GeSI CEOs join the European Green Digital Coalition, the ICTs enabling potential is in the spotlight

Launched on EU Digital Day 2021, the European Green Digital Coalition welcomes 26 member companies, 7 of which are GeSI members.

Published on: Mar 19, 2021 | Written by: Mark Evans

Brussels, 19 March 2021 – GeSI, the global association enabling digital sustainability, is proud to promote the European Green Digital Coalition, launched today at the Digital Day 2021, in collaboration with the Portuguese Presidency of the EU and the European Commission.

The Coalition counts on 26 member companies from the ICT, manufacturing and digital SMEs sectors. Signatories include the CEOs of leading GeSI members such as Accenture, Deutsche Telekom, Dassault Systems, Liberty Global, IBM, NOS and TDC.

GeSI will bring its long-standing sustainability knowledge to the Coalition, especially with regards to the enabling potential of the ICT industry in greening other sectors, but also in the field of developing trusted and internationally recognised assessment methodologies for measuring net impact. For example, GeSI’s report, ‘SMARTer 2030’, identified that ICT has the potential to enable a 20% reduction of global CO2 emissions by 2030, holding them at 2015 levels, while generating over 6 trillion USD in new revenues and close to 5 trillion USD in cost savings, including 2.3 trillion USD from energy efficiency[i].

Already today, GeSI counts the following strategic partners in this field: ITU, Carbon Trust, CDP, ETSI, UN Global Compact, Circularity Capital, Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), Columbia University, World Benchmarking Alliance, Capitals Coalition, Arabesque, UN Sustainable Development Network, UNFCCC and many others. In this context, GeSI has also launched the Digital With Purpose Movement, an ICT industry platform with a framework to accelerate the enabling power of digital technologies to meet both the Paris Agreement and UN Sustainable Development Goals.

GeSI will now work together with fellow digital associations ETNO, GSMA, European Digital SME Alliance and DIGITALEUROPE to coordinate the ICT sector participation into the Coalition.

Luis Neves, CEO of GeSI, said: “When it comes to climate neutrality, the ICT sector is a sector like no other. We can help Europe become carbon neutral thanks to the enabling potential of ICT. We are proud that many of our members joined the Coalition and we look forward to making a difference as companies kick off the practical work”.

Read the full Declaration here.
Read the European Green Digital Coalition press release here.
Read the Digital Day announcement here.

[i] GeSI, SMARTer2030