The following are the outputs of the captioning taken during an IGF intervention. Although it is largely accurate, in some cases it may be incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors. It is posted as an aid, but should not be treated as an authoritative record.
***
>> PATRYK PAWLAK: Okay. Good afternoon, everyone, again. We have to finish on time. There is another session coming up, so let's start. My name is Patryk Pawlak. I'm a Visiting Scholar at Carnegie Europe, which is a think tank working on foreign security policy issues, but also on the whole set of digital topics.
Today's session is the second one hosted by the European Union linked to Declaration for the future of the Internet. On day zero, some of you may have heard, we co‑hosted with the United States, Japan, and Kenya, a multistakeholder engagement on how to translate and turn the principles of the DFI into concrete actions.
For those of you who are not familiar with what Declaration of the Future of the Internet is, it's a document endorsed by over 70 countries with the broad aim of promoting open, free, safe, secure, and interoperability Internet. Some of the principles in the document include, for instance, protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms for all people, advancing inclusive and affordable connectivity, or promoting trust in a global digital ecosystem, including for protecting privacy.
During this session, we will look for concrete recommendations towards operationalization of one of the commitments that is contained in the document, and that's to cooperate to maximum the enabling effects of technology for combatting climate change and protecting the environment while reducing, as much as possible, the environmental footprint of the Internet and digital technologies.
The workshop aims to provide a platform for discussion about the ways to minimize the environmental impact of the Internet and digital technologies, and we're not going to solve the problem during this session. I know that there are also many other sessions happening on the topic during the IGF, but we hope, as well, that this is going to be the beginning of the conversation, but also a call for action and the implementation of the DFI. So, we would really like to identify some concrete action points, and please, feel free to join us during the discussions.
Now, to help us with the overall objective of the session, we have an excellent and a truly multistakeholder panel in the room and online, so we will be switching between panelists sitting next to me, but also our esteemed speakers who are already online with us. Here in the room, we have Pearse O'Donohue, Director for the Future Networks Directorate of Digital Connect of the European Commission. Nadia Owusu is a youth advocate working on the intersection of technology, entrepreneurship and climate action. And we have Bitange Ndemo, the Ambassador of Kenya to the Kingdom of Belgium and the European Union but also has extensive experience as an academic and permanent secretary in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
Joining us online, Sarah Walkley, a writer on sustainability topics and the CEO of an organization called Purplefully. Yawri Carr is an Artificial Intelligence and Internet Governance Researcher, currently pursuing her masters at the Technical University in Munich. She also coordinated with the Internet, which was the National Dialogue for the Future of the Internet in Costa Rica.
Also online, Michelle Thorne, who is working towards wholesale for Internet. She is the Director of Strategy and Partnership for the Green Web Foundation, but previously worked as a Co‑founder ‑‑ sorry, also Co‑founder of the Green Screen Coalition for Digital Rights and Climate Justice. She served for 12 years at the Mozilla Foundation, most recently as their Sustainable Internet Lead.
Finally, also online, Alexia Gonzalez Fanfalone, who is an Economist and Telecommunication Policy Analyst at the OECD, working on the whole set of issues ranging from broadband infrastructure and services, including sustainability. So, even though it doesn't necessarily look like our panel is gender‑balanced, I assure you that it is, and we have made an effort that we bring in different perspectives to the conversation.
Not to lose more time, let me kick off the discussion with a question to you, Pearse. The twin translation Green in Digital is one of the European Union's policies. What are the main focuses of the policies at the moment and how do they contribute towards the implementation of the DFI? What of those elements are critical for the conversation we're having today?
>> PEARSE O'DONOHUE: Thank you very much, and good afternoon, everybody. Yes, indeed, not only is it a priority, but green transition is one of the two key priorities of this commission under President von der Leyen, so this is something we're focused on, including in my part of the European Commission, with an ambition to lead those transitions, but also to benefit, to harness the benefits from it for Europe and for society generally.
We've worked over four years to support the transition of the ICT sector, but also to maximize the contribution made by digital technologies, infrastructures and applications, in the Green Transition. So, those are digital solutions for our carbon targets as well.
We have the Strategic Foresight Report in 2022 that told us that digital footprint is about 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions but 5% to 9% of electricity consumption, and of course, an ever increasing amount of e‑waste. So, there can be no disputing that there is a real problem caused in the sector, which has to be part of any action that we take, including with regards to the DFI.
Of course, stakeholders have been taking their responsibilities. We're aware of stakeholders‑led initiatives, such as the Digital with Purpose, the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact, and the Circular Electronic Partnership, and those are just a few of them. And I know others are probably represented in this meeting this afternoon. Some have made some progress, but more needs to be done to drive the ICT sector to net zero, both in terms of its energy consumption, but also, of course, the efforts that it's making with regards to materials and waste. And that means that all the ICT sector players need to invest in designing and deploying digital solutions that will keep GHGs ‑‑ greenhouse gases ‑‑ in check, and also increase the durability and circularity of digital devices and equipment.
And we feel our role as a regulator is not necessarily to regulate that up front, but to make sure that those partners in industry who do engage proactively and responsibly in such activities are rewarded, or certainly, at least, that they are not punished and undercut by those with a less scrupulous approach, who will cut costs at the disadvantage of the environment in order simply to sell product. So, that responsibility is in relation to the footprint.
