By AMIT ROY CHOUDHURY

AS world leaders and climate control analysts grapple with global warming at the ongoing UN conference in Copenhagen, a report released yesterday showed that global carbon emissions can be reduced by as much as 25 per cent by 2020 with the proper use of technology.

The global study was done by IDC and was jointly sponsored by Fujitsu, Hitachi, HP, Intel, and Schneider Electric.

IDC's Philip Carter told BT that the use of various Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) can curb almost 5.8 billion tonnes of expected carbon dioxide (CO2) emission till 2020.

Mr Carter, who is IDC's Associate Research Director for Green IT and Sustainability Research, noted that the study examined the potential of 17 technologies to reduce CO2 emissions in four major economic sectors across the G-20 nations.

The sectors identified are Energy Generation and Distribution; Transport; Industry; and Buildings.

Within the Energy Generation and Distribution sector, which has the biggest potential for savings, Renewable Energy Management Systems (part of 'Smart Grids') offer the best opportunity to reduce CO2 emissions, the analyst said.

The research concluded that China has the biggest opportunity in this sector, with the potential to save almost 200 million tonnes of CO2 using these technologies.

Within the Transport sector, the leading investments in ICT would be within the supply chain logistics and private transport optimisation.

IDC has identified that the US has the largest opportunity within this sector and could reduce its 2020 CO2 emissions target by more than 500 million tonnes, Mr Carter said.

ICT-based solutions for Buildings have as much CO2 savings potential as the Energy and Transport sectors do.

According to the study, Energy Management Systems and Intelligent Building Designs offer the most opportunity of all technologies or nearly 12 per cent of all G-20 countries' energy savings.

For the Industry sector, savings might be made using Intelligent Motor Controllers, with China having the largest opportunity to reduce CO2 emissions, the analyst noted.

IDC Energy Insights' Research Director, Roberta Bigliani added: 'As expected, China and the US have some great opportunities ahead of them. The use of software solutions offering energy management systems should be a key focus for them and all of the G-20 nations.'

Mr Carter observed that Asia has a prominent role to play in dealing with climate change . . . We are hopeful that governments start to identify technology areas raised in the study and provide incentives for companies and consumers to start using them more specifically to reduce carbon emissions.'

In addition to the results of the study, IDC released its first ICT Sustainability Index, in which the G-20 nations have been ranked on their ability to reduce their CO2 emissions through the focused use of ICT.

The results showed that Japan was the leading G-20 nation leading by a considerable margin over the US (2nd), Brazil, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom (tied for 3rd). Other national rankings included South Korea (11th), China (12th), India (13th), Russia (15th), and South Africa (19th).

Mr Carter noted that a number of countries in the Asia Pacific have to deal with very extensive distribution networks - countries such as Indonesia, China and India. 'Supply chain optimisation technologies can be implemented to create a more intelligent transport network.'

He added that in Singapore, the use of video-conferencing technology can have a major impact on reducing the need for air travel for multi-national companies that have regional headquarters here.

Each of the 17 technology areas has commercial applications, and we are hopeful that enterprises in the region will adopt these technologies to reduce the impact of their operations on the environment, Mr Carter said.

He added: 'The good thing is that it makes good business sense too because in the majority of situations, these technologies have a positive impact on the bottom line if implemented and rolled out correctly.'

This article was first published in The Business Times.