Climate change mitigation in developing countries using ICT as an enabling tool

Abstract

ICT is envisaged to be an important tool in the communication of climate change mitigation technologies, which are necessarily of low carbon footprint in order to reduce GHG emissions. This paper, based on literature, illustrates how new and emerging ICTs will be applied in developing countries to mitigate impacts of climate change. It highlights some smart applications, like the smart grid, mobile phone, ICT-enabled technologies for energy efficiency and management, ICT-enabled smart technologies for transportation, land use change and forestry emissions mitigation, smart motors for enhancing carbon footprint reduction in manufacturing and smart buildings technologies. Detailed review and analysis of emerging economies, notably China and Brazil, were used to identify and recommend appropriate ICT-enabled climate change mitigation technologies. It concludes that while ICTs with low carbon footprints are potentially capable of mitigating impacts of climate change, there are existing constraints that these countries must overcome, including capacity building and ICT-embedded carbon-offset project financing. It is recommended that collaboration among policymakers, academia, research and business be enhanced, and capacity building could go a long way towards the realisation of this.