But also, of course, we have specific sectors where there are particular climate challenges or critical issues, in energy, in transport, in construction, and of course, in agriculture, where all of them are finding difficult to meet sustainability goals. And we know that digital solutions have the potential to cause about 15% of total emissions by 2030. And one of the things we're doing in the European Union, including ‑‑ I have a team, for example, working on Internet of Things in application sectors. And it is our responsibility to mainstream the work ‑‑ Green by Design ‑‑ on the digital requirements, in order to ensure that any solution in those sectors is, itself, contributing to our objectives, but more importantly, is driving, for example, energy efficiency in transport, in logistics, and so on.
We have last year issued the Digitalization of Energy System Action Plan, which is working with our colleagues working on energy policy and energy technologies just to set out a set of actions with regard to decarbonizing the energy network, making the energy network much more efficient by using digital technology, by incorporating things such as the electrical vehicle infrastructure such that batteries in the vehicles become part of the energy grid, so there is intelligent charging and reuse of the energy that is downloaded. Also, it works on grid optimization, predictive energy production, and so on.
Of course, even there, we have to be realistic that not all digitalization efforts have a positive impact, and we have to see to it that we are aware of the impact and that we're delivering positive impact by measuring the impact of ICTs and the net value that they provide in terms of our decarbonization goals.
To do that, we have launched another initiative, which is the European Green Digital Coalition. When I say "launched," we sponsored it in part, but it comes from the voluntary action and now independent existence of this network of 40 companies who have committed to making their companies individually best in class with regard to digital efforts, decarbonization and also contributing to the digitalization of energy‑consuming sectors.
So, the European Green Digital Coalition, led by GeSI as well as ETNO, Digital Europe, Digital SME Alliance and GSA, so a lot of actors known in their own right in Europe are all working together on this. And we're looking forward to having more progress as they also recruit further companies, but also that they work closely with other actors, particularly in civil society and the scientific and academic community, so the stakeholders that we're always gathering here in the IGF, in order to ensure that the science is right, that there is independent aid, but also audit and verification by those communities with regard to how concrete is the contribution of industry and what are the societal requirements. What could be some of the negative consequences if we do not analyse and tailor‑make the efforts that we're making?
For example, it is easy to say to everybody that they must buy the latest, most energy‑efficient piece of consumer equipment, but that is not a proposition for many, many persons in society. There have to be other steps that have to be taken as well. So, this is why the rounded view, even though you've heard me say, we're putting a lot of pressure and emphasis on the role of industry. The rounded view of these efforts, particularly in the context of the DFI, needs that stakeholder involvement. All sectors of society need to play a role so that we get this right.
And if we do that, then we have a formula for having the twin transition ‑‑ that's the digital and green transitions ‑‑ deliver benefits to all of the aspects of sustainability ‑‑ economic sustainability, but of course, social sustainability, as well, naturally, as environmental sustainability. And that's something that's underlined in our Digital Decade Policy Programme, and also, actually, in our Declaration of Digital Rights and Principles, where, once again, environmental considerations need to be put to the centre of our policy work.
And finally, just let me come back to the point about digital transition, how it realizes its full potential. It's not just about supporting the Green Transition, but how about the Green Transition can support digitalization targets? So, for example, the move to renewable energy and how we make that digital, but then help it to actually give a positive outcome for digital technologies. It's a bit of a conundrum, but nevertheless, it is one which we know can give great benefits.
Better integrated digitalization in the environmental and climate policies will also bear fruit, and the provision of green digital solutions in climate‑critical sectors, such as those that I've mentioned, will actually be also having a positive impact on the environment for those more vulnerable geographies and societies who otherwise will suffer disproportionately from global warming. Thank you.
>> PATRYK PAWLAK: Great. Thank you very much, Pearse. A lot of interesting points, but what I really liked is this focus on Green by Design, that the EU is pursuing that is part of the solution, but also stressing the importance of this almost whole‑of‑society approach, if you want, to thinking about how, on one hand, technology, indeed, is a problem that we have to address, but at the same time, part of the solution that we have to discuss. And I know that speakers, both online and here in the room, are going to talk about that.
Speaking of our speakers online, let me turn to two of them who are joining us. And I'd like to ask both Sarah Walkley and Michelle Thorne the same question. What are some of the key challenges, but also opportunities, in reconciling growth in the digital technology and green digital transition that you see from the perspective of your organizations, and which ones do you consider the priority? Following up on what Pearse said about the multistakeholder community engagement, how can this community foster open, transparent, and inclusive dialogue between different groups to identify good practices, but also some innovative solutions to address this problem? And maybe we could start with Sarah, please.
>> SARAH WALKLEY: Thanks, Patryk. Yeah, I work with a number of small and medium‑sized businesses, advising them. My experience is that the impact of digital technology's really poorly understood within that group. Relative to other sources of emissions, the footprint is quite small, but it's one of the areas where emissions are growing quite intensively due to how much data we're storing, and I use as some of these models.
