Discussions on e-waste, climate change and more at the 9th Green Standards Week in Valencia

The City of València hosted the 9th Green Standards Week from 1 to 4 October, organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) together with the Ministry of Economy and Business and the Secretary of State for Digital Advancement of Spain. More than 25 partners, including a range of StEP members, such as the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) also co-organized the event.

The Green Standards Week acts as a global platform where policymakers, field experts, city planners, regulators, standards experts, civil society, and others can come together to discuss the role of information communication technologies (ICTs) and frontier technologies in facilitating smart governance and smart sustainable cities.

On Day One, the Forum on “Frontier Technologies to Tackle Climate Change and Achieve a Circular Economy" gathered perspectives from international organizations and the private sector, with the issue of e-waste emerging as a key theme in the second session on “Circular Economy in Cities”. From the power of procurement to the concept of “circularity as a service” for telecoms, the event showcased a range of practical solutions to some of the biggest challenges we face globally today.

One such solution was presented by Joost de Kluijver, Director of Closing the Loop: an Inclusive Business Model for a Waste-free Telecom Industry. The “One for One” model based on carbon offsetting and extended producer responsibility allows for material neutral phones by collecting a scrap phone in Africa for every new phone purchased in the EU and converting the scrap phone into metals to ‘offset’ the initial footprint created by the purchase of the new phone.

Keira Ives-Keeler from UNIDO moderated the first session of the Forum on “Boosting Climate Actions to Tackle Using Frontier Technologies” where the importance of collaboration and the need to act urgently took centre stage.

The event continued throughout the week and also aims to identify the standardization requirements that would accelerate the deployment of ICTs and frontier technologies and to raise awareness on the importance and opportunities that they bring in engineering innovative climate solutions, expediting the transition to smart sustainable cities and unlocking the potential of circular economy.

For further information on this event, please see: https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/Workshops-and-Seminars/gsw/201910/Pages/default.aspx

The Opening Ceremony and U4SSC awards of the first day of the 9th Green Standards Week
València, Spain, 1-4 October 2019
©ITU/