World Wildlife Fund – Canada is touting information and communications technology as a key contributor to a cleaner Canadian environment.
In conjunction with Bell Canada, the conservationist organization recently released a study that said the country’s greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced by 20 million tons a year by making better use of ICT. That’s the equivalent of taking 3.2 million cars off the road, or seven per cent of Canada’s annual Kyoto obligation.
With more aggressive implementation, reductions as high as 36 million tons a year are realistically achievable by 2020, according to the study, entitled Innovating Toward a Low-Carbon Canada: Using Technology to Transform Tomorrow. Because most of these cuts come from improving energy efficiency, cost savings to business, government and individuals are conservatively estimated at $7.5 billion to $13 billion per year.
“Business and government need to require, champion and demonstrate ICT solutions to the global warming problem — it won’t magically happen,” said Mike Russill, President and CEO of WWF-Canada. “ICT products and services offer easy, intelligent ways to save money while at the same time reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”
The report’s recommendations for saving energy included building a tele-work culture, using social networking to promote car-pooling and car-sharing, minimizing carbon emissions by driving smarter, facilitating more e-transactions, encouraging more electronic meetings, and deploying meters and controls that will help drive adoption of energy conservation.
“We have an increasingly digitized economy. What’s missing is a roadmap by which governments, business and consumers can maximize the role of ICT in fighting climate change,” said Stéphane Boisvert, president of Bell Canada’s Enterprise Group.
“Technologies that can reduce our travel and the energy we use, while enhancing the use of energy-efficient goods and services, have multiple benefits for the environment, for the economy and for communities — a triple win.”