My background before going freelance was in print publishing. And within that area, the minute we had got rid of our print books/magazines, and so on, there was an expectation that that was job done for the organization in terms of sustainability because we'd got rid of the physical product. And so, it's that sort of lack of, you know, the intangible nature of a lot of the digital services that means that businesses struggle to see the impact of their digital habits on the environment. And equally, because at the individual level those impacts could be quite small, email collectively is estimated to account for 0.3% of global emissions, but each individual email is, you know, a gram or two. And also, the collective impact, that means upstream in the data services, in the energy that that's using, so it's, from a business perspective, it feels really quite remote from day‑to‑day operations. Which, many of the SMEs I speak to, because their employees work remotely and everything they do online, they don't really need to have a sustainability strategy.
So, from my point of view, there is significant need for education, especially to help businesses think about the energy, you know, who they choose as their hosting providers and looking at what energy they have, perhaps how they code their products to make them smaller and more efficient, to use more efficient code. And I'm a great believer in looking at co‑benefits. And so, perhaps, how we use policies in other areas to sort of leverage good, sustainable practice; so encouraging marketers to clear up the data that they've stored, which is good practice from a GDR perspective, also helps reduce the amount of data we store and the energy we're using. So, thinking about how we can leverage some of those existing policies and connect issues in people's minds could be useful.
>> PATRYK PAWLAK: Great. Thank you. Your interventions figured one of the thoughts I had at some point, how we could use right now to including this disclaimer in the emails. Think if you really have to print this email as something that probably might be a good practice is also think if you have to respond to this email to reduce the footprint. I'm sure a lot of people in the room will also appreciate the practical aspect of it, if we didn't really have to respond or see that many of them in our mailboxes.
Michelle, over to you with the same question. Some of the good practices/challenges you see, but also how cooperation between different stakeholder groups can be part of the solution.
>> MICHELLE THORNE: Yeah. Thank you so much, Patryk, for convening this panel, and it's a pleasure to be here at the IGF.
Yeah, at our foundation, one of the focuses we have is talking about how the majority of the Internet infrastructure is powered by fossil fuels, and one of the things we need to do to focus on transitioning those infrastructures off of fossil fuels. It's been mentioned by the earlier speakers, we see the electricity demands for general computing rising, but especially for AI. And as we talk about these twin transitions, we actually aren't talking in a more detailed way about how those energy demands will be matched in a sustainable way as we increase that digitization.
And also in these conversations, to expand beyond just talking about the carbon impacts, but there's land and water usage, noise pollution, strains on the critical raw materials. These are really holistic and multifaceted systems that we're talking about.
And so, one of the, I guess, points to stress, or opportunities here, is how can we actually have a data‑informed conversation about where and how these Internet infrastructures are built and where they placed and where they're maintained. Right now, we talked about where are the civil society actors and where are the impacted communities when something like a data centre's being built. We've seen at least in the European context, but also in the South American and other places, communities pushing back and saying, "You're building a data centre in our community that's, for example, running on 100% renewables," an example from a Dutch community recently. And now that this huge data centre is being built, our community has to shift to relying on fossil fuels. These kinds of conversations aren't happening in a way that is allowing the communities to be fully empowered in the decision of how those infrastructures are being deployed and built and who's getting prioritized in terms of resourcing. So, there's also a democratic, question of democratic involvement.
Where I see policymakers having a role to play is in actually helping to create the public evidence base so that these data‑informed conversations can happen. That includes, for example, more transparency and accountability on reporting of environmental impacts, digital technologies, especially around scope 3 emissions. We know this has been an issue, long identified, but still lacking in follow‑through to really talk about the digital supply chain and to make credible reporting around that.
We also really need to see more credible net zero targets from tech companies. If we look at the companies who are majorly responsible for Internet infrastructure and digital services, most of them don't have interim, or credible interim net zero targets, and many of them are actually performing worse than fossil fuel companies in terms of transparency. So, this is a place, again, where if we're talking about the powers of digitization and the positive impacts within digitization, we also need to see those net zero targets published and being committed to and followed through.
And also, then speaking again at a policy level, again, we're based in the EU, so having a stronger lens in the EU context, but recently, the EU had the Energy Efficiency Directive. And instead of holding onto wins that we had around reporting, for example, of data centres that are using electricity, roughly this at the level of 300 households there was lobbying, and the threshold was changed, so net data centres working at the level of 15,000 households have to start reporting.
So, why this shift when we're saying we actually need more information on both the energy consumption of the digital sector, but then saying we actually don't need to be reporting on data centres that still are using quite significant resources? So, this is, again, part of that holistic conversation we need to have. We need to have the information around what are those impacts, who's being held to account, and who's at the table deciding where and how those resources are being allocated? Go ahead.
>> PATRYK PAWLAK: Thanks, Michelle. We might come back to some of those points. You talked a lot about accountability and transparency. I also wonder to what extent the issues, when there is such an impact on local communities, becomes an issue for local, regional, national elections, for instance. Maybe something we want to come back to later on.
Let me bring the conversation back to the room. I'll switch to you, Nadia, right now, if you don't mind. Youth, we know, has a particular stake in this conversation, both as a user of digital technologies, but also, frankly, the part of our societies that really will have to deal with the consequences of the policy decisions that are taken today, so both, really, as the target of the policies, but also the consumer of the digital technologies.
