scope:

This Recommendation contains analyses and predictions of the real or potential environmental consequences of a transfer to selling services instead of equipment for the global information and communication technology (ICT) industry.

It is plausible that some economic realities will drive some parts of the ICT ecosystem to be sold as services instead of goods. There are several studies looking at parts of the ecosystem and specific service transformations. However, there is few studies focusing on what this likely trend will mean for overall environmental impact.

The Recommendation considers possible conflicts and solutions regarding the opportunities and problems arising from a potential global service transformation of ICT.

The Recommendation contains a guide to cases where a service transformation makes sense or not from an environmental point of view.

This Recommendation takes into account previous and ongoing appropriate ITU deliverables on life cycle assessment (LCA) and circular economy, e.g., [b-ITU-T L.Suppl.28], [ITU-T L.1015], [ITU-T L.1020], [ITU-T L.1021], [ITU-T L.1022] and [ITU-T L.1023].