AREAi (Aid for Rural Education Access Initiative) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) have joined forces to conduct research on the environmental impacts of technology and the role of the digital sector in addressing climate change.
The NCC recently revealed that the energy sector, a key supporter of Nigeria’s ICT and digital technology infrastructure, accounts for approximately 34% of the country’s total net Greenhouse Gas emissions, making it the second-largest contributor to GHG emissions.
It is evident that the tech industry’s carbon footprint is expanding due to greenhouse gas emissions throughout the lifecycle of various technological processes, from raw material extraction for software and hardware production like laptops, phones, TVs, desktops, and more.
During a press briefing in Abuja, Prince Gideon Olanrewaju, the CEO and Project Manager of AREAi, highlighted the lack of attention given to the Information and Communication Industry (ICT) as a significant GHG emitter despite global efforts to reduce emissions.
Olanrewaju emphasized the need for coordinated efforts involving political, industrial, and informal actions to mitigate ICT emissions by engaging key stakeholders across the sector, including innovation hubs, tech startups, data centers, and hardware producers, suppliers, and consumers.
He stressed the importance of NCC and NITDA’s involvement as regulatory partners in the telecommunications system to drive these initiatives forward.
The initiative, known as SCALE (Smart Climate Awareness, Learning, and Empowerment), aims to enhance climate awareness through research. It underscores the urgency to enhance the knowledge base of tech ecosystem players to manage product life cycles, measure IT asset and data center impacts, integrate new measures into IT processes, and develop digital environmental KPIs.