ICT Impact on Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Energy-Intensive Industries

Publisher
European Commission, Enterprise and Industry Directorate General
Publication date
January 2009
Type
Reports
Industry
Transport
ICT
Chemicals
Category
Environment/Climate Change
Discipline
Environmental Management
Language
English
Link
ICT Impact on Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Energy-Intensive Industries
Free/Pay for content
Free
 

There is much hope that information and communications technology (ICT) has a high potential to increase energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study provides the first comprehensive empirical analysis of the relationship between ICT on GHG emissions in European energy-intensive industries, analysing the following five sectors:

  • Basic metal and fabricated metal
  • Pulp, paper, printing and paper products
  • Chemicals, rubber, plastics and coke
  • Glass, ceramics and cement
  • Transport and storage
In order to explore the variety of possible relationships between ICT and GHG emissions, this study employs three central investigative methods:
  • an econometric analysis,
  • case studies,
  • surveys of current industry trends and expert views.

The empirical analysis is comprised of a descriptive discussion of relevant data trends, a parametric regression analysis that estimates the form and magnitude of the impact of ICT on GHG emissions per output in each sector, and a semi-parametric analysis of the impact of ICT on industry efficiency through an input-output production framework.

Eight case studies on representative firms from European energy-intensive industries provide explicit examples of ICT use for GHG emissions reductions in industry that anchor the econometric results in the present business and market climate.

Finally, a pilot survey of the glass, cement and ceramic sector and a Delphi-style survey of industry experts track ICT adoption for sustainability purposes and report current industry opinion on the potential of ICT to counteract climate change.

Varying trends in GHG emissions and ICT capital, as well as structural differences among sectors, support a sectoral approach to analysis.The authors first focus our analytical methods on each sector independently, using these results to derive the most relevant cross-sector conclusions regarding the relationship between ICT and greenhouse gas emissions in European energy-intensive industries.

This report investigates the following areas:

  1. ICT impact on GHG emissions: authors test for a statistically-robust impact of ICT on GHG emissions and sustainable production, quantifying this impact at the sector level and analysing the implications for the future climate impact of each sector.
  2. ICT uses and development status: authors illuminate the specific means by which firms in energy-intensive industries utilise ICT to improve efficiency and sustainability, the progress made in ICT systems development, the potential for further innovation to improve the climate-change impact of ICT, and the interaction between current EU emissions policy and ICT development.
  3. ICT diffusion and adoption barriers: authors report the extent to which ICT that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions has been adopted in energy-intensive Industries for emissions-reductions purposes, the incentives and barriers to ICT adoption, and the particular influence of European emissions regulation on the decision to use ICT to counteract climate impact by these industries.
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