IT should be seen as key to reducing emissions in any successor to the Kyoto Protocol agreed in Copenhagen this December, according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

The body – which is an agency of the UN –says specific mention of the critical role of information and communication technology in the Copenhagen draft agreement will help commit policy makers around the world to seeking technical solutions to reducing emissions.

"Since the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in December 1997, the number of ICT users has tripled worldwide, yet ICTs find no mention in the current draft agreement," the union said in a statement.

"If the ingenuity of technological innovation has inadvertently created environmental damage, the ITU believes the same drive to innovate can be harnessed through ICTs to reduce carbon footprint across all industry sectors."

A recent study estimated that more effective use of ICTs could help reduce total global emissions by 15 per cent by 2020, representing carbon savings five times higher than the estimated emissions for the whole ICT sector in 2020.

The Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) estimates that these reductions could deliver energy efficiency savings to global businesses of over €500bn.

The union says smart grids, sustainable networks, energy-efficient datacentres, teleworking, intelligent cars, smart buildings and energy-efficient workspaces will all be key in reducing emissions.

And intelligent transport systems such as parking guidance systems, GPS and RFID-based road pricing schemes can all help reduce journey distances.

And the unions says using satellite monitoring instead of ground-monitoring for farming needs can reduce CO2 emissions by 97 per cent.

In Africa, the UN has teamed up with mobile phone companies and other partners to install 5,000 new weather stations to monitor the impact of climate change, transmitting news immediately to farmers’ mobile phones via text messages.

A study by Gartner in 2007 found IT to be responsible for 2 per cent of global emissions worldwide.