It’s that time of year again when everyone waits in anticipation for the annual fall release of the latest and greatest devices and digital applications by technology companies. And the internet is abuzz with rumors about what the tech sector has in store for us. But few people are talking about the other side of the coin – the dark underbelly of the technology industry that is slowly but surely eroding our planet. The amendment is expected to reduce around 11,000 tons of e-waste in the EU alone every year. While the move is a positive step toward environmental responsibility, the unfortunate reality is that the wider technology sector is facing a sustainability crisis. For most people, digital technology is a solution, not a driver, of our unsustainable practices. Digital applications are driving a revolution that promises and delivers transformative societal benefits. From smart cities and precision agriculture to the prospect of immersive metaverse meetings and ultra-efficient AI-enabled supply chains, the idea that digital technology will serve as a panacea for all our unsustainable practices is often touted.
This poses a dilemma not only for ICT companies, but for all technology leaders and investors across the board. It’s time for tech leaders to proactively address the sector’s sustainability challenges by critically and collectively questioning both supply and demand before its carbon footprint is set in stone, despite the near-term green reflationary impact the transition might entail. If they don’t, the secondary consequences could derail its sustainability benefits. Then, like the many industries before it, challenges could emerge in a fractured future of forced disruption. Yes, you read that right. The very industry that has given us life-changing innovations such as the smartphone and social media is also responsible for some of the most pressing environmental problems we face today. For example, a major sustainability-related tech development barely made headlines:
Among the various clean energy technologies available now, wind and solar will remain the cheapest and fastest ways to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the power sector by 2030, according to the IPCC Resource depletion is another negative impact of technology on the environment. It refers to the consumption of a resource faster than it can be replenished. Natural resources consist of those that are in existence without humans having created them, and they can be either renewable or non-renewable. More people using digital devices for communicating and storing information means that there is less reliance on paper, which reduces deforestation. Since trees are an important source of oxygen and also absorb carbon dioxide, this further reduces climate change. Four negative emissions technologies are ready for large-scale deployment: afforestation/reforestation, changes in forest management, uptake and storage by agricultural soils, and bioenergy with carbon capture and storage BECS. Negative emissions' technologies nets, also known as Greenhouse Gas Removal (GGR) technologies, allow us to do that. They remove greenhouse gases – usually carbon dioxide – from the atmosphere, and they are needed to prevent the worst effects of climate change. The first is by enhancing carbon storage in natural ecosystems, such as planting more forests or storing more carbon in soil. The second is by using direct air capture (DAC) technology that strips CO₂ from the ambient air, then either stores it underground or turns it into products.
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