Meddelelse fra Kommisjonen til Europaparlamentet, Rådet, Det europeiske økonomiske og sosiale utvalg og Regionskomiteen om mobilisering av informasjons- og kommunikasjonsteknologier for å lette overgangen til en energieffektiv lavkarbon-økonomi
Mobilisering av IKT for en energieffektiv lavkarbon-økonomi
Meddelelse lagt fram av Kommisjonen 12.3.2009
Nærmere omtale
BAKGRUNN (fra kommisjonsmeddelelsen, engelsk utgave)
In December 2008, the European Union reiterated its commitment [1] to meeting its energy savings and carbon emissions targets by 2020 and stressed the urgency to step up efforts towards improving energy efficiency [2]. Energy efficiency is at the heart of the Union’s efforts to tackle the problems of energy security and climate change [3]. With the recent financial crisis and downturn in the European economy, the case for energy and resource efficiency gains has become even stronger.
Reorienting technological innovation towards the challenges of energy-efficient and lowcarbon growth will help Europe emerge from the economic crisis on a more sustainable footing. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are known for their broader, economy-wide capacity for energy saving and for their potential to effect rapid and profound change across every facet of society, government and industry.
What is now needed is a policy framework that embeds ICTs squarely in the efforts to confront the crises we face today. Europe has an opportunity to take a leading position in delivering such a framework and the challenge is to seize it. A number of international organisations including the OECD [4] are also looking at ICTs in anticipation of the United Nations Climate Change Conference which will determine the follow-up to the Kyoto protocol.
This Communication presents a set of ambitious measures that focus on what can be achieved in the short term both by the ICT sector and by fully exploiting the enabling capacity of ICTs in all sectors of society and the economy. It provides the background to a Recommendation to be adopted by the Commission in the second half of 2009. The Recommendation will set out tasks, targets and timelines, for industry stakeholders and Member States to accelerate progress towards these ends.
1 Council of the European Union, Presidency Conclusions 7224/1/07, 4 May 2007.
2 Council of the European Union, Presidency Conclusions 17271/08, 12 December 2008.
3 COM(2006) 545; COM(2008) 30.
4 OECD Conference ICTs, the Environment and Climate Change, Copenhagen, May 2009.
In December 2008, the European Union reiterated its commitment [1] to meeting its energy savings and carbon emissions targets by 2020 and stressed the urgency to step up efforts towards improving energy efficiency [2]. Energy efficiency is at the heart of the Union’s efforts to tackle the problems of energy security and climate change [3]. With the recent financial crisis and downturn in the European economy, the case for energy and resource efficiency gains has become even stronger.
Reorienting technological innovation towards the challenges of energy-efficient and lowcarbon growth will help Europe emerge from the economic crisis on a more sustainable footing. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are known for their broader, economy-wide capacity for energy saving and for their potential to effect rapid and profound change across every facet of society, government and industry.
What is now needed is a policy framework that embeds ICTs squarely in the efforts to confront the crises we face today. Europe has an opportunity to take a leading position in delivering such a framework and the challenge is to seize it. A number of international organisations including the OECD [4] are also looking at ICTs in anticipation of the United Nations Climate Change Conference which will determine the follow-up to the Kyoto protocol.
This Communication presents a set of ambitious measures that focus on what can be achieved in the short term both by the ICT sector and by fully exploiting the enabling capacity of ICTs in all sectors of society and the economy. It provides the background to a Recommendation to be adopted by the Commission in the second half of 2009. The Recommendation will set out tasks, targets and timelines, for industry stakeholders and Member States to accelerate progress towards these ends.
1 Council of the European Union, Presidency Conclusions 7224/1/07, 4 May 2007.
2 Council of the European Union, Presidency Conclusions 17271/08, 12 December 2008.
3 COM(2006) 545; COM(2008) 30.
4 OECD Conference ICTs, the Environment and Climate Change, Copenhagen, May 2009.