D2.5 - THIRD MARKET WATCH, BEST PRACTICE REPORT, SDOS UPDATE & VOICE OF THE USERS

The present deliverable describes the global and emerging trends observed in the sustainable ICT sector during the three years of the ICTFOOTPRINT.eu project, with regards to: environmental indicators and methodologies; emerging best practices and subsectors; and more generally, the inclusion of sustainable ICT practices in a broader perspective, including economic, social and societal aspects.

The deliverable should be considered as a complete version of the market watch, a synthesis which notably includes information identified in the two first occurrences of the market watch (deliverables D2.2 and D2.3).

Results show that the contribution of the ICT sector to the European electricity consumption and carbon emissions is increasing over the years, although results may vary according to sources. The trend is explained, among others, by changes in consumer patterns and use of ICT to optimise the processes and impacts from other sectors (“IT for green”). It includes the significant improvements that have been made in the past decade towards “greener IT”, e.g. regarding energy efficiency of hardware. It should be noted that “green ICT” is a common term, used in the context of the project and the deliverable to reflect on “environment-friendly ICT”, “ICT with reduced environmental impact”, etc.

Although ICTFOOTPRINT.eu focuses on the energy and carbon footprint of ICT, other environmental impacts from the sector should be considered, such as water pollution or mineral depletion. These aspects are gradually being addressed by the market and policies, moving from “green ICT” to “responsible ICT”.

The vision is based on the insight acquired by the ICTFOOTPRINT.eu initiative during the three years of activities, and specifically describes the services developed as part of the project, with a particular focus on the map of methodologies and the calculation tools to raise awareness on the uptake of best practices and the implementation of methodologies to assess the environmental impact of ICT products and organisations. The deliverable also gives an insight on the data collected on other existing tools, labels and initiatives toward “greener” ICT, and outlines activities and results achieved with regards to community engagement at the completion of project.

Intermediate results may be found in the first market watch (D2.2) and the second market watch (D2.3), delivered respectively at the end of the first year and second year of activities.