ICT as Clean Technology

Related links:

http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/worksem/climatechange/2008/programme-kyoto.html

http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/worksem/climatechange/2008/programme-london.html

ICTs as a clean technology (from: http://www.itu.int/themes/climate/docs/report/05_ICTCleanTechnology.html)

The key to combating global warming is to stabilize and eventually reduce GHG emissions. The main output of the ICT sector is information rather than physical goods (“bits”, not “atoms”), a concept sometimes referred to as “dematerialization”. Thus, ICTs can contribute greatly to developing new efficient technologies and to reducing the global GHG emissions that emanate from other sectors of the economy.

Reducing carbon emissions will require changes in lifestyle and behaviour, but changes in management practices can also have a positive impact. ICTs can help with this, either:

directly, by reducing the ICT sector’s own energy requirements;

indirectly, through using ICTs for carbon displacement, or

in a systemic way, by providing the technology to implement and monitor carbon reductions in other sectors of the economy.

ITU has already demonstrated its interest in climate change and environmental issues, for example with the approval, in 1996, of Recommendation ITU–T L.24: “Classification of outside plant waste”. This Recommendation recognizes the effects which “exotonic” waste products could have on human beings and nature, and suggests studies of alternative materials that would respect the environment.

In December 2007, ITU–T’s Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Group (TSAG) advised the Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau (TSB) to provide, in a systemic way, the necessary standards to implement and monitor climate change, including through carbon reduction in other sectors of the economy. Moreover, TSAG encouraged the drafting of a Question relating to the reduction of GHG emissions through the implementation of ITU–T Recommendations for the 2009–2012 quadrennial, together with a draft resolution on ICTs and climate change, for consideration by the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly in October 2008.

All ITU–T study groups are encouraged to evaluate existing and new Recommendations to identify their impact on climate change and demonstrate, in a way that is measurable, how such Recommendations contribute to the reduction of GHG emissions in the production and use of equipment.

One good example is provided by next-generation networks (NGN), a new type of communications network that has been a major focus of ITU’s work in recent years. NGN are expected to reduce energy consumption by 40 per cent, compared to today’s PSTN technology. The savings will be achieved in a number of ways, including:

A significant decrease in the number of switching centres required.

More tolerant climatic range specifications for NGN switching locations.

Implementation of standards, such as the “very high speed digital subscriber line transceivers 2”, or VDSL2 (also known as Recommendation ITU–T G.993.2) which recognizes the need for devices to have three power modes (full, low and “sleep”), rather than being fully powered all the time.

The ICT industry is already taking steps to reduce CO2 emissions. For instance:

BT plc, the host of the second of the two ITU symposia on “ICTs and Climate Change”, has already achieved a 60 per cent reduction in 1996 CO2 emissions, an annual saving of almost one million tonnes of CO2, and has committed to reducing them by 80 per cent by 2016.

Members of the European Telecommunication Networks Operators’ association (ETNO) have succeeded in reducing their overall carbon emissions by 7 per cent and their carbon intensity (per unit of turnover) by 14 per cent between 2000 and 2003.

The Japanese incumbent operator, NTT, saved some 124 million kWh of electricity during 2007. It is also converting its vehicle fleet to low-emission vehicles and is experimenting with growing sweet potatoes on the roofs of its offices in order to reduce heat loss in winter and reduce heat absorption in summer.

The application of ITU Recommendations, especially those that relate to energy saving in ICT equipment, can go a long way to generating savings of greenhouse gas emissions in the ICT sector. ITU–T Study Group 15 has developed an energy-saving checklist for standards development. As shown in Figure 2, the transmission capacity of different generations of access network technology is doubling almost every year. The challenge is to achieve continually rising transmission capacity while stabilizing, or reducing, the power requirements.

Figure 2 — Relationship between bit rate and power consumption over time
Can we increase speed while saving power?

Note — LT stands for line termination and NT for network termination.

