Enabling the Digital and Green Transformation - Dr. Björn-Sören Gigler Senior Digital Innovation Specialist Digital Transformation, DG CONNECT ...

Enabling the Digital and Green
       Transformation
 Dr. Björn-Sören Gigler
 Senior Digital Innovation Specialist
 Digital Transformation, DG CONNECT
 Event: Smart & Sustainable- How can Digital help
 the Green Transition, July 12, 2021

Digital as an Enabler for the Green Transformation

Intersection between Green and Digital Transformation

  •   Paris Agreement: need for innovations and technology pull and push

  •   Green and Digital transformation are taking place at the same time and are
      closely intertwined with each other

  •   Digital innovations (AI, Blockchain, IoT, supercomputing) provide
      unprecedented opportunities to enhance sustainability of economy & society

  •   Radical new thinking and business models are required- Business as usual will
      not be sufficient to address the climate crisis

  •   Getting innovations out of the lab into the market- Commercialization of digital
      clean tech solutions is an important challenge for Europe

  •   Scale-up of clean tech innovations: 2 valleys of death. Lack of early-stage
      financing and growth financing- most innovative startups leave Europe

Sustainable Digital
 Technologies

 Climate Neutral and highly                       Climate neutral electronic
 energy efficient datacentres                     communications by 2030:
 by 2030: review JRC’s CoC,                       Ø Transparency measures
 the Energy Efficiency                            Ø Administrative
 Directive and the Taxonomy                          incentives for green
 Regulation                                          deployment

 Circular Electronics                           Low power processors and software/AI:
 Initiative: Better durability,                 investing in new ultra-low-power
 reparability, refurbishment,
 recycling. “Right to repair”
 for consumers.

 ICT carbon footprint: Currently ICT responsible for ~ 3% of total
 (CO2e) emissions and rising electronics waste. Worse case scenarios
 points to 14% of total emissions by 2040. With effective Green ICT
 measures we can keep under 5%.

Digital contribution to environment & climate
                                                     Digital contribution: reduction by
                                                     15%-20% of total emissions (CO2e)
                                                     with deployment of current
                                                     technology. New, low-power digital
                                                     technologies and innovations will
Digital product passport:                            contribute further.
Data for circular business models,         Destination Earth /
competitiveness, resilience                digital twins: High
                                           Performance Computing,
Smart mobility: reduction of               AI for better anticipation
transport emissions up to                  of extreme events
37%; smart buildings with                  prediction, climate
emissions reduction by 17%;                modelling.

Green Digital Coalition to be launched in March at DD4, Porto.
Committed ICT stakeholders + NGOs to develop jointly consistent and
comparable calculators of digital enablement.

Green Digital Transformation Declaration

Digital Day- March 19, 2021

https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/eu-countries-commit-
leading-green-digital-transformation

European Green Digital Coalition

With the signature of the Declaration, the CEOs committed on behalf of their
companies to take action in the following areas:

       •Investing in the development and deployment of green digital
       solutions with significant energy and material efficiency that achieve a
       net positive impact in a wide range of sectors.
       •Developing methods and tools to measure the net impact of green
       digital technologies on the environment and climate by joining forces
       with NGOs and relevant expert organizations.
       •Co-creating, with representatives of others sectors,
       recommendations and guidelines for green digital transformation
       of these sectors that benefits environment, society and economy.

       https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/european-green-
       digital-coalition
                                                                          Source: Ilias Iakovidis

European
Green
Digital
Coalition

Digital Clean Tech Investment Initiative

•   Digital technologies, such as artificial intelligence, IoT and blockchain are
    playing an increasingly critical role for climate change mitigation and
    adaptation across multiple sectors

•   Enabling role of digital technologies: enable reduction of between 10-15% of
    GHG emissions by 2030

•   Underinvestment in green tech SMEs and startups due to their high-risk
    profiles, capital intensity, lack of collateral and long-term financing needs

•   Annual investment gap for digital cleantech of €6 billion per year in Europe
    (total annual investment $16 billion globally, with North America ($10 bill)

•   EU-SME Strategy for a Sustainable & Digital Europe: Digital Clean Tech
    Investment Program to pool resources from EU, MS, EIB/EIF and NPBs

InvestEU-
     Digital and Green

•   Address the existing investment gap for digital clean technologies in Europe

•   Key priority for InvestEU Program: support strategic digital technologies that
    support climate change mitigation and adaption, reduce GHG emissions and
    enhance the circularity of the economy

•   Digital Clean Tech Investment Initiative to pool EU resources with funding
    from Member States (RRF), IFIS (EIB, EBRD, IFC); National Promotional Banks
    and private investors.

•   Enhance the access to equity and growth finance for innovative, digital
    startups and SMEs that develop and adopt digital clean technologies

•   Investment platform to facilitate co-investment and better link innovators with
    investors EU funding

•   Advisory services to support SMEs and startups to develop bankable projects

European Parliament Pilot Project
The call for tenders for the European Parliament Pilot project that will support the
work of the European Green Digital Coalition.
The project will promote the participation of experts from academia and NGOs,
representatives of local authorities, and actors from priority sectors such as
energy, transport, construction, agriculture and manufacturing. In this context,
the tenderer will organize a consultation and coordinate the dissemination
across the EU. A high-level event will follow in 2022, including a Green Digital
Award ceremony.

Contact us:

•   Ilias Iakovidis, Advisor, Digital and Green Transformation
    Ilias.Iakovidis@ec.europa.eu
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilias-iakovidis-965b863/

• Bjorn-Soren Gigler, Senior Digital Innovation Specialist
  Bjorn-Soren.GIGLER@ec.europa.eu
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/bjorn-soren-gigler-phd-19648917/

• Anna De Marchi, Digital and Green Research Assistant
  Anna.De-Marchi@ec.europa.eu

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