From your perspective, how can the governments and the private sector, or youth organizations work better together with youth organizations as well like your own? And what are some of the actions that you would recommend your peers can take to also reduce the digital footprint on the environment?
>> NADIA OWUSU: All right. Thanks so much, Patryk, for the opportunity. My name is Nadia Owusu. I'm from Ghana. For me, I would like to talk about government and private sector, especially private sectors that are more interested in away from green‑washing, but actually participating and ensuring there is more sustainability, how they can work with young people, especially young people from the continent, especially Africa, where we are at the brunt and facing climate change every day. We feel that if governments, private sectors, and civil societies and youth organizations come together and see young people, not as just a stakeholder, but also as partners, they can take on our concerns and work better with us in these things I'm about to mention.
I think Pearse mentioned multistakeholder consultation. I think that is very important, but we need more engagement for young people. I believe young people should be actively engaged in policy discussions. We need more young people in the room when decision‑making that have to deal with us are in discussions.
According to the ITU last 2022, about 75% of people online are young people between the ages of 15 to 24. So, if we have this much volume of young people online, then we need to be part of engagement, we need to be part of consultations, and these have to happen at different levels, from regional levels to local levels to international levels, where each and every region needs to meet on that need‑to‑need basis.
I also want to talk about youth representation, just like I mentioned. We need to appoint young representatives, advisors to government committees, to boards, to industries and associations that can ensure that young people's perspectives are integrated in decision‑making.
I also want to mention the fact that Sarah talked about education. How many people know about the DFI? How many people know the signatories? How many countries are part of the parties? How many countries have been part of this DFI? We need more education. We need more awareness creation, and we need to implement educational programmes that raise awareness on the importance of, you know, a free digital ecosystem which is also sustainable for young people to thrive effectively.
I also want to talk about the fact that the governments should support innovations for young people. Young people are creative. Young people are innovative. Young people are challenging the status quo every day, and they are bringing up new innovations. I believe with support, they can, the government and private stakeholders can invest in programmes that support youth entrepreneurship and climate action, specifically on renewable and secular economies and energies. We can also push for more digital skills development for young people, especially on the continent, by providing grants, mentorship, resources, to encourage more young people to start their own businesses to drive innovations at different levels.
When we are talking about digital technologies, it also affects climate change, and we want to push for more climate and sustainable ways young people can do this by addressing environmental concerns by involving young people in decisions and initiatives related to climate change and sustainability.
I would also want to talk about the fact that collaboration is very key. We should push for more collaboration between governments, private stakeholders and also youth‑led initiatives to tackle challenges and create opportunities for young people to thrive effectively. But we cannot ask for putting young people at the table, giving young people opportunities, creation of awareness without talking about mechanisms to monitor the progress of these things. So, I think it's important that we establish mechanisms for feedback, evaluations to assess the effectiveness of policies that relate to young people when it comes to the DFI and also digital technologies aimed at addressing young people's concerns. These would make positive adjustments based on feedback. We need to have proper ways of collection of data that are reflective of the needs of young people, especially when it comes to the digital economy.
The last thing I would want to talk about, too, is a sustainable, long‑term perspective. We have discussions, we have conversations. We want the youth perspective. We want youth's insights, but how sustainable would these be for the long term? How would these policies and investments benefit future generations, considering the impacts of young people's lives and their potential contributions to society?
In terms of what young people can do to, you know, reduce their digital footprint, I think we mentioned a few, like the emails, having people not to print. But I think what's more integral is for young people to know that they can advocate for green tech; they can push for and encourage tech companies and policymakers to adopt eco‑friendly practices and invest in renewable energy sources. They can also, you know, participate in e‑waste recycling, recycling their electronics by responsibly recycle older electronics, rather than throwing them away in the trash. These also go away to, you know, polluting the environment and adds up to more of the greenhouse gases.
They should also use energy‑efficient devices. They should choose to push for more sustainable and energy‑efficient laptops, smartphones, and other devices. The point is about the energy star‑rated products and also sustainable softwares and also push for education and awareness for their peers. But the simple things people can do on a day‑to‑day basis is simple, by using public Wi‑Fi rather than using their own Internet, by turning off unused devises while charging them. They can unplug devices. They can participate in digital cleanup, deleting emails and junk, deleting unnecessary files on their devices, which would add up to all of these things.
They can also think of limiting their streaming time, because the more they stream videos and online content, the more amount of energy and bandwidth they use, so they should rather push for downloading things offline and watching them, rather than streaming. They should also practice digital minimalism, which is by using a mere online presence ‑‑ reducing online presence, deleting unused accounts. People have up to three to four accounts, but if we practice more digital minimalism, we can have a reduced digital presence for people.
And I would like to also mention the fact that if each and every day we take these little conscious steps to reducing our digital footprint, we get a more sustainable environment, more sustainable future, a more sustainable environment where everybody can live cohesively and push for a more digital space. So, thank you so much, Patryk.
>> PATRYK PAWLAK: Great, thank you. You put a lot of habit‑changing issues on the table that we can potentially all adopt, and I want to maybe come back, if we have time, for the discussion to both Sarah and Michelle to discuss with you to what extent you see the impact of those changed habits on a bigger picture. And you also brought to the conversation another aspect that we talked a bit about, industrial policy and the regulation, what can be done. I think it's particularly as well that we have to look at other policy areas, like education for instance, or consumer policies that sort of impact those practices at the large scale.
