COP29 marks historic first with digital technologies in spotlight, ITU official says

The declaration announced during the high-level meeting on digitalization within COP29 today expresses the commitments of governments, the digital industry, and other stakeholders to harness digital technologies in the fight against the climate crisis, Thomas Lamanauskas, Deputy Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), said.

According to Report, he said this commitment builds upon the Green Digital Action initiative launched a year ago at COP28. The initiative has brought together over 50 partners from the digital industry and international organizations to achieve this goal.

Lamanauskas noted that today's declaration has several objectives, including leveraging digital technologies for global actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, ensuring the accessibility of digital technologies for climate action in developing countries, utilizing data for a comprehensive understanding of the impact of green solutions, promoting sustainable consumer practices, and sharing best practices in industrial policy and technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

He further highlighted the crucial importance of digital technologies being placed at the forefront of the climate agenda for the first time.

Lamanauskas thanked the COP29 Presidency for including digital technologies in the main agenda and actually announcing the first-ever digitalization date in history.