Source: Faulkner, David, et al (2008), " ITU-T SG15 WP/1 access network transport, energy-saving checklist", available at: www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-t/oth/09/05/T09050000010007PDFE.pdf

Already, new radio technologies — such as digital modulation for broadcasting and ultra-wideband (UWB) employing extremely low power, smart antennas — are reducing power requirements and, consequently, greenhouse gas emissions. All ITU–R study groups are concentrating their studies not only on increasing service quality and the efficient use of the radio spectrum, but also on energy saving and reduction of power consumption. For instance, the Regional Radiocommunication Conference 2006 (RRC-06), which involved 120 countries, developed a new digital broadcasting Plan GE06. The Plan envisages significant reduction (almost 10 times) of transmitter power due to the use of digital modulation. Moreover, the number of transmitters (there are tens of thousands of transmitters around the world with power of up to 100–150 kW each, most of them operating 24 hours a day) may be reduced due to the possibility of transmitting several television and sound programmes in one channel (instead of one television programme per radio-frequency channel).

Common theories used in IS research - acceptance & usage + limitation of TAM

From: Mads Bødker, Greg Gimpel and Jonas Hedman, 2009, p. 2

In the study of adoption and use of information technology, researchers have adopted and applied different behavioral models from cognitive psychology (Benbasat and Barki, 2007).

To explain the adoption and use of information technology in different contexts, a significant body of literature has built upon the Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975), Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1985, 1991), Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1989; Davis, Bagozzi, and Warshaw, 1989) and Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (Venkatesh, Morris, Davis, and Davis, 2003).

Recently, TRA has been used to gage attitudes about mobile advertising (Wong and Tang, 2008) and to shed light on blog participation (Hsu and Lin, 2008). The Theory of Planned Behavior continues to advance ICT research by expanding to include new types of IT systems (Dinev and Qing, 2007) and to the acceptance of broadband among different groups (Hsieh, Rai, and Keil, 2008). Other studies use UTAUT to study computer applications in non-Western countries (Al-Gahtani, Hubona, and Wang, 2007) or to investigate the adoption of ecommerce in developing nations (Uzoka, 2008).

The most established is the Technology Acceptance Model, which has been and still is used widely in information systems research (Venkatesh et al., 2007), including the recent study of topics such as wireless data networks (Yoon and Kim, 2007) and mobile communications (Zhang and Mao, 2008).

Even though TAM is among the most influential behavioral models, recent literature has questioned whether it directs researchers’ attention away from the antecedents of belief and does not take into account the IT artifact or its design; thus neglecting important outcomes of information technology (Benbasat and Barki, 2007). Other have argued that TAM is reaching maturity (Venkatesh et al., 2007). This, coupled with the need for alternative perspectives (Venkatesh et al., 2007), establish the need to explore alternative theories that may explain the adoption and use of advanced wireless devices.

Orlikowski & Ianoco's view of IT artefacts

Orlikowski & Iacono's (2001) examination of IS literature has led them to identify five conceptualizations of the IT artifact which represent alternative views of how IS researchers have treated technology in their research.
  1. Tool view: The tool view views the IT artifact as not problematic and independent variable. The focus is on the type of using IT either for information processing, enhance productivity, shift social relationships, etc.
  2. Proxy view: focusing on one or few aspects of IT including logics about: human understanding of technology, diffusion of technology in organizations, the extent to which technology is integrated in the social system, and the monetary measures of technology that is the value of technology to organizations.
  3. Ensemble view: a packaged view of technology including tasks, people, policies, devices, and how technology is the way it and how it is used.
  4. Computational view: focuses on the computational power of IT disregarding how people interact with technology.
  5. Nominal view: technology is absent and only mentioned by name. The IT artifact is neither dependent nor independent variable thus it’s an omitted variable.
Orlikowski, W., Iacono, C. (2001): Research commentary: desperately seeking the “IT” in IT research—a call to theorizing about the IT artifact. Information Systems Research, 12(2), 121-134.

What is conceptual framework and conceptual theory-building?

This is excerpt from Carter & Rogers, 2008 about developing conceptual framework using what they call conceptual theory-building methods (citing Meredith, 1993).

Conceptual theory-building methods can create a balance between inductive and deductive reasoning and research and can help academics to lead and guide managerial practice (Meredith, 1993). In this paper, we develop what Meredith (1993, p. 7) refers to as a conceptual framework – “a collection of two or more interrelated propositions which explain an event, provide understanding, or suggest testable hypotheses” – of SSCM.

The methodology to accomplish this theory building consists of an integration of “a number of different works . . . summariz(ing) the common elements, contrast(ing) the differences, and extend(ing) the work in some fashion,” (Meredith, 1993, p. 8) and also through the definition of variables and the development of “specific predictions” (Wacker, 1998, p. 368) based on this integration of existing theory along with “logical
deduction” which bring about the conceptual framework’s propositions (Handfield and Melnyk, 1998, p. 323).

