Harnessing ICTs for a more Sustainable Future

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are powerful tools that offer opportunities to reduce the social and economic exclusion experienced by poor communities as well as more sustainable use of the earth’s resources. This consultation identifies how their power can be better harnessed for the benefit of all.

This report provides a summary of the discussions at a Consultation held at St George’s House in Windsor Castle to identify how the power of information and communication technologies can be harnessed for a more sustainable future. Thirty people with a wide range of expertise and experience were brought together for two days and developed an Agenda for Action that dealt with the following issues:

• How to raise awareness of the potential offered by ICTs to improve the quality of people’s daily lives.
• How to reduce the barriers that currently exist to the use of such technologies in a wide range of contexts and cultures.
• How ICTs can be used to improve social, economic and environmental sustainability

This report includes sections on how ICTs can be used to erode current inequalities and alleviate poverty, on intelligent and green construction technologies, as well as highlighting the limitations of their use. It also sets out in detail how to achieve the recommendations included in the Agenda for Action.