Greener and Smarter: ICTs, the Environment and Climate Change
Open accessAbstract
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are a key enabler of “green growth” in all sectors of the economy. They are a key part of government strategies for a sustainable economic recovery. This report looks at how ICTs can improve their own environmental performance, and how they can be used to improve environmental performance throughout the economy and society. Direct environmental impacts of ICTs are considerable in areas such as energy use, materials throughput and end-of-life treatment. Government “green ICT” policies can be instrumental in promoting life-cycle approaches for improved R&D and design of ICT goods, services and systems. Innovative ICT applications enable sustainable production and consumption across the entire economy. The potential for improving environmental performance targets specific products, but also entire systems and industry sectors, e.g. construction, transport, energy.
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Several studies suggest that the application of digital devices and programs can increase efficiencies in agriculture, transport, and industrial production.
“Regarding the potential of ICT to save energy and resources, several studies suggest that the application of digital devices and programs can increase e ciencies in several areas, including the important sectors agriculture, transport, and industrial production, e.g., [28,131].”
From Digitalization and the Decoupling Debate: Can ICT Help to Reduce Environmental Impacts While the Economy Keeps Growing? (2020) · cites this paper as [131]
The Enabling impacts section says ICT applications can make production and consumption more resource-efficient, and the Transport section gives examples of potential efficiency gains. The Systemic impacts section mentions precision farming only as an area for future study; it does not establish an efficiency gain in agriculture. (LLM, conf=0.83)
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- Authors
- Mickoleit, A.
- Affiliations
- Organisation de Coopération et de Développement Economiques (FR)
- Corresponding author
- Arthur Mickoleit
- Venue
- OECD Green Growth Papers
- Published
- 2010-09-01
- ISSN
- 2226-0935 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1824191100
- Cited by
- 56
- References
- 24
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 9
- Type
- report
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- OECD green growth papers (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Green IT and Sustainability
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Media Technology › ICT Impact and Policies
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Media Technology › Smart Cities and Technologies
- Keywords
- green ICT, information and communication technologies, environmental performance, green growth, sustainable economic recovery, energy consumption, end-of-life treatment, life cycle approach, sustainable consumption and production
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