Shaping an environmentally sustainable and inclusive digital future is crucial for protecting the environment, driving economic growth, and ensuring social inclusion by bridging the digital divide.
The United Nations has warned that the push towards a digital economy carries significant environmental costs, with large data centers consuming vast amounts of water and energy. While digitalization drives global economic growth, its environmental impact is becoming "increasingly severe," according to a report by the UN trade and development agency, UNCTAD.
The agency has called for sustainable strategies to mitigate this growing environmental burden, particularly in developing countries.
"Digitalization continues to move at warp speed, transforming lives and livelihoods. At the same time, unregulated digitalization risks leaving people behind and exacerbating environmental and climate challenges," UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, said in the Digital Economy Report 2024.
He warned that the growing dependence on digital tools is harming the environment by depleting raw materials, consuming vast amounts of water and energy, emitting air pollution, and creating waste.
Additionally, the environmental impact of digitalization is a global concern but its effects are unevenly distributed. Developing countries, which often possess the resources required for digital technologies, bear a disproportionate share of the costs while gaining limited benefits.
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Confronting the Environmental Consequences of Digital Lifestyles
The latest UNCTAD report stated that the ICT sector emitted between 0.69 and 1.6 gigatons of carbon dioxide in 2020. This represents 1.5 to 3.2% of global greenhouse gas emissions, about the same as air transport or shipping.
Network infrastructure, including submarine cables and communications satellites, offers ever-faster ways of connecting more people and machines. In 2028, 5G mobile broadband population coverage is expected to rise to 85%, while the number of internet-connected objects could reach 35 billion.
While digital technologies can be used to mitigate various environmental concerns, the growing number of end-user devices; investments in data transmission networks and data centers; and more computationally intensive digital applications, such as AI and blockchain technology, are also translating into a growing environmental footprint.
In the current highly linear digital economy production model, this leads to increased demand for raw materials, water and energy and results in greater emissions of GHGs and more waste at the end-of-life phase.
Data centers consumed 460 terawatt hours of electricity in 2022, with consumption expected to double by 2026, while the number of semiconductor units quadrupled from 2001 to 2022, and continues to grow.
Between 2018 to 2022, Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta, among other data center operators, more than doubled their electricity consumption, however, interestingly, they are also the four largest corporate purchasers of Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) for renewable energy.
The eco-efficiency of data centers is measured by their Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE), and emerging technologies, which facilitate natural cooling and air conditioning, significantly reduce this PUE.
According to IEA, worldwide, electricity for data centers could require 1,000 TWh by 2026 but Sofrecom noted that from a carbon footprint standpoint, the energy used by data centers appears greener.
Moreover, intelligent solutions such as IoT smart meters, big data energy management and deep-sleep mode antennas can help reduce energy bills and contribute to decarbonization ambitions.
Also Read: Building Tomorrow's Data Centers: A Focus on Sustainability in the Middle East
Growing Demand for Key Minerals
Producing a 2-kg computer requires approximately 800 kilos of raw materials, and yet, the number of discarded smartphones, laptops, screens and other electronic devices grew by 30% between 2010 and 2022, reaching 10.5 million tons of e-waste globally.
The demand for critical minerals like graphite, lithium, and cobalt could surge by 500% by 2050, said UNCTAD. The extraction of these minerals is often sourced through artisanal and small-scale mining, which is often associated with unsafe working conditions, environmental degradation and the exploitation of vulnerable communities.
The shift to low-carbon and digital technologies is also driving the growing demand for key minerals. Huawei Middle East’s Shunli Wang noted that a regional shift to a circular economy that replaces virgin resource usage in manufacturing with recycling, repair and remanufacturing practices alleviates the need to consume new raw materials.
Therefore, the UN urgently calls for greater transparency and responsible sourcing practices within the digital supply chain, ensuring that technological progress does not come at the expense of vulnerable communities or the environment.
On a lighter note, if resource-rich developing countries can add more value to the minerals extracted, effectively use the proceeds from the raw materials and diversify into other parts of the value chain and other sectors, the increased demand for minerals and metals required for digitalization can be leveraged as an opportunity for development.
A Call for Action
It is essential to leverage digitalization to promote inclusive and sustainable development while reducing its negative environmental impacts. This will be possible if efforts are directed towards a circular digital economy, characterized by responsible consumption and production, renewable energy use, and comprehensive e-waste management.
International cooperation is also paramount as the world strives for equitable distribution of the benefits and costs of digitalization, ensuring that no one is left behind in the digital age.
Working together to establish comprehensive global governance frameworks that will promote sustainable digital practices and empower developing countries to participate fully in the digital economy is essential for long-term success.
“We must embrace a new mindset that considers sustainability at every stage of the digital life cycle,” concluded UNCTAD Secretary-General, Rebeca Grynspan.
This should be adopted at all levels: governments, businesses, international organizations and individual users.
A testimony to this is du and its partners’ demonstration of the transformative power of technology in addressing pressing environmental challenges, driving tangible environmental protection objectives, and contributing to the UAE's Net Zero by 2050 strategic initiative. With a consulting-to-operate engagement model, du brings its expertise to UAE government entities and enterprises, including the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD), in fostering sustainable operations and energy management.
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