AIIA - Australian Information Industry Association - ICT industry will actively engage with the Garnaut Review

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Monday 7 July 2008

The Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) today welcomed the release of the draft Garnaut Climate Change Review as a significant step towards understanding the future role of ICT in climate change management and emissions control across all areas of business, industry and government.

‘Climate change poses some of the most serious social and industrial challenges of our generation,’ said AIIA CEO Ian Birks. ‘Information and communication technology (ICT) will play an absolutely critical role in the design and implementation of solutions that meet these challenges, both within Australia and around the world.’

‘The technology sector will be very strongly engaged with the Garnaut Review.’

A recent report by the Climate Group said that better use of technology could reduce worldwide emissions by 15 per cent – or five times more that the total emissions from the ICT sector – and save global industry over $800 billion in annual energy costs by 2020.

‘ICT’s largest role will be transforming the approach taken by other industry sectors. AIIA will be actively examining the draft report to identify the industry's ongoing role in abating carbon emissions,’ Mr Birks said.

However, the ICT sector also has clear responsibilities to improve the environmental credentials of its own products and services, a challenge that the industry is demonstrating an active commitment to on many fronts.

In partnership with the Victorian Government and 11 major hardware manufacturers, AIIA is currently trialling Byteback, an IT equipment collection and recycling scheme that provides a viable national model to divert valuable and potentially harmful resources from landfill.

‘Up to 97% of all materials collected through the Byteback program have been recovered for recycling. Byteback is delivering clear net benefits to the community by diverting important resources from landfill and reducing carbon emissions,’ said Mr Birks.

‘However, we need all levels of government to support this program if it is to become a viable national solution, in the same way as governments and industry are working together to address current problems in the Murray-Darling basin.’

In other areas, AIIA is strongly advocating the use of meaningful ‘green’ ICT procurement standards across all areas of the private and public sectors, as well as actively engaging with the Federal Government to set energy performance standards for computer equipment. Leading manufactures are also increasingly designing ICT products with the environment in mind by making them more energy efficient and easier to recycle at the end of the product’s life.

At the end-user level, the sector has recently embraced industry-wide initiatives such as ‘Climate Savers Computing’ and ‘Computers Off Australia’ to provide simple ways for individuals, businesses and government to lower the carbon footprint associated with technology products.

‘The ICT sector must demonstrate leadership on climate change in order to realise the benefits that are on offer across all areas of industry,’ Mr Birks concluded. ‘The Garnaut Review will form an important foundation for the industry’s response to these challenges.’

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Byteback Australia

Run by Victorian Government agency Sustainability Victoria in partnership with the Australian Information Industry Association and industry partners Apple, Brother, Canon, Dell, Epson, Fujitsu, Fuji-Xerox, HP, IBM, Lenovo and Lexmark, the Byteback program is an Australian first. Through Byteback, government, industry and consumers are sharing responsibility for the safe disposal of computer waste.

www.bytebackaustralia.com.au

Sustainable Future Forum – 7 October 2008

AIIA is proud to present the Sustainable Futures Forum, a one-day conference that will explore key sustainability program outcomes with an emphasis on ICT, showcase case studies of sustainability excellence from a range of ICT vendors and explore ICT initiatives that are already making a difference to our environment.

www.aiiaconference.com.au

For more information, contact:

Rhett Somers
Australian Information Industry Association
Mobile: 0411 670 007
r.somers@aiia.com.au