UN: New Report – Shaping an Environmentally Sustainable Digital Future
On 10 July 2024, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (“UNCTAD”) launched its Digital Economy Report for 2024. This year’s edition explores the link between the global digital economy and the environment, and what this means for development. On the back of this report, UNCTAD has issued a call for stronger environmental regulations and investments in renewable energy to mitigate the ecological footprint of digital technologies.
Titled “Shaping an Environmentally Sustainable and Inclusive Digital Future,” the Digital Economy Report highlights the urgent need for sustainable strategies throughout the digitisation life cycle, starting with upstream raw material extraction through to downstream waste generation. Considering the rapid pace and expanding scope of digitisation, the current and projected environmental impacts along the entire value chain are critically analysed as the basis for a new policymaking framework.
According to the Digital Economy Report, the direct effects on natural resources, including from transition minerals, energy and water consumption, as well as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and waste-related pollution, constitute the environmental footprint of the information, communication, and technology (“ICT”) sector. This is in addition to indirect impacts which can be both negative and positive, such as increased energy efficiency and the reduction of GHGs in some sectors.
Key findings and conclusions highlighted in the Digital Economy Report include the following:
- While digital technologies can be used to mitigate various environmental concerns, the linear “take/extract–make–use–waste” model and growth in data transmission networks and data centres is expanding the sector’s environmental footprint.
- A stronger evidence base is needed for comprehensive assessments of the environmental effects of digitisation. For example, existing studies do not adequately capture the environmental impact of recent developments in artificial intelligence (“AI”) or the shift to 5G mobile networks.
- Research suggests that the production phase of digital technologies has the greatest combined negative impact on the environment. This is due to mineral and metal production, GHG emissions, and water-related impacts. It is estimated that making a 2 kg computer requires 800 kg of raw materials.
- Critical minerals and metals for the global low carbon transition are highly concentrated geographically. For example, the Democratic Republic of the Congo produces 68% of the world’s cobalt, and China holds 78% of silicon metal production along with 70% of rare earth elements.
- Digital use is rapidly boosting energy and water consumption. The estimated electricity consumption by 13 of the largest data centre operators[1] more than doubled between 2018 and 2022. Worldwide, electricity for data centres amounted to about 460 terawatt hours (“TWh”) in 2022; comparatively, the total electricity consumption in France was about 459 TWh in 2022.
- Artificial intelligence requires extensive computing resources increasing energy and water consumption. In the case of Microsoft, training GPT-3 in its data centres in the United States has been estimated to have directly consumed 700,000 litres of potable water for cooling.
- Waste management brings significant challenges. Research indicates a pattern of unequal ecological exchange in the international trade of waste with the channelling of used equipment to developing economies, while higher-value waste parts of are exported from developing to developed countries.
The Digital Economy Report urges the adoption of a new policy mindset to improve the overall consumption of scarce resources without jeopardising the prospects of future generations; curtail GHG emissions and prevent catastrophic climate change; and turn the accumulation of waste into recovery, recycling, and reuse in a circular economy. It also points out that as historic responsibilities for environmental challenges lie predominantly with developed countries, which reaped the greatest gains from digitalisation, global solutions must prioritise developing regions and reflect the disproportionate role that developed countries have played in both technological progress and environmental degradation.
- The Digital Economy Report and media content are available here.
- Upcoming event: The World Summit on the Information Society will be reviewed by the United Nations General Assembly in December 2025. The goal is to build a people-centric, inclusive, and development-oriented Information Society where everyone can create, access, utilize, and share information.
[1] According to the Digital Economy Report, consumption was led by Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta. Google has also reported an increase in emissions due to AI energy demand.
This advisory note was prepared by ALT Advisory’s Climate Justice & Sustainability Practice (CJS). With an emphasis on implementation, monitoring, and impact reporting, CJS aims to build climate-resilience through digital transformation and climate and environmental justice. Find out more here.
Please note: The information contained in this note is for general guidance on matters of interest, and does not constitute legal advice. For any enquiries, please contact us at [email protected].