 

Reference

Meredith, J. (1993), “Theory building through conceptual methods”, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 13 No. 5, pp. 3-11.

 

The three "E" = efficiency, effectiveness and equity

From: Winsemius, P. & Guntram, U 1992, 'Responding to the environmental challenge', Business Horizons, vol. 35, no. 2, pp. pp. 12-20.

These three "e" concepts are not so new after all. I traced it back to a paper by Winsemius & Guntram (1992) that say exactly below:

"... Faced with such increasing pressures, many companies have taken positive initiatives. However, new thinking is still needed for society to develop solutions that simultaneously satisfy three criteria: effectiveness (contributing to improving the environment); efficiency (improving the environment at the minimum cost); and equity (showing fairness in the burden sharing among players). To achieve these three criteria, the divisions that currently separate the players in the environmental policy-making arena must be bridged." (p. 12)

 

These have been reintroduced under the label eco-efficiency, eco-equity and eco-effectiveness by other authors. This is from my proposal:

Malhotra et al (2010) posit that the benefits of technological use in the pursuit of eco-sustainability can be framed using the three eco-sustainability goals: eco-efficiency (DeSimone & Popoff, 1997), eco-equity (Gray & Bebbington, 2000) and eco-effectiveness (McDonough & Braungart, 1998).  

 

  1. Eco-efficiency refers to a businesses’ ability to deliver “competitively priced goods and services that satisfy human needs and bring quality of life while progressively reducing ecological impacts” (DeSimone & Popoff, 1997; 47).
  2. Eco-equity focuses on the equal rights of people to environmental resources and a business’s ‘social responsibility’ for the future generations (Gray & Bebbington, 2000).
  3. Meanwhile, the general idea of eco-effectiveness is to stop contamination and depletion by directing individual and organizational attention to the underlying and fundamental factors of environmental problems through a fundamental redesign of the system (McDonough & Braungart, 1998).

In brief, eco-equity goal tries to capture the equity between peoples and generations; eco-efficiency captures the notion of reducing (e.g material and energy inputs per unit of output) and eco-effectiveness captures the idea of overall ecological footprints (Gray & Bebbington, 2000). Therefore, it is argued that the use of “Green IS” in organisations should be able to bring quantifiable benefits for achieving the three eco-sustainability goals

 

Dissenting views on climate change #2 - David Henderson's

From: http://www.warwickhughes.com/blog/?p=173

David Henderson questions today’s received opinion on climate change

May 19th, 2008 by Warwick Hughes

This is a very readable and concise summing up of reasons to be skeptical of the IPCC. I have converted David Henderson’s speech to an html page here

[Note by WSH, this post re-written 24 May. The webpage speech of David Henderson is unchanged]

Summary

David Henderson recently commented on a major presentation by Professor Mohan Munasinghe, a Vice-Chair of the IPCC. He argues that today’s received opinion on climate change issues incorporates three mutually reinforcing and unwarranted
presumptions:

  1. That the official policy consensus, as widely interpreted today by governments and international agencies, mirrors prevailing scientific opinion and goes no further than it would warrant.
  2. That prevailing scientific opinion must now be viewed as no longer open to serious question.
  3. That the process of review and inquiry from which prevailing scientific opinion has emerged, and in particular the IPCC process as its leading element, are professionally above reproach.

In his view, all these beliefs are unfounded. They show a lack of awareness respectively of the present extent of overstatement, overconfidence, and ingrained bias.

Not for the first time, Henderson draws attention to the failure on the part of treasuries and finance ministries across the world to treat climate change issues in an inforrned and resourceful way.

Dissenting views on climate change #1

From here: http://www.warwickhughes.com/blog/?page_id=11

A Critical Examination of Climate Change

On these web pages we take a critical look at climate change and particularly climate change over the last 25 years where data is good. Some of the material comes from an old website at erols.com that now no longer exists. Much of material will be new based on new developments in the last few years.

The material is organized into several categories, with introductory statements on this page and more detail discussion in the links. The material will be updated form time to time.

PROBLEMS WITH THE GREENHOUSE WARMING THEORY

There are several problems with the theoretical underpinnings of the standard IPCC theory of global warming due to anthropogenic greenhouse gases (AGHG). These problems are listed here with more discussion in the links.

