Can we be too smart? What is the environmental impact of our growing appetite for ICT?

Is ICT a help or a hindrance on the low-carbon road? Everything is getting smart – fridges and lighting, homes and cars, workplaces, cities and services, too. Behind this ‘smart’ revolution is a radical rethink of how we can achieve what we need – personal contact, satisfaction, variety, excitement, security – without relying solely on ‘stuff’. We’re increasingly using ICT to connect more aspects of our daily life, allowing us to understand and manipulate the mountains of data in a growing variety of ways – and there’s every reason to believe this trend will accelerate. But while ICT can be used to wean us off our material obsessions, it’s not without its own environmental impact. Globally, the greenhouse emissions of the sector are similar to that of the aviation industry – about 2% of the total. And, like aviation, these emissions are set to rise. There is much work underway to reduce them, of course – but rising ICT emissions is not necessarily wholly bad news. Because in general, ICT is providing a substitute for more carbon intensive services in energy, travel – especially aviation – and retail, among others. So overall, global emissions should fall, even while the proportion accounted for by ICT rises. But in addition to energy consumption and carbon emissions, there are significant raw material demands associated with the sector, such as toxicity and waste disposal – as well as social concerns, such as access to information. Unfortunately, there has been a tendency for ICT organisations to overlook their impacts and develop as they see fit – assuming that all growth is good for society and that negative impacts will be swamped by the flood of positives. It’s a short-sighted view. If we develop and apply ICT badly, it will add to the world’s problems – from resource shortages to equality gaps. But if we apply it well, the rewards could be enormous. It could enhance problem-solving creativity and innovation, build communities, give more people access to goods and services, and allow us to use precious resources more efficiently. James Taplin is Principal Sustainability Advisor for the Forum’s Business Programme. Read more about Forum’s work with leading ICT organisations in the next issue of Green Futures.