CO2 Reduction with ICT: Prospects and Barriers

The challenge of climate change calls for a systematic effort to utilize ICT for CO 2 reduction. This paper shows that the effects of ICT applications on CO 2 emissions are manifold and demonstrates a systematic approach to deal with this variety. The approach combines a standard life-cycle approach with a classification of ICT effects in first- to thirdorder effects. It is applied to the fields of ICT application that are discussed in literature as candidate fields for ICTrelated CO 2 reduction. High reduction potentials are identified in the following fields: data centers, mobile phone networks, electronic waste recycling, intelligent space heating, virtual meetings, and the organization of services where consumption is traditionally linked with product ownership. Finally, current barriers preventing the exploitation of these potentials are discussed.