In Brief
- Bitkom presents new study on the climate effects of digitalisation
- Digital technologies can contribute roughly 24 percent to the 2030 climate targets
- Most effective lever lies in the energy and property sector
Digitalization can contribute 43 to 80 million tons of CO2 to the 2030 climate target
Press Release
Berlin, 26th February 2024 – Wind turbines that use sensors to precisely adjust their blades to different wind speeds, fields that are fertilised more economically based on satellite data, and factories that reach new heights of efficiency while saving energy thanks to AI.
Digital technologies can make significant contributions to achieving the climate targets Germany has set for 2030. As is shown by the new Bitkom study “Climate Effects of Digitalisation” (in German, English version to follow), annual CO2 emissions in Germany in 2030 can be reduced by roughly 73 million tons if the digital transformation is accelerated. This is a net effect, meaning that the CO2 emissions resulting from the use of digital technologies, including data centres and terminal devices, are already taken into account.
“Digitalisation can contribute almost a quarter of the climate targets that Germany has set for itself in 2030,” says Christina Raab, vice president of Bitkom, during the presentation of the study’s results. If the digital transformation is not accelerated, but continues at its current pace, savings of roughly 50 million tons of CO2 can be achieved by 2030 – which is equal to 16 percent of the targets.
In 2022, Germany’s CO2 emissions were at 746 million tons. According to forecasts, they will amount to 673 million tons in 2023. In 2030, that amount should only be 438 million tons. Raab: “Climate change is becoming more and more apparent and tackling it more urgent.
We must exploit every possibility to ensure that Germany achieves its climate goals. Digitalisation gives us a strong lever to significantly reduce CO2 emissions and increase our competitiveness at the same time. The more ambitiously the use of digital technologies is pushed forward, the greater the savings.”
The Bitkom study “Climate Effects of Digitalisation” was carried out by experts on sustainability and digitalisation at Accenture. Based on three projections of future CO2 emissions, the study examines the CO2 effect of the use of digital solutions on CO2 emissions in the particularly relevant sectors of energy, buildings, industry, transportation and agriculture.
The first is a pessimistic projection of high CO2 emissions in 2030, and the second is an optimistic projection of lower emissions, achieved by covering 85 percent of the electricity demand with renewable energy, among other things. In the following, the climate effects of digitalisation are examined based on a third projection with average CO2 emissions. It is halfway between the pessimistic and the particularly optimistic projection of future CO2 emissions.
What is the amount of CO2 emissions released by the digital technologies themselves? This question, too, is answered by the study. The use of such technologies, including terminal devices like screens, computers, or tablets, as well as the operation of the network infrastructure and data centres indirectly result in CO2 emissions.
Based on the average of the three projections, the CO2 footprint of the digital technologies in question will amount to 3.8 million tons in the five sectors in 2030 if the digital transformation is pushed forward at a greater speed. If it continues at the current pace, the amount will be 2.1 million tons.
Source: Bitkom
