Resilient pathways: the adaptation of the ICT sector to climate change

Description

The objectives of this report are to explore the impacts of climate change on the information and communication technology (ICT) sector and the potential for adaptation, including the need for new standards to be developed.

While the ICT contribution to the abatement of carbon emissions, energy efficiency, monitoring climate-related patterns and events, and implementing adaptive practices (among other climate-related responses) has been explored since the early 2000s, much less is known about the adaptation of the ICT sector itself to climate change impacts.

This report aims to raise awareness of the need to design and implement strategies for the sector to better prepare for, respond and adjust to the impacts of short- and long-term climatic manifestations. It gives an overview of the impacts, opportunities and challenges posed by climate change to sector stakeholders; it identifies existing and emerging adaptive measures and provides suggested actions to strengthen the ICT sector’s approach to adaptation. The analysis includes examples identified through a survey conducted among key sector stakeholders involved in ICT, environmental sustainability and climate change strategies. New standards to foster adaptive action in the sector are discussed. Examples of a suggested Climate Change Adaptation Risk Assessment Checklist, Adaptation Options and a Climate Change Adaptation Plan are included which could be extended for inclusion in standards. 

This report concludes that climate change will cause unavoidable impacts that will affect the ICT sector both directly and indirectly. Within this context, adaptive practices will increasingly become part of the “new normal” for business operations around the world, including those of the ICT sector.

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