ICT and Green Sustainability Research and Teaching

The centrality of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in modern life means that ICT plays a part in many aspects of human activity. The search for ways to mitigate the effects of climate change is no exception, and the many potential roles which ICT can play, including the ability to enable data gathering for monitoring purposes; to deliver alternative ways of working; to change supply chains and to control transport and energy supply are well understood. Indeed, examples like these are widely used in predictions of our future. However, ICT has a dual role: as an enabler of change it can support changes to societal behaviour which can reduce the environmental impact of life, housing, work and leisure activities, but as a significant user of resources, it is a contributor to the adverse effects. In order to fully reap the benefits of ICT's contribution while limiting the resource requirements, we require education and research Meeting the separate but related challenges of delivering sustainability by the intelligent use of ICT, whilst maximizing ICT's own sustainability is not a simple task. Education is necessary to make all those involved general public and ICT professionals aware of the situation and to give them the understanding necessary to make changes, to conduct research to explore the potential of new methods and processes, and to verify that they can make a positive difference. This paper considers the state of ICT education and identifies that sustainability is not in the forefront of consideration, it is suggested that much of the research that is being carried out is often not defined as sustainability or green IT research, and discusses ways in which these issues might be addressed. (C) 2017, IFAC (International Federation of Automatic Control) Hosting by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.