How sustainable is ICT?

I recently had the pleasure to be invited to hold a talk on the question if telecoms (or ICT) and sustainability are friend or foe at the Finnish chamber of commerce in Austria. As this question may be of interest to a larger audience I want to share the main points of this talk in this post.

The approach chosen to come closer to an answer and provide the foundation for your individual conclusion for this question I am going to have a look ath this topic from 3 different points of view.

From the first viewpoint Telecoms is a large consumer of resources due to the need for an increasing number of antennas installed and the whole ICT sector contributes significantly to global energy consumption, currently consuming 1-2% of global energy consumption with single digit yearly growth rates. Looking at these aspects ICT clearly appears to be a foe of sustainability.

But then there is Nielsen’s law (viewpoint 2) which is similar to Moore’s law but for Internet connectivity speeds. It postulates that internet connectivity speeds are increasing 50% per year (on average) and for the last 40 years it is a quite valid description of reality (see picture above).

50% increase of bandwidth (output) for just single digit increases of power consumption sounds like a good deal.

Even considering that not all of the additional available bandwidth is put to “productive” use (cat videos anyone) the ratio of the increase in bandwidth to the increase in energy consumption is an impressive factor of 10.

While the first 2 viewpoints are looking at the ICT industry itself there is also an impact of the ICT industry on the remainder of businesses and society (rest of the world). According to GSMAs Enablement Effect report (2019) (Viewpoint 3) the Telecoms sector leads to the reduction of emissions elsewhere in the order of 10 times its own emissions and this factor is expected to double by 2025.

Dependent on the direction the topic is being looked at one can come to significantly different conclusions on the initial question. Nevertheless when taken together the picture is becoming somewhat more nuanced: while telecoms is undoubtedly a significant consumer of energy its output (bandwidth provided) is increasing much faster than the increase in power consumption and it is helping to save a multiple of its own energy consumption elsewhere.

Regardless of the conclusion on the initial question ICT is undoubtedly a big consumer of energy and is thus worth being in focus for energy reduction for which other good reasons exist as well – just consider the recent increase in energy cost and the perceived increasing risk of energy shortages.?