Green ICT: A Strategy for Sustainable Development of China’s Electronic Information Industry

Abstract

Under the national strategy of “let informatisation drive industrialisation, and let industrialisation promote informatisation”, China’s electronic information industry, also referred to as the information and communication technology (ICT) industry, has achieved continuous and dramatic development during the last three decades, and become one of the essential pillar industries of China’s national economy. Much effort has been devoted to increasing the industry’s profit margin, improving indigenous innovation and overcoming the negative effects of the 2008 financial crisis, but environmental issues have traditionally received less attention from industrial manufacturers and users of ICT products. Severe pollution issues and environmental challenges therefore emerge at the different stages of the lifecycle of ICT products. China is still in its infancy in building up a green ICT industry. This paper discusses the importance and impacts of current environmental challenges faced by the electronic information industry. It proposes the implementation of green ICT as a key strategy to ensure environment-friendly use of ICT equipment and to maintain sustainable development of China’s ICT industry in the long term.