TALKING

But while Australia is on track to meet its commitments to reduce emissions by 26 – 28 % below 2005 levels by 2030 , the bar has been significantly lifted and the pressure is on to follow other leading economies on the path toward a more sustainable future .

Nations around the world have begun their move toward becoming greener , with aggressive policies and incentives to drive their nations toward their 2050 targets . Furthermore , there are talks abroad of carbon border taxes on imported products and services ; if nations do not meet certain emissions requirements , they could be subject to tariffs at the border , making them financially uncompetitive .

This poses a significant challenge to Australia . While our residential adoption of solar penetration is among the best in the world , this isn ’ t the long-term answer to our base load needs . We have a poor adoption of new cleaner technologies , such as electric vehicles , which accounted for just 0.4 % of new car sales this year and which also have their own issues to address .

While they emit zero tailpipe emissions , they are recharged by a ( mostly ) coal-powered electrical grid . And while hydrogen power band fuel cells could potentially offer a long-term solution , particularly for long-haul freight transport , success is certainly not guaranteed .

as green ammonia and renewable ethanol where it makes sense – noting that these technologies have their uses , but none alone are a ‘ silver bullet .’

But clearly in the short term , the best thing we can do is to significantly and immediately reduce our power consumption . While traditionally the technology sector has been a large emitter , the pandemic turned everything up a notch .

According to the Australian Energy Council , in 2018 ‘ data centers are anticipated to grow to consume a fifth of all the world ’ s energy by 2025 ’ and had ‘ the fastest growing CO ₂ within the ICT sector due to technological advances such as cloud computing and the rapid growth of the Internet .’

Fast forward to today . We ’ re now living in a world in which cloud computing and online communications have never been more important , with people working from home and streaming TV more than ever before . Australians set a record for the highest data ever downloaded in the history of the National Broadband Network ( nbn ) in August last year , with download rates almost doubling to 16.2 terabits per second on the prepandemic traffic baseline .

Matt Vesperman , Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand , Ciena

So , what can we do ? Yes , we need to keep investing in renewable energy , including the significant ramping of solar applications in a nation that proudly calls itself the ‘ sunburnt country .’ We also need to selectively deploy wind turbines and other emerging technologies – such

It ’ s imperative that we drive toward more energyefficient networking technologies . Telcos , enterprises and governments need the components that make up their networks to be as green as possible , setting new standards for sustainable outcomes .

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