The World Bank and ITU (International Telecommunication Union) have published a joint study titled: “Measuring the Environmental impact of the ICT Sector – Arcep case study” devoted entirely to the pioneering approach spearheaded by Arcep. The Authority welcomes this international recognition of the work begun in 2019, and which has led to it being, ‘the first and only sectoral regulator today that publishes indicators on the data collected from ICT industry players to assess and track their environmental impact’. Arcep also welcomes the creation of a new ITU working group dedicated to this subject.
Close to 40% of national regulatory authorities want to be able to assess ICT’s impact on the environment, but scarcely 20% of them have the power to collect environmental data
Lamenting the lack of available data, the two organisations are calling on national regulators to take initiatives similar to Arcep’s, as part of the COP29 declaration on “Green Digital Action”, to work together on reducing ICT’s impact on the environment, and to use data to inform decision-makers and channel investment. To this end, they are encouraging NRAs to adopt Arcep’s collaborative approach which began by inviting interested associations, institutions, operators, tech companies and experts to contribute to its examination of this issue. The joint study highlights the chosen “multicriteria” approach which looks beyond just carbon footprint to investigate impacts tied to the use of rare metals and scarce resources, water use and recycling. It also underscores the effectiveness of data-driven regulation and mechanisms for sharing information, both of which are vital to raising awareness of the orders of magnitude and to informed decision-making.
Courtesy of Arcep.