For every text message, video download, email, or chat sent, there's a power-hungry server running around the clock in a data center making it happen. And those data centers are pumping out an increasing amount of carbon emissions. Environmental sustainability across the information and communications technology (ICT) sector was set to be one of several topics up for debate at the now cancelled MWC Barcelona event, reflecting the industry's awareness of the leading role it has in stimulating fundamental changes in consumption and production systems as reform can no longer be seen as optional.  

As of October 2019, it was reported that there were approximately 4.3 billion active internet users globally and the average website produced 6.8 grams of carbon per page view. In a year, an average person can contribute 33.6 kilograms of carbon dioxide to the environment – that’s almost as much as burning 16 kilograms of coal, explained Varnish Software CEO Lars Larsson in an interview with SDxCentral.

Emissions produced within the ICT sector – which includes devices like computers and phones but also infrastructure like data centers and communication networks – does not seem decidedly significant at 1.4% of the global carbon footprint, as reported in a recent Ericsson study. But, if the IT industry can slash its carbon emissions in half in each of the next three decades, it can reportedly help the planet reach net zero by 2050. 

The ICT sector’s footprint will grow to account for as much as 14% of global emissions by 2040, according to research by McMaster University in Canada published in the "Journal of Cleaner Production." Researchers predict that the combined footprint of data centers and communications networks will increase from 215 megatons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year in 2007, to 764 megatons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year this year. Data centers will account for nearly 66% of the total contribution. 

Larry Fink, chairman and CEO of VC firm BlackRock, said in the company’s annual letter that “climate change has become a defining factor in companies’ long-term prospects,” adding, “I believe we are on the edge of a fundamental reshaping of finance.”

This directly ties into enterprises coming under increased pressure to reduce their carbon footprint. Software companies like Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft boast some of the largest data center footprints in the world. In understanding where the greatest concentration of emissions come from these cloud giants have identified emission reduction opportunities that will both reduce their overall emissions and allow them to profit from improved climate performance.

Early last year, Amazon unveiled plans to use renewable energy, which includes the use of solar power, having more packages delivered in electric vans, and pushing suppliers to remake their packaging in an effort to make half of all its shipments carbon neutral by 2030. 

The announcement was followed by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' “Climate Pledge” in September, which committed the online retail giant to meet the goals of the Paris climate agreement 10 years ahead of schedule. According to Bezos, Amazon has agreed to purchase 100,000 electric delivery vans from vehicle manufacturer Rivian, boosting the retailers renewable energy use from a current rate of 40% to 80% by 2024.

Bezos more recently announced he is committing $10 billion to fight climate change, which he calls "the biggest threat to our planet." Bezos says the funds will go toward the creation of the Bezos Earth Fund.

Facebook partnered with cooling manufacturer Nortek Air Solutions in 2018 to co-develop a new generation of data center cooling systems, dubbed StatePoint Liquid Cooling (SPLC). These use cold water instead of cold air to reduce power consumption. Facebook said it has achieved 75% renewable energy use in its operations on its way to 100% use by the end of this year, and a 44% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

In 2017, Google became the first company to reach 100% renewable energy consumption from sources like wind and solar. Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in a blog post last year that the company is no longer buying power from existing wind and solar farms but making purchase commitments that will result in the development of new projects. “Bringing incremental renewable energy to the grids where we consume energy is a critical component of pursuing 24x7 carbon-free energy for all of our operations," Pichai wrote.

Microsoft earlier this year said it would be carbon negative by 2030, and that it's looking to make up for all of the carbon emissions it has ever produced by 2050. It also developed the Microsoft Sustainability Calculator to help its customers track carbon emissions data associated with their Azure cloud usage. Varnish's Larsson called this a "bold move" that will require Microsoft to remove more carbon from the atmosphere than it emits. 

The world produced approximately 50 million tons of e-waste in 2018, a sum that weighs more than commercial airliners have ever made, according to a report from the Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy (PACE) and the United Nation's E-Waste Coalition. That number is expected to skyrocket as network operators, vendors, and device makers prepare to deploy the next generation of lightning-fast 5G devices. However, the magnitude of the transition will come at a monumental cost to the environment.

As the saying goes “out with the old, in with the new,” but when it comes to technology and devices — specifically the millions of smartphones, modems, and other gadgets incompatible with 5G networks — where do the old discarded electronics go? 

According to the UN report, society only deals with 20% of e-waste appropriately. The remaining 80% ends up in landfills or is shipped off to developing countries that lack the capacity to reject imports or handle hazardous materials appropriately. 

Consequently, not only are workers exposed to hazardous and carcinogenic substances present in e-waste such as mercury, lead, and cadmium, its presence in landfills contaminates soil and groundwater, putting food supply systems and water sources at risk. 

But it’s not all doom and gloom. Some infrastructure vendors such as Cisco, Dell, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) are stepping up their commitments to reduce their waste production.

Cisco says it has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions 45% since 2007, which earned it a No. 2 spot in Barron’s annual "100 Most Sustainable Companies" list. 

Dell last year unveiled its  one-for-one recycling pledge that calls for the company to recycle an equivalent product for each one that a customer buys. This follows on its 2013 "Legacy of Good" plan, which includes things like establishing a certified closed-loop plastics supply chain in 2014; starting to use reclaimed carbon fiber in products a year later; and creating commercial-scale packaging from ocean-bound plastics in 2017.

HPE’s has long championed its circular economy, which aims to eliminate waste by using products as long as possible and then recovering materials at the end of life for reuse in new products. The company’s fourth annual sustainability report highlighted accomplishments, including the use of memory-driven computing to reduce customers’ energy use as much as 60% and achieving an 89% refurbishment rate on the 4 million IT assets returned to HPE’s recycling centers. 

Although there is an increased focus on recycling, the UN report points out that the efforts to sustainably reclaim used devices simply can’t match the pace of consumption rates for new devices. 

“We are entering a cycle of profound innovation in the effort to reduce the global population’s resource and carbon footprint," noted Shuli Goodman, executive director of the Linux Foundation's LF Energy initiative that uses open-source tech to accelerate the energy sector’s decarbonization. "If we fail to come up with solutions for decarbonization, we are going to see mass-migrations, mass die-offs, and major catastrophic events all over the world. ... Our existence as we know it is in critical danger.”