FOREWORD
GLOBAL ICT FOOTPRINT By SUBSECTOR
Emissions by technology % of GtCO
2
e
n Telecoms infrastructure and devices
n Data centres
2002
28 14 57 % of 0.53 GtCO
n PCs, peripherals and printers*
2
e
2007
37 14 49 % of 0.83 GtCO
2
e
2020
25 18 57 % of 1.43
CAGR (%)
5 7 5
*Printers were 11% of the total ICT footprint in 2002, 8% in 2007 and will be 12% in 2020
Source: The Climate Group
GLOBAL TELECOMS DEVICES FOOTPRINT
IPTV boxes Broadband modems Mobile phones
n Embodied
n Use
2002 0
1 1 2 3 13 16
Growth along
current trends
6 14 20
8 13
21
9 40
49
A
Change in power
9 9 5 5 44 44
consumption
B
2020
6 5 11 9 9 18 12 10 22
Business as
usual
A Increased number of mobiles 1.1 billion to 4.8 billion, routers from 67 million to 898 million and IPTV boxes from 0 to 385 million
B Power consumption decreases due to smart chargers and 1W standby standards
Source: The Climate Group
this subscriber and service growth requires
more network, with the global telecoms
GLOBAL TELECOMS INFRASTRUCTURE FOOTPRINT
infrastructure footprint expected to more
MtCO
n Embodied
2
e
n Use
than double from 133 MtCO2e in 2002 to 2002 45 88 133
299 MtCO2e by 2020.
Growth along
I n S e p t e m b e r t h e E u r o p e a n
current trends
86 170 256
A
Commission asked Europe’s ICT sector to
outline by 2011 the measures it will take
Change in power consumption
and embodied carbon
30 60 90
B
to become 20% more energy efficient by
2015. Simon Mingay, research director at
2020
Business as usual
101 198 299
Gartner, says the ICT industry’s energy
consumption is set to continue growing
at a 2.4% compound annual growth rate
A Increased number of accounts from 2.3 billion to 7 billion (fixed, broadband and mobile)*
B Decrease in power consumption and embodied carbon due to expected adoption of efficiency measures
globally. “When compounded over 10 or
* Based on Yankee estimates until 2011 and trend extrapolation to 2020
Source: The Climate Group
20 years that is quite a big number, espe-
cially in the context of [Europe] trying to
achieve an 80% reduction [in greenhouse
GLOBAL TELECOMS FOOTPRINT (DEVICES AND INFRASTRUCTURE)
gas emissions] by 2050.”
Global telecoms emissions %
The ITU for two years has been work-
ing on common ways to assess carbon
2002 2020
100% = 152 MtCO
footprints, and in April completed a
2
e 100% = 349 MtCO
2
e
methodology to determine the impact
n Mobile 12% n Mobile 15%
(66 MtCO
of ICT throughout the entire lifecycle of
2
e) (179 MtCO
20%
2
e)
n Fixed narrowband n Fixed narrowband
a product or service. The ITU hopes to
(64 MtCO
2
e) (70 MtCO
2
e)
n Telecom devices
have the methodology adopted as a stand-
43% n Telecom devices
(18 MtCO
2
e) (51 MtCO
2
e)
14%
ard, something lacking now and standing
n Fixed broadband
42%
n Fixed broadband
(4 MtCO
in the way of the EC’s goals, as well as tel-
2
e) (49 MtCO
2
e)
51%
cos keen to provide such information to
3%
their customers.
Research company IDC has calculated
that 5.8 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions
Source: The Climate Group
TOTAL TELECOM ENVIRONMENT SPECIAL
9