A lot of the talk around ICT and sustainability has been about AI’s growing impact on already-strained electrical grids, from rising electricity bills to concern that we are fuelling the industry’s growth with natural gas power plants. At the heart of it all are integrated circuits (i.e., computer chips), more specifically, the graphics processing unit (GPU) which were invented decades ago to accelerate computer graphics in video games. While these GPUs are powering the surge in AI technologies, integrated circuits have been powering the ICT sector for decades.
According to World Bank’s recent estimates, the ICT sector as a whole accounts for an estimated 1.7% of global emissions.1 Electricity consumption from data centres alone is estimated to be about 1.5% of global electricity consumption, and growing fast at 12% per year, according to the IEA’s recent estimates.2 Notably, the emissions from manufacturing ICT equipment contribute more than a quarter of the sector’s estimated emissions.
The emissions of the ICT sector (Source: The World Bank and ITU)
The ICT sector has been an outspoken supporter of Net Zero emissions, led largely by telecommunications companies. Mobile network operators representing 47% of all mobile connections globally have set or committed to near-term science-based targets and a significant portion of those have submitted Net Zero targets to the Science Based Targets initiative.3
Yet even with significant ambition for Net Zero, the sector undeniably faces real world challenges in decarbonising one of the world’s strongest economic and fastest growing sectors.
Electricity use across telecommunications networks, data centres and ICT products is certainly a large contributor to the sector’s footprint, but a significant portion of the sector’s emissions is wrapped up in the manufacture of ICT equipment. As with most things in the digital world, it’s helpful to zoom out for the full picture.
By drilling down into emissions profiles across a spectrum of ICT devices, we can get a better sense of the challenge we face to decarbonise ICT equipment production. Immediately apparent is the notable carbon impact of integrated circuit production.
As a general rule, integrated circuits make up a majority of the emissions impact of the production stage. In many cases, integrated circuits are also a significant source of emissions across the entire life cycle.
From smartphones to 5G antenna, production of integrated circuits (i.e., computer chips) has a significant carbon impact across the sector. (Source: The Carbon Trust)
This latter point is particularly true for devices with relatively small use phase emissions (e.g., smartphones and tablets), but also, perhaps surprisingly, relevant to enterprise data centre hardware which often have significant compute and storage capabilities.
Of course, to responsibly manage the sector’s ongoing growth and rapid AI buildout, focusing on decarbonising electricity generation and improving energy efficiency across the sector is a major piece of the puzzle. However, we should recognize that to reach Net Zero, decarbonising the brains of the sector is the missing piece.
Putting our chips on the table: Engaging with decarbonisation across the semiconductor ecosystem
The emissions impact of the semiconductor sector hasn’t gone unnoticed to the sector itself. In fact, SEMI’s Semiconductor Climate Consortium has established a vision to drive progress on climate challenges within the industry and support the goals of the Paris Agreement. Realising this vision will take ambitious action from across the sector and value chain. Here’s how you can engage now on this agenda to turn the vision into reality:
You can’t reduce what you can’t measure
Product carbon footprinting can help unlock carbon reduction opportunities across your product portfolios, while better understanding where your product’s emissions are coming from and identifying suppliers to engage further on decarbonisation.
Increasingly, businesses are asking their suppliers for verified product carbon footprints to support their own decarbonisation strategies, so even for businesses that don’t directly produce integrated circuits, but use them in their own products, developing an internal PCF plan just makes good business sense.
Strength in numbers
For a complex sector like semiconductors, collaboration really is the name of the game. We can’t recommend strongly enough to get involved with your industry’s trade association on decarbonisation.
For semiconductor businesses, SEMI’s Semiconductor Climate Consortium has an impressive portfolio of ongoing initiatives focused on decarbonisation across the sector. Elsewhere in the ICT space, the GSMA’s Climate Action Taskforce is driving towards a Net Zero mobile telecommunications industry.
Engaging with your peers on this agenda will help share learnings and identify where collective action can have the greatest impact.
Renewables are key
It’s no secret that decarbonising the sector will require access to renewable energy, but in the near-term, the limited availability of renewables in key regions is constraining progress. Taiwan, South Korea, China and Japan are particularly important countries in the sector where access to renewable energy is critical for the semiconductor sector to reach its climate goals.
Apple’s innovative Supplier Clean Energy Programme is a great example of supporting development of renewables in these key regions. Ensuring that advocacy and energy procurement strategies are aligned with and supporting renewable energy policy in these markets will help the sector get on track towards Net Zero.
Even in an increasingly digital world, we shouldn’t forget that physical technology keeps things ticking along. Decarbonising how we manufacture chips is make or break for the ICT sector’s Net Zero ambitions. Explore how the sector can address material and emissions-intensive chip manufacturing in our vision for decarbonising digital growth.
