COP21: Tech Commits to Finding Climate Change Solutions

As world leaders, business executives, the scientific community, and others meet in Paris for the COP-21 summit it is clear that the question is no longer whether our climate is changing, but how do we meet the environmental, economic, and societal challenges a changing climate will pose to humanity. Rather than accept an imperiled future, technology companies know that we can innovate and help create solutions to the challenges posed by climate change.

In a Climate Change Statement we are releasing today, ITI and our member companies have established three strategic commitments in our efforts to address global climate change. First, the tech sector aims to further reduce the carbon footprint of our operations by advancing corporate goals and policies that focus on conserving energy, reducing emissions of fossil fuels, and generating or using renewable energy whenever possible. The White House highlighted the efforts many of our companies are already undertaking in these areas as a part of the American Business Act on Climate Pledge during the COP-21 summit.

Second, ITI member companies commit to reducing the carbon footprint of our tech products over the course of their lifecycle. Even as these technologies change our daily lives for the better, the most creative and innovative companies in the world are devoting renewed attention and resources to ensuring that these products leave a more positive mark on the world by considering sustainability and energy efficiency in their creation, packaging, use, and disposal.

Third, ITI and our member companies will help enable transformational innovation via intelligent efficiency. The Internet of Things (IoT) will transform our lives and economy in ways as significant as the Internet itself did over the past two decades. IoT advances offer nearly limitless possibilities for incorporating smart technologies into our lives in ways that could not have been imagined even a few years ago. With smart cities, smart transportation, and other innovations, we are able to raise the quality of life in society, while decreasing our footprint on the Earth and its climate.

ITI and our member companies understand that we have a major stake in the fight against climate change. In addition to these strategic commitments, ITI will continue to support government policies that emphasize an innovation agenda for mitigating and adapting to our changing climate. And our commitment is global – as reflected by similar statements from other technology groups.

We are not an industry that is fond of the status quo, and when it comes to climate change the status quo is unacceptable. We are determined to use our innovative minds to find solutions to these challenges and to identify the opportunities that lie ahead to reduce carbon emissions, and to promote the research and development of new advances that are necessary to transition the world to a vibrant, sustainable, low-carbon economy.

Public Policy Tags: Energy, Climate Change, Intelligent Efficiency, Environment & Sustainability

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