With the UN summit on climate change being undertaken in Copenhagen from 7th to 14th of December the globe switches the attention to the severity of the situation and the high need for swift actions from all levels of the international community. If you cannot make it to the summit you can find a variety of ways to participate and contribute by simply visiting the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

As a prelude to the conference 1minutetosavetheworld.com launched a competition for a one-minute video about climate change. Here’s two I’d love to share with you. The first video called “World War III” received the best “made by an organization” film award and it was created by two students of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki:

The second “My paper boat” is the winner of the competition. An absolute thriller:

European elections concluded this weekend and one important observation comes out, by simply browsing through the final results. All political parties in the European Parliament looses power over the Greens and “others”. This underlines the fact that our environmental future becomes increasingly important for the public.

You may recall that a similar political trend formed back in the 80s when the first environmental impacts of economic growth affected our quality of life (most important impact being the acid rain in the industrialized countries of the central Europe). However, the political colouring of the environmental movement of that time was absorbed by the political system as soon as the existing political parties adopted environmental policies in their programs. Of course, this may also happen today.

Nevertheless, we should admit the fact that sustainable, environmental friendly growth is a serious alternative that gains awareness throughout the continent, and may simply show the way ahead for the ICT industry.

With all this attention on public broadband projects and Greece’e national FTTH project I haven’t blogged much about my other favorite topic: sustainable economic growth. Without looking for another excuse, here’s an excellent talk by Ray Anderson available at www.ted.com discussing the business case of sustainability. How a change from the (polluting) traditional industrial organization to a sustainable business development can a firm increase profitability and recover a crisis. Ray Anderson says that its company goal is zero carbon emmissions by 2020! I most enjoyed the “new” mathematical formula of the 2nd (sustainable) industrial revolution.

This post may seem somewhat outside of the central topic of this blog, however it highlights the long-term planning of a forward looking European city towards a sustainable economic and social green future, in which broadband certainly assumes a central role.

Manchester authorities has recently released a Deloitte study labeled a “Mini Stern” which analyze how the city could take advantage of the shift to a low carbon economy. The city of Manchester has requested a report on the implications and impact on local economic growth of expected EU and national legislation towards a low carbon economy. The city plan is to prepare local and national business present in the area for necessary adjustments to low carbon legislation so as to reduce the impact on local economic conditions. The report indicates that Manchester’s economy could lose £21bn over the next twelve years if it fails to retool its workforce to take advantage of the impending shift to a low carbon economy.

You can read the full story at BusinessGreen.com.

Excerpts from the public consultation text follows:

At the 2007 Spring European Council, the Heads of State and Government highlighted the development of a sustainable integrated European climate and energy policy as a top priority and adopted an energy and climate package to guide the EU towards a competitive and secure energy economy while promoting energy savings and climate-friendly energy sources. The package defined three targets for 2020: 20% reduction in emissions compared to 1990 levels; 20% share of renewable energies in the overall EU energy consumption; and 20% savings in EU energy consumption compared to projections.

This policy will bring about alternative ways of running our daily lives so that Europe can continue on the path of growth and jobs while leading the global effort to tackle climate change and energy efficiency.

The importance of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) as a driver of growth and productivity is widely recognised. In contrast, the considerable impact of ICT on improving energy efficiency across the economy (i.e., energy productivity growth), as well as in improving efficiency in the use of natural resources whilst reducing pollution and dangerous waste, needs to be made more visible. This enabling role of ICT in improving energy efficiency, cutting across the whole economy, is the focus of the Commission communication on “Addressing the challenge of energy efficiency through Information and Communication Technologies” adopted on 13th May 2008.

The purpose of this consultation is to gather information and opinions from stakeholders on which are the sectors that offer the most promising prospects for improved energy efficiency through the use of ICT and what are the actions to be taken at EU level in order to maximise these effects. The results of the consultation will provide input for a second Communication defining a concrete policy approach.

Given the nature of the consultation, the publication of individual replies is not envisaged at this stage. A (partial) publication may, however, be considered if of interest to all stakeholders. This is why respondents are requested to clearly state whether they would agree to their contribution being published.

All contributions will be carefully analysed and a summary of the outcome of the consultation will be published on DG INFSO’s website http://ec.europa.eu/ictforsg

Contact: European Commission, DG INFSO, Unit H4 “ICT for Sustainable Growth”
E-mail: INFSO-ICTforSG@ec.europa.eu

Public Consultation Page: http://ec.europa.eu/yourvoice/ipm/forms/dispatch?form=ICT4EE

Here’s a recent communication by the European Commissions acknowledging the importance of ICT towards sustainable economic and societal growth in terms of energy consumption and carbon emissions. The communication focuses on ICT itself (replacement of old technology equipment with newer and more efficient) and on improving energy efficiency across the economy through the use of ICT (innovations, data networks, broadband infrastructures).

This communication is launching a consultation and partnership process together with an information gathering and analysis exercise that will provide the basis for the elaboration of a second communication in which the main areas for action should be identified.

According to Viviane Reding, Commissioner for Information Society and Media:

“To meet Europe’s energy efficiency goals by 2020, we need a high growth, low carbon economy. Research and rapid take-up of innovative energy efficient ICT solutions will be crucial to lowering emissions across the whole economy. There is a win-win situation in which ICT will promote the competitiveness of EU industry while leading the fight against climate change.”

You can access the communication directly from here.

Under the Seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7), EC will support projects aimed at developing energy-neutral homes and offices (which supply all their own power), and methods to manage local power grids to boost energy efficiency. Under the ICT Policy Support Programme (ICT PSP), EU funding is being used to support a network of ICT suppliers and public agencies to share information and foster the emergence of new energy services made more efficient through ICT tools.

Read more here.

The results of a unique research exercise evaluating the sustainability and environmental impact of fiber networks were announced at the FTTH Council Europe event held in Paris last month.

Joeri Van Bogaert, president of the Council, said, “The results clearly demonstrate the overall service and environmental benefits of FTTH. The findings stand as testament that fiber is a sustainable and future-proof technology for the 21st century.”

The research compared the environmental impact of a typical FTTH network to its associated benefits and will provide the foundation for further research on the subject by the Council. Information and communication technologies are providing new answers for heavy energy consumption sectors such as transportation and construction. FTTH networks can bring environmental benefits to many different areas and the Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC) study focuses specifically on teleworking, telemedicine and home assistance. Life Cycle Assessment was used to generate the necessary quantitive data and the work was conducted in accordance with ISO 14040 standard.

Read More.