New Tools for ICT from ERICSSON

New tools for ICT from Ericsson 23 September 2010

New method for assessing the reduction of energy consumption from the change in telecommunications and information technology solutions (ICT).

A new reference point towards a more sustainable future came to a unanimous decision of the world’s leading ICT companies. The ICT industry has been recognized for its ability to provide solutions such as e-billing, videoconferencing, digital health (health) and e-learning.Until now, there was no systematic measurement tool of positive effects of these solutions. Such a tool for the identification and measurement of results brings us one step closer to reduce global emissions by 15% or more through technology.

The tool was created by the Boston Consulting Group on behalf of the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI), which is an international cooperation strategy and ICT firms in other sectors and other stakeholders on the issue of sustainability. The new report entitled Evaluation of the impact of ICTs to reduce emissions (Evaluating Carbon-reducing impacts of ICT). The report was published on 1 September and is based in part on the proposed methodology of Ericsson and the White Paper Measuring Emissions Right published in December 2009.

Today, there are several solutions ICT with positive effects on the environment, but are not recognizable as such and understandable outside the ICT industry.Case in point is the Government, replacing products with high energy consumption from corresponding low – as for example the place of meetings with videoconferencing and printed accounts with electronic (e-billing). Other solutions are smart buildings, in which the energy management plays an important role, as well as the applications of e-learning and e-health, which provides opportunities to provide medical advice via the Internet.

The Ericsson case study included in the reference refers to a system of e-health in Croatia, which connects 2400 groups healthcare for advice and recipes on the Internet, with potential for reducing CO2 emissions to the extent of 50. This means that unnecessary travel and the use of technologies to become actions online, we have 50 times less CO2 emissions.

Another example of Ericsson refers to the environmental benefit to developing countries used for financial transactions.The degree of reduction of CO2 emissions of the Ericsson mobile money solution is 90.

Ericsson expands a holistic methodology for effective measurement of carbon dioxide emissions over the past decade, while developing new solutions for society.In addition, it has taken action to increase knowledge about the potential of ICTs to be an important solution to the problem of climate change.This is particularly important, as the negotiations on the climate will culminate in the Conference of the Parties (COP16) in Cancun Mexico in December.