Last month, the ITU invited all leaders of the ICT sector for one week to discuss the contribution of ICTs towards a low carbon economy at the 2nd ITU Green Standards Week (17 – 21 September), an unmissable event for engineers, regulators, experts, government representatives and companies that know the value of rules or standards for building a green economy.
ITU organized this year’s edition of the Green Standards Week in Paris with the support of such companies as Microsoft, Fujitsu, Huawei, Orange and Telefónica and sectoral associations like ETNO, TechAmerica and Digital Europe.
Telefónica was present at the event with a number of different sessions and presentations. Our colleague, Daniela Torres, Head of Telefónica’s Climate Change and Energy Efficiency Office, tells us the outcomes the II Green Standards week:
The 2nd Green Standards Week (GSW) in Paris has left us only good things. For five days, Green ICT world experts gathered to share the various initiatives in those issues involving energy, the environment and climate change in the ICT sector. The week ended with the “Paris Declaration” which lists all the commitments in which the ITU and its members should work to promote Green ICTs.
One of the topics discussed at the GSW were the smart & green cities as well as the need for standards to uniformly measure the environmental impact of ICTs in various cities around the world. Thus, it was agreed that the ITU will work jointly with the sector to develop environmental indicators of Green ICTs for voluntary use in the management of cities.
Likewise, the ITU confirms the need for standards to measure the impact of ICTs at the global level and to facilitate the use of those that have already been developed. The organization is particularly interested in supporting governments in developing national Green ICT plans.
Similarly, the organization proposed to encourage and promote the dissemination of the importance of Green ICTs globally, including in developing countries. To this end, a framework was established to create interactive knowledge platforms for the purpose of sharing information about ICTs, the environment and sustainability.
On the other hand, the need for clear policies for managing waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) globally was discussed with great interest, considering the positive benefits and negative impacts of the recycling process, re-use and treatment at the end of its useful life.
Finally, one of the major commitments at the event was to seek ways for accelerating the integration of Green ICT services and Smart technologies. Also, within this scheme, it was acknowledged that the challenges facing the ICT industry had to be identified in order to encourage business models that allow the development of these technologies worldwide.
In short, we are getting encouraging messages and specific commitments that will gradually materialize until the next Green Standards Week. At Telefónica, we will do our part.
Daniela Torres, Head of Telefónica’s Climate Change and Energy Efficiency Office