Speaking about the governments as well and how they can engage younger generations. Ambassador, you have had multiple roles as an academic, as a government representative, and now you actually have a chance to impact how the policies are made, including those of the European Union. And I wonder from your perspective, A, how do you think the governments can actually work with other stakeholder groups, how you have tried to do this as a government official in Kenya, but also, what do you see some of the key challenges? Nadia mentioned Africa, which is a continent that's very much impacted by the climate change. To what extent this has been one of the dimensions in your thinking about how the ecosystem or the policies of the Kenyan ICT are shaped.
>> BITANGE NDEMO: Thank you. But talking about what government should be doing and taking advantage of the position like Africa is in at the moment. We have a lot of sunshine. We have a lot of geothermal deposits. We have a lot of rivers which are huge to produce green energy. We need to leverage that. Kenya itself had a strategy for green energy, even before we started to discuss this. So, much of our energy comes from geothermal and wind, and also from hydro. Where 4% actually of our energies is green. But that doesn't stop us from changing behavior, like my sister was talking about here. COVID taught us that we can do a lot online. We've been doing conferences, we've been teaching online. Less travel means we have removed a few carbons out of the space.
If governments have proper strategies to take advantage of that which can be done to reduce carbon emissions, let it be done. I know, for example, we did a document for the government recently. There are places where, if we begin farming there, what happens there is carbon sequestration, I mean, new method of generative agriculture, which would remove more carbon from the air. That's what I mean that government strategies could do more. And involve young people in every aspect of it.
In terms of what everybody has said, education is very key to create awareness, even though sometimes people don't take it very seriously, usage too much of it. Also, if we can lengthen the use of some of the devices that we have by recycling them or by using them in other ways. For example, most of the computers we use in the city, sometimes we donate them to kids to use, meaning that we lengthen that part of the equipment, instead of throwing it away, and increasing carbon emissions or waste or climate. There are several other things that government can do in itself by finding ways of discussing with the civil society to promote what we are talking about, the multistakeholder.
More often than not, when government makes policy, they, in most countries, there is friction between civil society and government, and then you end up making policies that don't support the current state in which we are working in. But by working with them, you realize that there are so many things. Yesterday, I said, initially, I was just like any government bureaucrat, but after a few discussions with the civil society, with other groups, I found them very helpful to work with. Politicians, especially Parliament, those who pass legislation, we need to monitor them closely because the truth is that the private sector has some leeway, but we are not supposed to speak about that in the sense that they can, through lobbying, make some laws not be good for the environment. It is good to say that, because I know there is the private sector here, but they usually have a way of doing things which needs to be looked at and done correctly. So, because everything has been said, I think that will do. Thank you.
>> PATRYK PAWLAK: Great. Thank you. I remember, I met one of your colleagues from Kenya a few years ago when we had the discussion about ‑‑ she works on cybersecurity, so we had a broader discussion about cyber. But there was something she mentioned about using the EU's reference to human‑centric approach. She said, you know, why do we talk about human‑centric approach and not life‑centric approach, for instance? When we talk about the investment in the infrastructure, she gave this very interesting example how, for instance, sequencing of policies, if it's better coordinated in implementation of different projects can actually have a very positive impact. And gave an example of the road that has been built that caused certain environmental damage in the communities, but then that road had to be destroyed in order to put the fiber‑optic cables. And said, you know, we basically had to do this destruction twice, and by coordinating policies, we could have avoided some of this. So, I think there are some interesting lessons to be learned there.
But let me move now to one of our speakers online, Alexia, who works for OECD. And Alexia, I would like to hear your thoughts on what strategies and frameworks can be also implemented to ensure that the deployment of digital technologies is supporting this objective of green digital transition takes the environmental considerations onboard. It is a topic very often presented as a new one, but you and I, as we've discussed, it's definitely not something that is new in the policy discussions, including at the OECD. So, I would like to hear your thoughts on where you see the state of the conversations is right now and what some of the lessons, maybe, or observations that have been already made in the past could be useful for the discussions that we're having today. Alexia, over to you.
>> ALEXIA FANFALONE: Thank you very much, Patryk. I hope everybody hears me okay, yes? Yes, okay. So, thank you very much. When we talk about the twin transitions, so, we're talking about what is the role of digital technologies and the enabling infrastructure to leverage the opportunities to achieve these green or environmental sustainable goals. And here's some key questions, is, one, in this intersection of technology ‑‑ both the development and the diffusion ‑‑ and policy and our environment, how do we measure the impact of digital and green? This is important, because only what can be measured can be improved. And at the moment, there is a lack of harmonization on these metrics, also at the private, where the ESG reporting, and at a public level.
And also in this road, what are the main policy considerations for a coherent, whole‑of‑government, and multistakeholder approach? We heard the importance about a multistakeholder approach. We look at OECD countries and we look at communication regulators, for example. Half of them have partial mandates on environmental sustainability of communication networks, but only a fifth have a direct mandate, which means that really leveraging digital technologies for environmental sustainability goals requires a whole‑of‑government approach and a multistakeholder approach.
