World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is right now exploring the possibilities to engage in a more proactive way in India. The experiences from China have been very encouraging. A report by WWF, ‘Chinese companies in the 21st Century - helping or destroying the planet’, has created a lot of interest and WWF hope to produce something similar for India. But for this we need good cases, especially in the field of ICT.

The future of the planet
For too long the environmental agenda as been set by the north. The language and way to approach the global challenges have been developed in a context that often have failed to incorporate the perspective of other parts of the world. As a global organisation, WWF is therefore shifting its focus from north to emerging economies such as India in areas such as new technologies, trade and investment.

Many are worried by the implications of the economic growth of India and China and the difficulty of tackling the problems it is set to generate; problems which will have ramifications for the rest of the world. Increasingly, other poor countries are pinning their own economic development hopes on providing the natural resource base for these emerging economies: soy from Latin America, oil from Africa, timber from South East Asia. Considering the historical precedents for the succession of one global superpower by another, we should be concerned about the environmental implications. The need for ICT solutions that can provide welfare without increased resource consumption should be obvious.

Grounds for hope
Instead of worry, WWF would like to see this change as an opportunity and a ground for hope. Increasingly, environmental problems such as climate change are coming to be seen not just as problems to be considered in a narrow ‘environment’ box, but rather as challenges, which strike to the heart of international relations and global economic welfare. This is where WWF, which has now been working in countries like China and India for twenty-five to thirty-five years, has something to offer. If we are to meet the global target such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Kyoto Protocol, the Convention of Biodiversity, etc, we must start to think outside the box and include the frontrunners in the emerging economies.

WWF must move beyond the environment ministry, and include also to those in government who are charged with long-term economic planning, development of technology and trade and investment policy. These are the people who will decide, for example, whether colossal investment in meeting India’s and China’s energy demand is to be channelled to building more coal-fired power stations and buying oil from countries with questionable human-rights records, or whether they will invest this money in the development of new urban solutions with energy efficient solutions that can be fuelled by renewable alternatives.

WWF also wants to see how it can support progressive companies who are willing to engage in the challenges ahead and to explore ways in way we can strengthen these companies, not only at a national level, but also through finding and opening new export markets. With a strong presence in European Union (EU) and US, WWF hopes to become a constructive partner in providing support for those who see opportunities in a sustainable future.

Beyond a simple polarised perspective
Whether we like it or not, ICT will radically influence transport patterns, energy consumption, overall resource usage and, to an unknown degree, our culture and even the way we perceive the world, our relationship to it, and our actions as dictated by these new mores. Although ICT will have an enormous effect on tomorrow’s society, surprisingly little research has been conducted regarding its future environmental and social consequences.

Most of the work that has been done has reached one of two conclusions: either ICT will bring only good things, from solutions to world hunger and the elimination of all transportation problems to a revitalised democracy; or ICT will bring nothing but problems, accelerating resource consumption, introducing new toxic materials and resulting in greater inequity by introducing a digital divide that will worsen the already unequal distribution of wealth and influence. The first challenge is if we want to tackle the challenges surrounding ICT for the future, is to go beyond this polarised perspective.

The complexity of ICT makes it difficult to approach in a traditional manner, which focuses only on the direct impacts of extraction, manufacturing, use, and disposal. It is vital that all due caution be taken when responding to ICT-based challenges. The impact of ICT must be viewed in a very broad sense, from cultural changes caused by the use of new technologies, to the appearance of new possibilities for shaping a new economy in which production and consumption patterns look fundamentally different.

Seven strategic areas for action
Corporations, organisations and political parties are all very enthusiastic about ICT and its possibilities, but judging from the actual results so far, these ideas and thoughts are seldom transformed into concrete action. This lack of results often seems to stem from a lack of focus. In order to focus, a limited number of areas need to be prioritised to start with. The areas chosen are, of course, not all that need to be addressed, but are among those that require rapid progress in order to ensure that ICT development will not contribute to the acceleration of the current negative trends, but will instead contribute towards sustainable development.

ICT products
The importance of ICT products is due to two basic causes: (i) ICTs broader credibility is threatened as there is a great risk that the political system and mass media will judge the whole sector as environmentally unfriendly if the sector as a whole does not have a clear environmental strategy even if ICT products themselves have only a marginal environmental impact; (ii) The rapid increase and penetration of ICT products can, if no action is taken, result in increased energy demand and bigger quantities of toxic substances. In order to address the issue of sustainability, the sustainable approach must be integrated throughout the entire life cycle of every new product. Low energy use and the no use of toxic substances should be goals that are encouraged from Research and Development (R&D) to the final act of recycling a product.

Transport of goods
One area where ICT can contribute significantly is the transport of goods. But it could also result in further investment in a system that is inherently unsustainable. Due care must therefore be taken in order to avoid a situation where investments only result in marginal short term reductions and create an infrastructure that makes it hard to reach the necessary long term solutions. When considering a sustainable transportation system, it is important to always think in terms of service. This process, along with the encouragement of local production, could set in place a less ecologically damaging economy.