Document Management News

Ahead of next week's Copenhagen summit, analyst IDC has published research which estimates the G20 nations alone could slash CO2 emissions by almost 6bn tonnes using green IT.

According to IDC's calculations, 5.8bn tonness of CO2 emissions could be eliminated by 2020 through the focused use of seventeen core technologies in four major economic sectors: energy generation & distribution, transport, buildings, and industry.

Smart grid networks, intelligent transport systems, video conferencing, building management systems, and document management to reduce printing are among the areas that leading nations should look at to help deliver the emissions cut.

Further reductions in global CO2 emissions could be realised if more countries outside the G20 used IT-based solutions to their full potential, said IDC.

"ICT will be an important source of practical solutions for reducing CO2 emissions in the G20 and many other countries," said Roberta Bigliani, an analyst at IDC. She said network-based solutions and effective monitoring and management systems were key to meeting targets.

More details on the technologies that governments and business have to exploit will be given at an IDC press event in Copenhagen on 10 December (www.idc.com/events/climate). IDC analyst Philip Carter said, "The core technologies have to pass three tests: they have to be mature enough to provide real benefits within three years, support significant processing on a network, and be discrete independent technologies."