Computers, data storage, and communications devices are propelling a rapid rise in greenhouse gas emissions. By 2020, McKinsey research suggests, the manufacture, distribution, and use of such equipment (including laptops, PCs, and mobile phones) will generate 3 percent of the world’s GHG emissions. Yet our research also shows that information and communications technologies might abate far more emissions than they produce. In fact, they could eliminate 7.8 metric gigatons of greenhouse gasses annually by 2020—five times what they emit—according to McKinsey’s four-sector analysis of the opportunities, such as telecommuting and optimizing energy productivity. The exhibit below shows the trade-off.

To learn how information and communications technologies could spawn abatement opportunities in the transport, buildings, power, and manufacturing sectors, read “How IT can cut carbon emissions” (October 2008).