Siemens IT Solutions and Services has welcomed the recently-released paper from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) – "Tackling climate change: Information and Communication Technologies lead the way". The ITU – the lead United Nations agency for information and communication technology (ICT) issues – identifies a major role for ICT to play in combating carbon emissions, especially in helping to improve the power consumption of buildings and factories as well as energy efficiency in power transmission, distribution and in transport.
By 2020 it is estimated that ICT will contribute about three per cent of the world’s greenhouse-gas emissions. In response to this, the ITU states that “At the same time, the scale of emission reductions that could be achieved by integrating ICT into new ways of living, working, learning and travelling makes the ICT sector a key player in tackling climate change, despite its own growing carbon footprint."
Brian Charlton, Siemens' business manager for 'IT for Sustainability', confirmed the report as in alignment with Siemens’ view that environmental sustainability needs to go beyond simply improving the energy efficiency of IT infrastructure. Charlton stated: "This paper provides significant independent support of our approach that any company looking for more efficient IT should also take the larger view. IT should not only be seen as a cost and a source of carbon emissions, but as the essential means by which an organisation can reduce its energy use elsewhere."
Siemens derives over 20% of its revenue from its extensive environmental portfolio and is uniquely placed to help organisations to manage their sustainability practices; working across organisational silos to drive economic improvements as well as environmental impact. Through IT for Sustainability, Siemens’ presents an integrated approach to address current economic pressures, corporate social responsibility obligations and legislative requirements and targets in the context of Siemens’ whole environmental portfolio of products and services.
Using a two-stage model, Siemens’ IT for Sustainability ‘engagement model’ includes an environmental sustainability healthcheck and a detailed sustainability assessment which defines a roadmap to help the organisation deliver a more cost effective and environmentally sustainable business, whilst taking account of investment and logistical constraints.
The ITU paper also features the switchover from analogue to digital broadcasting, which means that future transmitters will need almost ten times less power. This is an area where Siemens is deeply involved - and where the UK will be one of the first countries in the world to make ‘the switch’. Noting that the power consumption of digital receivers is an issue still being discussed, Charlton also commented; "Siemens has designed, built, installed and is now managing the new coding and multiplexing infrastructure needed to ensure that all the BBC’s output can be transmitted in a fully digital form.” He added that “the project is one of the largest and most complex of its kind anywhere in the world, and will be run as a managed service by Siemens until 2015."
Siemens IT Solutions and Services’ Managing Director, Clark MacFarlane, will present IT as an enabler for environmental change at Gartner’s Outsourcing and IT Services Summit in London on June 15-16.
For more information on IT for Sustainability, including a recently published white paper, please visit www.siemens.co.uk/it-solutions.
For more information on the Gartner Outsourcing and IT Services Summit please visit
Notes to Editors
For more information please contact Kerry Milton, PR Manager, Siemens plc
Tel: 01276 696338 / kerry.milton@siemens.com
Siemens IT Solutions and Services is an internationally leading provider of IT solutions and services. It covers the entire IT service chain from a single source, from consulting to system integration, right through to the management of IT infrastructures. In addition, Siemens IT Solutions and Services extends the range of offerings of the other Siemens Groups to include software developments and IT solutions. With its comprehensive know-how and industry-specific knowledge, Siemens IT Solutions and Services provides measurable added value for its customers. More information at www.siemens.co.uk/it-solutions.
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