We know as well, as was mentioned by the predecessors, is how digital technologies themselves have an environmental footprint all across their life cycle. And so, this is also important to harness. So, why is this conversation, as Patryk said, not entirely new? So, let's look at the road behind to see what is the road ahead.
At the OECD, this intersection of digital and green was first explored in the work leading to the OECD recommendation of ICTs on the Environment. This recommendation is the Council Recommendation of 2010. And it had several principles that we're currently reviewing the relevance and see if we have to update it. But one of them is coordinating ICTs for climate and environment and energy policies. And here, it recommends to look both at the direct effects of ICTs, the enabling effects on other sectors, and third, the systematic effects that requires cultural change and cultural behavior change that was rightfully mentioned. So, here we see that these three effects can be mapped, for example, on the scope 1, scope 2, scope 3 of the Greenhouse Gas Protocols.
Now, we also have seen that we have a Council Recommendation on Broadband Connectivity that was from 2004, renewed in 2021, and it urges stakeholders to minimize the negative effects of communication networks on the environment, also promoting smart networks and devices. And I will just pause here a little bit with some nuggets of information of connectivity, which is the underlying foundational pillar of digital transformation and how it can be leveraged to achieve these green objectives.
We've seen in recent years a boost for fibre deployment in many OECD countries, and this transition to fibre is seen by some stakeholders as also achieving environmental sustainability goals, as it's more energy‑efficient than copper alternatives. We've seen also the increase of AI systems to, for example, optimize energy management communication networks. We've seen talks about the standardization and the development of 6G, where key values, such as environmental sustainability are being embedded.
But when we talk about AI ‑‑ and here, the OECD did the first standard on AI principles in 2019 ‑‑ there's a clear focus on the importance of the environmental sustainability of it. And the presentation note that you provided, Patryk, said of the positive effects of AI, we have a dedicated Expert Group on AI Compute in Climate, looking at both negative and positive effects, and particularly when we talk about the negative effects and data centre consumption on all that, the conversation requires a bit more nuance because there's a difference between the training of AI models and the inference of these models. So, precise measurement on this particular aspect requires a lot more legwork going ahead.
So, if I would say some key messages that might, you know, are important to remember, is also the enabling effects of ICTs on other sectors of the economy. It was mentioned both by Pearse and others of the impact of IoT, Green by Design, and having this, for example, for smart agriculture, precision agriculture, for reducing congestion in cities, and for energy grid use.
I have a little data point that I would like to share with you on data centres and energy. So, we have the International Energy Agency ‑‑ IEA. And the IEA esteems that at least half of the global reductions on CO2 emissions required for a net‑zero scenario by 2050 rely on clean energy technology developments that are still in their prototype phase. So, there's an importance of innovation, but there's also an importance of technology diffusion.
And when we look at digital ‑‑ so, there is a rising demand of digital services over the past decade; for example, since 2010 to 2020, the number of Internet users doubled, and global Internet traffic expanded 15‑fold, but there have also been rapid advances in energy efficiency, thanks to digital telesation. And we've seen that it would be data centres and data transition networks during that same period have been relatively stable at 1% of global electricity use. So, this really ‑‑ you know, it's important to realize that innovation ‑‑ we have to really push for that, and also how digitalization can be leveraged for green objectives, but it requires technological diffusion.
Now, finally, I'll leave you with three key messages that, one, common measurement standards are required, and we need more data collection to track the environmental impacts of digital technologies, both the direct and enabling effects, and of course, the systemic ones that require behavioral use. Secondly, we need to go beyond energy and resource efficiency to talk about systemic effects, go beyond greenhouse gas emissions, because there are other several planetary boundaries in danger, such as biodiversity, ocean deacidification, biochemical flows, air pollution. And third, efforts towards environmental equity and transparency are needed for inclusive growth and development. And this could be enabled, notably, by harnessing Digital for Green. But we should remember that while Green Transition has a clear focus and determination, the digital transition is not deterministic. It needs to be directed in a positive way for society and the environment. And that's where the human‑centric approach recovers a lot of relevance.
>> PATRYK PAWLAK: Great. Thank you very much, Alexia. I think you also have touched upon an interesting point that we have discussed yesterday, not only in relation to green, but the whole DFI in general. When we talked about which of the principles of the DFI could be prioritized, the issue of connectivity seemed like one where a lot of governments actually were paying attention. And there is a very clear connection with your intervention, or exactly thinking about connectivity in the context of the principle about the grid transition, but also others in the DFI. We may create these interlinkages between different principles, and potentially use them to enable each other. So, that's a great point as well.
In general, listening to the discussions, I feel like I'm very happy that this is also being recorded and I'll have a chance to rewatch it afterwards, because there is a lot of data coming from all the speakers that I did not manage to note myself, and I'm sure that people in the room and online are in a similar situation. So, thank you, IGF, again, for recording the sessions, which will give us the opportunity to review this.
I'd like to go to our final speaker online, Yawri Carr, who is at Technical University in Munich, but originally from Costa Rica and has done work on new technologies, especially use of AI systems and so on. And I was wondering, Yawri, if you could tell us how exactly new technologies could be used to address some of the impacts of the climate change ‑‑ sorry, the digital transition might have on climate and environment more broadly. So, Yawri, over to you for your thoughts.
