scope:

This Recommendation specifies methodologies for assessing the environmental impact of information and communication technology (ICT) at a sector level including its future development.

It consists of two parts:

1) Part I: The methodology for calculating the footprint of the ICT sector with respect to life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions;

2) Part II: The methodology for defining a GHG emissions budget for the ICT sector considering a 2ºC or lower trajectory.

It also applies the methodology of Part I and gives an example of a partial ICT sector footprint derived in line with this Recommendation (Appendix IV).

A GHG emissions budget for the ICT sector could either take an organizational approach or be derived from the perspectives of the goods, networks and services of a sector. Each approach has its own challenges, although the latter has been more commonly adopted in the past. For this reason, in this edition of the Recommendation, the methodology focus is on the second approach - a footprint and budget related to ICT goods, networks and services. However, some observations and ideas for an organizational approach are presented in Appendix III.