!"#"$%&&'()$*+%(,-."/0%1,-*(2- -------!"#"&*+$,-3*4%1*/%15- .*+%(*#-7(/"1A6()B"1,)/5-C%(,%1+'&- D%1-!"#"$%&&'()$*+%(,-- 6.789:;7!<-=9>37-;!6=7-=7- >9.?8@- Toolkit on environmental sustainability for the ICT !"#"$%&&'()$*+%(,-."/0%1,-*(2- -------!"#"&*+$,-3*4%1*/%15- !"#"$%&&'()$*+%(,-."/0%1,-*(2- sector -------!"#"&*+$,-3*4%1*/%15- .*+%(*#-7(/"1A6()B"1,)/5.*+%(*#-7(/"1A-C%(,%1+'&- 6()B"1,)/5-C%(,%1+'&- D%1-!"#"$%&&'()$*+%(,D%1---!"#"$%&&'()$*+%(,-- 6.789:;7!<-=9>37-;!6=7-=7-6.789:;7!<-=9>37-;!6=7-=7- >9.?8@- >9.?8@- Toolkit on environmental sustainability for the ICT sector Toolkit September 2012 About ITU-T and Climate Change: itu.int/ITU-T/climatechange/ Printed in Switzerland Geneva, 2012 E-mail: [email protected] Photo credits: Shutterstock® itu.int/ITU-T/climatechange/ess Acknowledgements This toolkit was developed by ITU-T with over 50 organizations and ICT companies to establish environmental sustainability requirements for the ICT sector. This toolkit provides ICT organizations with a checklist of sustainability requirements; guiding them in efforts to improve their eco-efficiency, and ensuring fair and transparent sustainability reporting. The toolkit deals with the following aspects of environmental sustainability in ICT organizations: sustainable buildings, sustainable ICT, sustainable products and services, end of life management for ICT equipment, general specifications and an assessment framework for environmental impacts of the ICT sector. The authors would like to thank Jyoti Banerjee (Fronesys) and Cristina Bueti (ITU) who gave up their time to coordinate all comments received and edit the toolkit. Special thanks are due to the contributory organizations of the Toolkit on Environmental Sustainability for the ICT Sector for their helpful review of a prior draft. Additional information including the full list of contributory organizations can be found at: www.itu.int/ITUT/climatechange/ess/index.html If you would like to provide any additional information, please contact Cristina Bueti at [email protected]. Legal Notice This publication may be updated from time to time. Third-party sources are quoted as appropriate. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the contributory organizations are not responsible for the content of external sources including external websites referenced in this publication. Disclaimer The views expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), its membership or contributory organizations. Mention of and references to specific countries, companies, products, initiatives or guidelines do not in any way imply that they are endorsed or recommended by ITU, the authors, or any other organization that the authors are affiliated with, in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. Requests to reproduce extracts of this publication may be submitted to: [email protected] © ITU 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, by any means whatsoever, without the prior written permission of ITU. Toolkit on environmental sustainability for the ICT sector Table of contents 1 Executive summary 2 Sustainable ICT in coporate organizations 3 Sustainable products 4 Sustainable buildings 5 End-of-life management 6 General specifications and key performance indicators 7 Assessment framework for environmental impacts Executive summary Table of contents Page Executive summary ................................................................................................................................... 1 1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 3 2 The components of the Toolkit on environmental sustainability ........................................................ 4 2.1 Sustainable ICT in corporate organizations ........................................................................................4 2.2 Sustainable products ..........................................................................................................................5 2.3 Sustainable buildings ..........................................................................................................................5 2.4 End of life management .....................................................................................................................6 2.5 General specifications and key performance indicators .....................................................................6 2.6 Assessment framework for environmental impacts ...........................................................................6 3 Business drivers for sustainability performance ................................................................................. 7 3.1 The best sustainability performers are the best performers. Period. ................................................7 3.2 Operating efficiency is a sustainability virtue .....................................................................................7 3.3 Keeping out of regulatory trouble is a sustainability driver ...............................................................7 3.4 Reputation? What reputation? ...........................................................................................................8 3.5 Employees care about sustainability too ............................................................................................8 3.6 New opportunities ..............................................................................................................................9 4 Conclusions and next steps .............................................................................................................. 10 4.1 Extending the scope ........................................................................................................................ 10 4.2 Deepening the metrics .................................................................................................................... 10 4.3 Lowering the questionnaire burden ................................................................................................ 10 4.4 Implementing the toolkit ................................................................................................................. 11 4.5 Suggestions for further work for ITU-T Study Group 5 ................................................................... 11 Annex A note on emissions protocols .................................................................................................. 16 Scope 1 GHG emissions ........................................................................................................................... 16 Scope 2 GHG emissions ........................................................................................................................... 16 Scope 3 GHG emissions ........................................................................................................................... 16 Toolkit on environmental sustainability for the ICT sector v Toolkit on environmental sustainability for the ICT sector Executive summary The Smart 2020 report found that the full life cycle carbon footprint of the ICT industry represents around 2% of worldwide emissions, and is projected to grow at a 6% annual compound growth rate. Although the sector’s emissions are rising, its largest influence is expected to be through enabling increased energy efficiencies and improved environmental performance in other sectors. A significant challenge for ICT companies is that in enabling better environmental performance elsewhere, the ICT sector is itself taking on significant burdens, at a time when there is greater scrutiny applied to environmental performance, and, often, at much greater cost. As a result, it is important for ICT organizations to use sustainability actions to drive their own business performance, while being more responsible corporate citizens. The Toolkit on Environmental Sustainability for the ICT sector is an ITU-T initiative which provides plenty of detailed support on how ICT companies can build sustainability into the operations and management of their organizations, through the practical application of international standards and guidelines. The basic components of the toolkit are a number of individual documents, each covering a separate area, as follows: • Introduction to the toolkit. • Sustainable ICT in corporate organizations, focusing on the main sustainability issues that companies face in using ICT products and services in their own organizations across four main ICT areas: data centers, desktop infrastructure, broadcasting services and telecommunications networks. • Sustainable products, where the aim is to build sustainable products through the use of environmentally-conscious design principles and practices, covering development and manufacture, through to end-of-life treatment. • Sustainable buildings, which focuses on the application of sustainability management to buildings through the stages of construction, lifetime use and de-commissioning, as ICT companies build and operate facilities that can demand large amounts of energy and material use in all phases of the life cycle. • End-of-life management, covering the various EOL stages (and their accompanying legislation) and provides support in creating a framework for environmentally-sound management of EOL ICT equipment. • General specifications