The DOI matches its Crossref record; 10 of the 10 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
A high-level estimate of the material footprints of the ICT and the E&M sector
Open accessAbstract
This paper attempts to make a high-level estimate of the material footprints of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Entertainment and Media (E&M) sectors for one year from four different perspectives while including the full life cycle of products and applying a top-down perspective. The four perspectives explored are: i) amount of materials used; ii) carbon footprint of the materials focusing on Raw Materials Acquisition (RMA) and End of Life Treatment (EoLT) stages; iii) material resource depletion; and iv) toxicity of materials. For the given assumptions, it is estimated that the sectors represent about 0,5% of the global annual usage of the selected materials, and for several materials (indium, gallium and germanium), ICT and E&M usage represents as much as 80-90% of the overall usage. Their use of materials represents about 0.9% of the carbon footprint for the selected materials, and about 0.1% of the total global carbon footprint, while the sectors material resource depletion potential is estimated to be between 13% and 48% of overall global depletion for the selected materials, depending on impact assessment method. Finally, the for toxicity of the selected materials, plus cement production, ICT and E&M are estimated to represent about 3.3%, based on ReCiPe. Toxicity and resource depletion results and the mass result for specific materials all indicate that the ICT and E&M sectors play a larger role than their average share of the total annual materials usage indicates, and gold and copper are identified as the most impacting materials. The applied top-down method provide only coarse estimates and further research is needed based on bottom-up methods.
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“However, for single materials such as gallium, germanium, and indium, the ICT sector represents the dominant use with as much as 80-90% of global usage [84].”
From Digitalization and the Decoupling Debate: Can ICT Help to Reduce Environmental Impacts While the Economy Keeps Growing? (2020) · cites this paper as [84]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“The results show that the sector has a rather low impact on the global usage of sector-relevant materials (representing about 0.5% of the global annual usage of the selected materials).”
From Digitalization and the Decoupling Debate: Can ICT Help to Reduce Environmental Impacts While the Economy Keeps Growing? (2020) · cites this paper as [84]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIn the citing paper
“Growth of EEE is even more rapid, with interconnected devices projected to grow from 8.4 billion in 2017 to 20 billion in 2020 [28].”
From Material efficiency strategies to reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with buildings, vehicles, and electronics—a review (2019) · cites this paper as [28]
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Citations
Cites
Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made
Geyer, R., Jambeck, J. R., & Law, K. L. (2017) · Science Advances · doi:10.1126/sciadv.1700782 · Cited by 18,606
The material footprint of nations
Wiedmann, T., Schandl, H., Lenzen, M., Moran, D. D., Suh, S., West, J., & Kanemoto, K. (2013) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1220362110 · Cited by 1,731
Life Cycle Assessment of Metals: A Scientific Synthesis
Nuss, P., & Eckelman, M. J. (2014) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0101298 · Cited by 777
Glöser‐Chahoud, S., Soulier, M., & Espinoza, L. A. T. (2013) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es400069b · Cited by 277
Antimony Recovery from End-of-Life Products and Industrial Process Residues: A Critical Review
Dupont, D., Arnout, S., Jones, P. T., & Binnemans, K. (2016) · Journal of Sustainable Metallurgy · doi:10.1007/s40831-016-0043-y · Cited by 203
(2013) · BSI Standards · doi:10.3403/30244913 · Cited by 156
Life Cycle Assessment of a Smartphone
Ercan, M., Malmodin, J., Bergmark, P., Kimfalk, E., & Nilsson, E. (2016) · International Conference on ICT for Sustainability (ICT4S) · doi:10.2991/ict4s-16.2016.15 · Cited by 100
Self-citationExploring the effect of ICT solutions on GHG emissions in 2030
Malmodin, J., & Bergmark, P. (2015) · Advances in Computer Science Research · doi:10.2991/ict4s-env-15.2015.5 · Cited by 61
Self-citationWäger, P. A., Hischier, R., & Widmer, R. (2014) · Advances in intelligent systems and computing · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-09228-7_12 · Cited by 43
Global Carbon Footprints, 2007
Eley, T. J. (2014) · doi:10.4135/9781483351384.n28 · Cited by 2
Research works printed but not linked: 4
- Willi Haas, Fridolin Krausmann, Dominik Wiedenhofer, and Markus Hein. How Circular is the Global Economy? An Assessment of Material Flows, Waste Production, and Recycling in the European Union and the World in 2005. Journal of Industrial Ecology. Volume 19, No. 5. DOI: 10.1111/jiec.122 · DOI
- Ellen McArthur Foundation, 2013. Towards the Circular Economy Vol. 1: an economic and business rationale for an accelerated transitionPulp and Paper Industry Intelligence (RISI)
- Louisa Winnik. Integer Research. 2015. Structural change and the competitive challenge in the global wire & cable business. 28 th International Copper Conference. 25-27 Feb 2015 Brussels, Belgium. http://www.metalbulletin.com/events/presentations/7570/28th-international-copper- conference/a0ID000000X0kAOMAZ/016-louisa-winnikpdf.html
- Malmodin, J. et al. 2014. Life cycle assessment of ICT -Carbon footprint and operational electricity use from the operator, national and subscriber perspective in Sweden. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 18 (6), 829-845.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Hertwich, E. G., Ali, S., Ciacci, L., Fishman, T., Heeren, N., Masanet, E., Asghari, F. N., Olivetti, E., Pauliuk, S., Tu, Q., et al. (2019) · Environmental Research Letters · doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ab0fe3 · Cited by 477
Santarius, T., Pohl, J., & Lange, S. (2020) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su12187496 · Cited by 132
“However, for single materials such as gallium, germanium, and indium, the ICT sector represents the dominant use with as much as 80–90% of global usage [84].”
Background
Metadata
- Authors
- Malmodin, J., Bergmark, P., & Matinfar, S.
- Affiliations
- Ericsson (Sweden) (SE)
- Venue
- EPiC Series in Computing
- Publisher
- EasyChair
- Published
- 2018-05-11
- Volume
- 52
- Pages
- 168-148
- ISSN
- 2398-7340 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2805247638
- Cited by
- 16
- References
- 10
- Citations by year
- 2025: 8 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 2
- FWCI
- 3.53
- Type
- conference paper
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- EPiC series in computing (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Environmental Impact and Sustainability
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Green IT and Sustainability
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Sustainability and Ecological Systems Analysis
- Keywords
- material footprint, information and communication technologies, top-down estimation, end-of-life treatment, material toxicity, indium, gallium, germanium, gold, copper, cement production, recipes
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