Finland: Webinar on 30 November 2020: Taking full advantage of digitalisation in climate work and bringing ICT sector emissions under control

NordenBladet — How can digitalisation best serve the work against climate change? What should be done to reduce the ICT sector’s emissions? The final report of the working group on a climate and environment strategy for the ICT sector will be published on 30 November 2020.

ICT can deliver substantial environmental benefits by replacing products with services and through telecommuting. On the other hand, communication networks, data centres and smart devices consume electricity and materials.

On Monday, 30 November starting at 9.30, the Ministry of Transport and Communications will organise a webinar, where the working group’s recommendations for controlling the climate impacts and promoting the positive impacts in the ICT sector will be published. It is internationally pioneering work, and the report presents a vision of Finland as a leader in the use and development of sustainable ICT solutions.

Minister of Transport and Communications Timo Harakka will also give an address. Google’s European Energy Markets Lead Brian Denvir and Head of Environment at Nokia Pia Tanskanen will give presentations on how these companies have improved energy efficiency and increased the use of carbon-free electricity sources. Professor at the University of Helsinki Petri Myllymäki will speak about a study on the energy efficiency of machine learning.

Electric power consumption is the principal cause of greenhouse gas emissions in the ICT sector, which uses 4-10 per cent of the world’s electricity and generates 1.5-5 per cent of its greenhouse gas emissions, according to various estimates. On the other hand, the ICT sector has great potential to reduce the carbon footprint of other sectors. One example of this is the optimisation of industrial processes.

Next steps
The final report will be sent out for comments on 30 November 2020. After that Finland’s first climate and environment strategy for the ICT sector will be finalised at the Ministry of Transport of Transport and Communications.

The webinar can be viewed on Monday, 30 November 2020 at 9.30-11.30 via the following link: https://lvm.videosync.fi/ict-alan-ilmasto-ymparistostrategia

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi