A new analysis by the German tech and IT industry association Bitkom shows the potential of digitalization for climate protection: Germany could reduce its CO2 emissions by 73 million tons by 2030 if digital technologies were specifically promoted. That would correspond to a reduction of 24 percent compared to the national climate goals.
Reduction of 24% compared to national climate targets
According to the study, this is a net effect that already takes into account the emissions from the operation of digital infrastructures such as data centers and end devices.
This question is also answered by the study. The operation of the technologies, but also of end devices such as screens, computers or tablets, as well as the operation of the network infrastructure and data centers indirectly cause CO2 emissions.
CO2 footprint of digital technologies by 2030 at 3.8 million tons of Co2
If digitalization is accelerated, the carbon footprint of digital technologies in the five sectors in 2030 will be in the middle of the three projections considered at 3.8 million tons. If digitalization continues at its current pace, it will be 2.1 million tons.
The industry association Bitkom has made the study available for download here.
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