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ICTs for a Sustainable World #ICT4SDG

COP15: United Nations Climate Change Conference

7-18 December 2009, Copenhagen, Denmark - Ahead of his arrival in Copenhagen for the COP15 conference, ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré speaks about why including information and communications technology in the final agreement will be crucial to combating climate change.

ITU’s membership asked us to do our utmost to see ICTs mentioned in the final texts in Copenhagen, so we sent a small team to the climate change conference in Copenhagen and did a great deal to raise awareness of the importance of ICTs in mitigating and adapting to climate change.

ICTs are not part of the problem, they are part of the solution. Technology contributes 2.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions – but more efficient use of modern technologies could cut global power consumption by 15%. Technology can help solve the climate crisis by reducing waste, cutting business travel, making industry more efficient and helping us monitor environmental change through satellite-based remote sensing systems.