Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) and the World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF) Sweden today announced a partnership aimed to encourage the smart use of telecom solutions across industries to reduce global CO2 emissions. To achieve this, they will work together to promote climate-smart telecom solutions, and introduce the concept of being “climate-positive” to solution-driven companies in the ICT sector.
The partnership covers three key areas: a methodology for calculating CO2 savings from emission avoidance; the integration of low-carbon telecommunication solutions in climate strategies for cities; and a support platform for partnerships that promote a low-carbon economy.
Elaine Weidman, Vice President, Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility, Ericsson, says: “Society faces a huge challenge to drastically reduce CO2 emissions by 2050, while the world economy will as much as triple. Ericsson has a vision of using telecommunications to foster a more carbon-lean society, and we would like to see ICT and telecom on the agenda for the global climate negotiations in Copenhagen later this year, as a viable means of helping policy makers and governments when it comes to reaching their carbon emission targets. The opportunities for broadband to dematerialize and streamline the economy are almost unlimited.”
While the information and communications technology (ICT) industry is responsible for approximately 2 percent of global CO2 emissions, Ericsson and WWF Sweden believe it has the potential to help reduce more than 15 percent of the remaining 98 percent emitted by non-ICT industries and the public. The partnership aims to encourage other sectors, such as transport, buildings and energy, to better utilize ICT infrastructure and thereby reduce overall CO2 emissions.
Ericsson and WWF Sweden estimate that smart use of broadband-enabled services can reduce CO2 emissions by a factor of 10-100, i.e. the use of a telecom service that emits 1kg of CO2 may enable a reduction of 10-100kg of CO2. Fixed and mobile broadband can play a leading role in improving basic services while reducing CO2 emissions – both by replacing physical products with services and by helping society to use resources more efficiently – and can accelerate the shift from physical to virtual infrastructure and services.
Ericsson and WWF Sweden will explore how to measure how an ICT company can help reduce significant amounts of CO2 in society with low carbon ICT solutions, thereby becoming “climate positive”, i.e. the use of a company’s solutions are promoted and used in a way that result in much greater CO2 reductions than the company’s internal emissions.
Dennis Pamlin, Global Policy Advisor at WWF Sweden, says: “This partnership is an example of how innovative climate work in the 21st century can look. Together with Ericsson, we can approach the need for reduced emissions as an opportunity, and the urgency for rapid reductions as a driver for innovation and profit. This is especially important in this economic crisis when significant resources are being allocated into infrastructure investments. During the coming months we will explore and promote the use of innovative carbon-lean solutions which can help businesses, industries and governments reduce their carbon emissions and shape a low-carbon economy.”
Rapid urbanization and related investments mean that cities can turn the need to reduce CO2 emissions into a driver for smart and carbon lean development. The 21st century infrastructure that ICT has created opens up opportunities for investments in smart solutions that can deliver basic services, such as transport, heating, cooling and lighting in resource efficient ways that contribute to sustainable development for the world’s population.
Intelligent transport and communication systems are an example of how emissions can be reduced through a linked network of people, roads and vehicles, which support teleworking, dematerialization and, communicate road descriptions, guides and traffic information. Research conducted by Ericsson shows that introducing telemedicine applications can reduce travel for hospital consultations by up to 50 percent. Ericsson’s Smart Grid solutions help utilities and households to better regulate energy use, and Ericson’s Connected Home allows for monitoring and automating energy consumption, lighting and surveillance.
This partnership builds on seven years of collaboration between WWF Sweden and Ericsson. Over the next six months, the partnership will focus on intensified effort to get ICT on the global policy agenda for the upcoming climate negotiations in Copenhagen later this year.
