The ICT Sector and the Global Connectivity System

The report argues that while ICT innovation is a primary driver of global economic growth and productivity, it creates significant sustainability challenges through rapid hardware obsolescence, increasing energy demands of data centres, and a global e-waste crisis. It proposes viewing the sector as a 'Global Connectivity System' that includes not only manufacturers but also standards bodies, civil society, and end-users. The document highlights the tension between the Internet's origins as an open, participatory tool for social organization and emerging trends toward corporate control, government surveillance, and restrictive intellectual property rights.

• ICT innovation has been a dominant driver of economic growth; in the US, ICT capital was responsible for nearly all labour productivity growth between 1995 and 2002, and in OECD countries, ICT investment accounted for an average of 20% of total real GDP growth from 1995 to 2001.
• The ICT sector contributes to a 'rebound effect' where efficiency gains in energy use are offset by increased overall consumption; for example, while EU-25 energy intensity fell by 1.2% annually from 1990 to 2003, total energy consumption rose by 10.9% over the same period.
• The ICT sector's own carbon footprint is significant and growing, accounting for approximately 2% of global GHG emissions (0.53 Gt CO2) as of 2002, with projections suggesting it could reach 1.43 Gt CO2 by 2020.
• Moore's Law has created a positive feedback loop where rapid hardware performance increases and price drops drive the development of more resource-intensive software, leading to shorter product lifespans; for instance, the intended lifespan of CPUs dropped from four to six years in 1997 to just two years in 2005.
• The 'digital universe' is expanding exponentially, expected to grow from 180 exabytes in 2006 to 1.8 zettabytes by 2011, with a significant portion of this data being short-lived and in transit over networks.
• Data centres face critical power and cooling challenges due to increased power density; it was predicted that by 2008, 50% of current data centres would have insufficient capacity to meet the demands of high-density equipment.
• Mobile phone adoption has been unprecedented, providing essential security and economic benefits to the poor, but rapid replacement cycles—averaging 12 months in the US and Japan—contribute to hazardous waste.
• E-waste is one of the fastest-growing waste streams, with 20 to 50 million tonnes generated annually worldwide; much of this is illegally exported from developed nations like the US to dismantling centres in China, Nigeria, or Ghana.
• The Internet's architecture, based on open standards and end-user control, has dramatically lowered the transaction costs for social organization and activism, as seen in Greenpeace Argentina's use of mobile phones to pass the Forest Law.
• The open nature of the Global Connectivity System is threatened by 'tethered' device designs that stifle innovation, corporate efforts to sell preferential data treatment (violating network neutrality), and increased surveillance of user activities.

APA

Vetter, T., & Creech, H. (2008). The ICT Sector and the Global Connectivity System. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/ict_global_con_sd.pdf

Chicago

Vetter, Tony, and Heather Creech. The ICT Sector and the Global Connectivity System. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2008. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/ict_global_con_sd.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Vetter |first1=Tony |last2=Creech |first2=Heather |title=The ICT Sector and the Global Connectivity System |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=November 2008 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/ict_global_con_sd.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{vetter2008ict, author = {Vetter, Tony and Creech, Heather}, title = {{The ICT Sector and the Global Connectivity System}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2008}, month = nov, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/ict_global_con_sd.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }