UN Climate Conference in December. Earlier this month government IT experts including Catalina McGregor – UN Agency ITU Green ICT Liaison Officer to OECD and EC – expressed concern that the COP15 agenda overlooks the potential of ICT to manage and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The unit is now working with the ITU to ensure that ICT is included in the negotiating text.

In its submission to the EU’s Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-Term Collaborative Action, the ITU argues that ICT has a central role to play in tackling climate change. It states that “Although ICTs are part of the problem, they can also be an important part of the solution. Studies have shown that the application of telecommunications/ICTs can reduce total greenhouse gas emissions by at least 15 percent by 2020. Some estimate reductions of over 40 percent can be achieved through the application of ICTs by 2050, i.e. five times as much as the sector contributes.”