Method for Calculating the Avoided Impact of Specific Information and Communication Technology Services

Abstract

Particular Information and Communication Technology (ICT) services can help avoid environmental impact in larger contexts. However, there is no commonly agreed bottom-up methodology for calculation of the total net reduction effect of specific digital ICT services. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a common denominator for most methodologies. The most common method is the Attributional LCA (ALCA), and recently the emerging handprint ALCA estimating so-called positive environmental impacts. Moreover, Consequential LCA (CLCA) can be used to capture market effects. The third conceptual approach is Input-Output LCA. The purpose is to propose and test a new method based on some of the existing ones. The existing concepts are compared and a synthesis is made to create a practical but still useful method. The new method is applied to two illustrative cases in the ICT domain; the introduction of a 5G enabled drone for pipe inspection and the 5G enabled health consultation. Compared to simplified ALCA, the difference between the absolute scores for the baseline system and the target system changes around 10% when the proposed simplified CLCA (SCLCA) method is used. The results show that SCLCA, when combined with analytical methods for expressing digital ICT services’ own impact, is a fruitful approach which is both practical and feasible. The new method includes formulae for calculating the total lifetime environmental impact of a specific ICT Equipment when reused or replaced.