Greening Digital in Korea : Korea Case Study for Greening the ICT Sector
Digital technologies are making a significant impact on societies, economies, and the physical world, presenting both opportunities and challenges for the green agenda. Applications of these technologies in sectors such as energy, urban, transport,...
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
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Washington, DC
2022
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/152001645712665901/Greening-Digital-in-Korea-Korea-Case-Study-for-Greening-the-ICT-Sector http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37554 |
| Summary: | Digital technologies are making a
significant impact on societies, economies, and the physical
world, presenting both opportunities and challenges for the
green agenda. Applications of these technologies in sectors
such as energy, urban, transport, and agriculture are
creating new possibilities for climate change mitigation
strategies. However, the rapid expansion of digital
technologies increases energy usage too, and is therefore
also increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In seeking
to address these challenges, the World Bank’s Digital
Development Global Practice (DD) will publish a flagship
report on Digital Development Opportunities for Climate
Change, which will assess opportunities for greening with
information communication technology (ICT), as well as
opportunities for greening the ICT sector itself. To inspire
and inform this flagship report, DD studied Korea’s
experience in greening its ICT sector, with support from the
Korean Green Growth Trust Fund. The Republic of Korea was
selected for the case study due to its experience in both
the digital and green sectors, and its status as a globally
recognized ICT powerhouse. The country was also an early
adopter of a green policy agenda, and is integrating DNA
(data, network, and AI) into these policies. The government
announced a national policy vision of “Low Carbon, Green
Growth” in 2008 and has taken concrete steps to build a
solid foundation for the green transition, through
legislation, standardization, information-based instruments,
economic instruments, research and development (R&D),
and green procurement. More recently, the country has been
aligning its green ICT strategy with the broader national
GHG reduction target. Korea's experience can offer
meaningful lessons to other countries looking to reduce the
ICT sector’s climate impact. It shows that public policies
have an important impact on the ICT market. The policy tools
that can spur decarbonization of the ICT sector include
green government procurement, information-based instruments,
economic instruments, and provision of guidelines on green
business practices. Keys to success in applying such tools
include strong and early political commitment; long-term
planning and comprehensive policies; prioritization;
research and development (R&D) and investment; and a
governance structure that allows a whole-of-government
approach. Additionally, Korea’s experience shows that
renewable energy will play an increasingly important role in
reducing GHG emissions from the energy-intensive ICT
industry. Korea’s experience also underscores the fact that
more evidence and analysis are needed to measure and
determine the effectiveness of policy and regulatory
pathways for greening the ICT sector. |
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