>> YAWRI CARR: Hello, everyone. I hope you can hear me. Thank you very much for the invitation in this session. I'm very happy to be here. As a member of the ITU, today I want to share with you the transformative role that artificial intelligence can play in shaping a sustainable future, and importantly, how our youth can also actively engage in this mission, adding to what already Nadia mentioned.
So, let's begin by exploring some remarkable AI applications that are catalyzing positive change in this fight against climate change and that were also part of the AI for Good Summit from the ITU in last July.
So, from AI‑driven climate prediction and disaster response to optimizing green energy and revolutionizing agriculture, there are innovations reshaping our approach to sustainability. They offer all the tools to monitor and protect our environment in ways we could only dream some years ago.
For example, there are now technologies that are being developed, for example, using AI to make cities safe, clean and sustainable; developing AI tools capable of providing information on where, when, and what disaster or climate change event may occur in the future, facilitating acting before the disaster happens, something that before could not be done. And this helps mitigate or even avoid a negative environmental impact that the event will have on the area. Also taking into consideration that some regions in the world, for example, in Latin America, are very impacted because of disasters, and the people are normally not well prepared or that are maybe living in difficult or risky areas. So, this is also very important for that.
Another platform, for example, uses machine learning algorithms based on more than 7 billion lines of weather and data. And this could help preventing fires, for example. So, they predict where wildfires could be emerging and, yeah, and they also, like, for example, have been detecting these in risk areas. And also, the prediction of deforestation. And this could be done using satellite imagery that makes it possible to analyse the potential of deforestation based on information such as the distance to water resources, cities, and other key factors. So, these AI applications are not just marvels but represent possibilities and showcase how cooperation between technology and environmental stewardship can pave the way for a more sustainable and resilient future.
And I consider that also empowering youth with knowledge and also the population in general is very important. Adding to what Nadia said, I consider that it's clear that education is your first line of defense as well. We must equip our youth with the knowledge and skills needed to understand, harness, and further develop digital technologies in a responsible way.
I consider that informatics and AI education should be seamlessly integrated into school curricula, but also open education and open science as well as online platforms that are for accessible resources for learning, but AI and sustainability should be available for everyone. Workshops and awareness programmes can bridge the knowledge gap, fostering a generation that not only understands the technology but is also inspired to leverage for positive change.
And along with the education, I also consider youth‑led innovation could also be a very important option, because knowledge is not enough in today's society. So, we must also empower youth to be innovators, problem‑solvers, and also architects of change. So, imagine the impact of global challenges and innovation challenges that bring young minds together to tackle environmental challenges. Think about also the potential of youth‑led technology hubs where ideas are transformed into tangible solutions, and also mentorship programmes that are organized by experts with much more experience or that have expertise in different areas of science that could also contribute to these youth to move forward with their innovations and also with their spirit of innovation and also creating a programme for sustainable ideas to blossom.
Yeah, and also remembering that these kinds of education innovation should also come into regions and areas that are normally historically discriminated, such as populations of African descent, indigenous, or populations that have difficult access to resources. So, thank you very much.
>> PATRYK PAWLAK: Great. Thank you very much, Yawri. We have about five minutes left. I would like to check if anybody in the room would like to intervene, make a comment on what you have heard or maybe share your perspectives in the discussion. Oh, there are reactions. So, we have two reactions. If you don't mind online, I'm going to take these two comments from the room and then maybe go to those speakers who are interested for 30 seconds of final thoughts. We go over to you first.
>> AUDIENCE: Hi, everyone. I am (?) from Brazil. So, it's Latin America perspective that I bring to the table. It was very interesting hearing of youth and what youth highlight, very important aspects and points on the green digital era. But I keep ‑‑ like, Michelle has spoken about transparency and efforts and I think this is a very important point on the theme. And I also have noted here about when Alexia talked about biodiversity, it really interested me, and I kept thinking, we are speaking about how the technology and Internet can help to keep the green era, like the environmental safe, but also, I was thinking.
And when we have legal (?) on digital, Internet, and technology, and also the environment, can the environment be seen as a rightholder? And in your countries, are there legal disputes on the team? And how do they end? Because I am with a group making a research in Brasilia University, and we have studied about these legal disputes, and they usually don't end well. We have the laws and the regulations, and the reality is, it's really beautiful; the environment is protected. But when it comes to the decisions made on the legal disputes, actually not always we can see protection for the environment, not only in Brazil, but also international disputes. We can see that. So, I wanted to hear from you, how do you see this point. And if you have studied it at any time? That's it. Thank you.
>> PATRYK PAWLAK: Great. Thank you. Great question. Over to you. Then I know also, Michelle online has a very targeted question for Pearse. So, we'll go to you, Michelle, as well. Please, here.
