Just call, don’t fly
Perhaps a cynic would expect the CEO of a telecommunications operator to believe that increased use of telecoms for teleworking and conference calling can reduce carbon emissions, as Sol Trujillo of Telstra in Australia has argued. But even naked self-interest is good, if it helps us avoid catastrophic climate change.
The Telstra report, entitled “Towards a High-Bandwidth, Low-Carbon Future: Telecommunications-based Opportunities to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions”, is available from this page.
Megan Smirti said:
Great post. In the University of California, Berkeley climate action plan, they estimate the potential GHG savings from promoting conference calls and video conferencing to reduce flight travel to and from the university. This could reduce flight demand and also emissions from airport access modes. Happy to see more attention to this small but potentially powerful initiative.
Peter said:
Thanks, Megan.
Good luck with your PhD research!