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Summer 2003 Archive
New consultancy report urging the
EU to harness ICT’s green potential, August 2003
The European Commission’s enterprise directorate
has published a consultancy
report that acknowledges ICT can have net negative
environmental impacts and calls for full-cost pricing
of resources to prevent such “rebound” effects. The EU
should support applications of information and communication
technologies (ICT) that can create significant environmental
and social benefits, further recommends the report.
Development of National Environmental
Information Systems, Wrap-up/Training Workshop, Sofia,
Bulgaria, June 19-20, 2003
Under the Regional Environmental
Reconstruction Programme for South Eastern Europe,
a Wrap-up/Training
Workshop took place in Sofia before the Second Meeting
of the Parties to the Task Force on Electronic Information
Tools. The event reviewed and evaluated progress in the
participating countries and exchanged experiences accumulated
during the project, as well as provided two training sessions
on Internet webpage design and strategic communications.
The project
website contains full details on the initiative.
Digital Europe Report: Virtual Dematerialization
and Factor X. IT can improve the environmental impact
of business, June 2003
A report produced by Digital Europe, in partnership with Barclays
PLC and EMI Group PLC, has found that digital technologies
can dramatically reduce pressure on the environment.
The report has found in particular, that:
- Music downloaded legally from the internet can have
less than half the environmental impact of buying a
pre-recorded CD.
- Online banking can have almost one-third of the environmental
impact of branch banking.
The final report is now available,
besides the results of a conference discussing the project’s
research (held in Venice, July 3-4).
ICT to Increase Resource Intensity?
June 2003
A new study has suggested that information and communications
technology (ICT) offers few opportunities to dematerialise
Europe’s economy, and could actually increase resource
intensity. The findings undermine ICT industry assertions
in the run-up to last year’s global sustainability
summit that the sector will be an “enabler”
of sustainable development.
See the full text
of the article on the European Council for an Energy Efficient
Economy (eceee) website (published with permission of
ENDS Environment
Daily).
Electronic Communication as a Tool
Towards Democracy and Cooperation for the Civil Society
and Environmental NGO Community, May
21, 2003, Kyiv
“ICT as a tool for building democracy” took place in
Kiev on May 21, 2003 as an official side event of the
Fifth Pan-European Ministerial
Conference "Environment for Europe.” More than
35 participants, including representatives of the NGO
community, government institutions and the business sector
attended. The goal of the event was to raise awareness
about the use of electronic information tools for building
democracy and civil society. The outcome and conclusions
of the event are included in the report prepared by Milieukontakt
Oost-Europa.
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archive, Summer 2002
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