>> AUDIENCE: Thank you. My name is (?) and I had a few questions that are all intra‑related to each other. So, I think various speakers spoke about, you know, decarbonization and carbon sequestration as some of the measures that we are using to mitigate climate change, and especially in the technology area, but I also then question, maybe, the general frameworks or the policies, especially in the European context, whether it's the commission or the councils are advancing that really emphasize achieving carbon neutrality within a certain time frame, not being realistic or in cohesion with like the IPCC findings, especially with how rapidly we're seeing climate change affect different communities, and then using those measures that actually maybe hide some of the wider impacts, like when we talk about the entire life cycle approach, while the extraction of natural resources that are happening in different contexts with human rights violations, are those being considered in the carbon footprinting measures or the benchmarking that's happening?
It feels like there's a lot of, let's export some of our impacts to other areas or regions of the world in the same way that our technologies are being exported that have these negative implications. And I think the other question that I have that is connected to this is, the assumption that we have that the collection of data is needed and is actually necessary for these sustainable transitions that we're talking about, when, in fact, now data centres surpass the entire airline industry in terms of CO2 emissions. We have been pushing a lot more big data policies across, I mean, the European context, but around the world.
And most of the data that's being collected isn't being used, can't be analysed. So, I think that assumption needs to be challenged. Like, why are we collecting this data in the first place where it is having tangible, negative environmental and societal impacts. So, for marginalized communities, including migrants and forcibly displaced, that data is being used to prevent them from seeking asylum in the European context, but also across the Americas and around the world. So, I want to get a sense of how you're trying to find cohesion between some of these policies that don't seem to actually be rooted in the evidence, and then this need to collect more evidence to do what's already known to be the best practice in these cases, kind of like pushing, you know, the thing down the road, when in reality, we could be addressing these issues today.
>> PATRYK PAWLAK: Great, thank you. I'm being told that we have to end. Michelle, if your question can be formed in 30 seconds so that then I also give Pearse 30 seconds to answer and the ambassador, that would be great. Apologies to the organizers for stealing two minutes. Michelle, over to you.
>> MICHELLE THORNE: Sure. So, I'm wondering how digital innovation can be done so that it doesn't further consolidate the market power of existing companies but is creating economic opportunity for and benefits to the most impacted people in areas, so we don't have a brittle monoculture online but diverse ecosystem.
>> PATRYK PAWLAK: Thank you. Better 30 seconds, much appreciated. Ambassador, I'll start with you for 30 seconds, final thoughts, then here at the table, whoever would like to take the floor.
>> BITANGE NDEMO: I would have taken much longer to talk about the sequestration of carbon. This came from the side of IT in some sections of Kenya, and by use of trying to do precision farming and found that we could actually sequestrate carbon and contribute heavily into this. I don't know whether that's sufficient or I need to continue. We can follow up.
>> PATRYK PAWLAK: You can discuss this over coffee. There was a very important question about does the environment have rights, which I think we'll also have to take offline, unfortunately. Nadia, do you have an interaction, 30 seconds?
>> NADIA OWUSU: Sure. I really wanted to say that I totally agree with everything the panel said, especially those online, when it comes to youth involvement in this conversation on digitalization and green economy. I want to say, after this conversation, we have to keep it going. There are more conversations at the UNFCC Climate Change Conference that is at COP28 in Dubai. We can have such conversations. So, I'm saying we consider these conversations away from IGF to Climate Change Conference, where we have more stakeholders in the climate change networks.
>> PEARSE O'DONOHUE: Thank you. I was going to comment, but I won't, just an observation. Patryk, you spoke about we've got a lot of data, but I'll have to review the video. One point I'll make is we also got a very strong theme running through about data in this session. Michelle on the role of government collecting data, but also on credible data. Nadia, particularly from a youth perspective, and Alexia, again, about measurement, the measurement point about data. That's a critical lesson for us.
We are doing some work on data collection, maybe not enough. But because it comes up to my answer to the question that was put to me, I would just say that on green data centres particularly, we have done specific work, while the Energy Efficiency Directive has set a target for climate‑neutral data centres by 2030. We are working already with our Joint Research Centre on Industry to make sure that the measurement is credible. It has to be independent, and there have to be more detailed models. It's not just gross power consumption. It's gross and net, water consumption, et cetera. But I'm going to skip the rest I want to say about that point because I want to answer the question by Michelle.
I'm going to interpret your question to mean developments in digital with regard to green, because it's an even wider question. And there, the first blunt response is, well, of course, we're going to aim for our target, which is to ensure that ICT moves towards carbon neutrality and contributes to other sectors. So, you could even say that goal overrides market positioning or dominance. But of course, where those technical solutions, or even any regulatory support for that objective, if they were to give rise to bad outcomes, particularly if it's regard to dominance in society as much as in the market, but that is something which in the European Union we have increasingly showed that we are willing to do, the digital market, the Digital Services Act, in order to break down monopolies or duopolies, in order to ensure the possibility to enter markets, and also to ensure that solutions involve SMEs and that we measure the impact of our work. And we should and will do the same, and it cycles back to my point about data. The data doesn't just apply to the technology, it applies to the solutions and the implementation of those solutions to make sure that we are actually achieving our targets. Thank you.
>> PATRYK PAWLAK: Great. Thank you very much, Pearse. Thank you very much to all the speakers online and here in the room. To all of you for joining us in the afternoon during the happy hour. So, I really appreciate the effort you have made.
And with apologies to the organizing team for stealing some of the time in your preparations. Thank you very much, everyone, and enjoy the rest of your evening.