1. The IPCC theory has a roughly 3.5 W/m2 decrease in outgoing thermal radiation from a doubling of carbon dioxide. The number is based upon an instantaneous doubling of carbon dioxide and assumes no change in the continuum radiation. This topic is discussed further here.

2. The sensitivity of climate without any feedbacks is (33 C / 148 W/m2) or 0.22 C/W/m2, so the basic change in climate is 0.22 * 3.5 C or 0.7 C for a doubling of carbon dioxide. Recently Schwartz has deduced empirically that the climate sensitivity is approximately 0.25 C/W/m2, and equilibrium time is 2-3 years (Requirements for empirical determination of Earth’s climate sensitivity by S. E. Schwartz at the AAAS Annual Meeting, Denver CO, February 14-18, 2003 http://www.ecd.bnl.gov/steve/abstracts/Empirical.html). Most empirical determinations of climate sensitivity place it somewhere between 0.07 and 0.26 C/W/m2.

In contrast, the IPCC says a doubling of carbon dioxide will cause a warming of 1.5 to 4.5 C and have a climate sensitivity between 0.43 and 1.29 C/W/m2. They get these high numbers by assuming a number of positive feedbacks exist including changes in water vapor, cloud cover, and snow and ice cover. The water vapor feedback is incorrect and is discussed here.

3. The sum total of all feedbacks is assumed to be positive. Recent published work shows they are negative and these results are reviewed here.

4. IPCC economic models overestimate the rate at which carbon dioxide will enter the atmosphere over the next century. It leads to farfetched warming numbers such as 5.8 C. A critique is offered here.

5. Some easily modeled effects such as an increase in depolarization factor of air with more carbon dioxide are totally neglected in the climate models. Further discussion here.

Summary: Based upon the first three points above, the upper limit on warming due to a doubling of carbon dioxide is 0.7 C and it is probably much less. The high numbers used by the IPCC are not supported by measurements.

ALTERNATIVE EXPLANATIONS FOR THE RECENT WARMING

According to the surface measurements, climate has warmed by about 0.18 C/decade since 1979. Many people attribute all this warming to AGHGs, but alternative explanations exist. They are listed below with links to further discussion.

1. The sun may have warmed over the last 25 years and caused most if not all the warming as discussed here.
2. The albedo of the Earth has decreased (the planet is getting darker and absorbing more radiation). This will warm the planet and is discussed here. Land use changes are also discussed here.

3. Contrails have increased in recent years and will lead to a warming on regional and perhaps a global scale as discussed here.
4. Fossil fuel burning releases heat directly to the atmosphere and will cause a warming over the continents. It is discussed here.

5. Urban heat islands (UHI) are substantial (several degrees Celsius in many cases and larger than the predicted AGHG warming). Placing thermometers near cities and downwind of cities may lead to a warming that is falsely attributed to AGHGs. The effect is substantial and is discussed here along with a mention of land use changes. Further support that urban heat islands represent half of the reported warming in the twentieth century (0.3 C out of 0.6 C) comes by examining the changes in the diurnal temperature range (DTR).
6. Other explanations for the recent warming include:

a. Decrease in explosive volcanic eruptions in recent years.

b. Increased intensity of El Nino in the last few years.

c. More carbon aerosols (soot) in the atmosphere.

d. Soot on snow.

e. Decreased stratospheric ozone.

f. Internal changes in circulation such as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), and Arctic Oscillation (AO).

CLIMATE MODEL VALIDATION SCORECARD

Starting in 1997, we created a scorecard to see how climate model predictions were matching observations. The picture is not pretty with most of the predictions being wrong in magnitude and often in sign. An updated version of the scorecard can be found here. It may be updated yet more depending upon the publicity that a claim receives or if readers send suggestions.

iPad vs. texbook. Which one is "greener"?

Students ditch the books in favour of iPads

SPAIN-US-IT-COMPANY-LIFESTYLE-APPLE-IPAD

Some schools are phasing out textbooks in favour of the new iPad / AFP Source: AFP

SCHOOLS are moving to get rid of textbooks and replace them with hi-tech devices such as the new iPad.

Several state and private schools have started testing the iPad amid concerns that students' bags are being overloaded with books.

The launch of Apple's new product on Friday caused huge excitement with thousands of iPads bought over the weekend.

But Melbourne's Brighton Grammar has had one for two months as part of a research project on e-learning.

The school's community education director, John Phillips, said yesterday that the long-term goal was to phase out textbooks.

"With the one device we've replaced textbooks, we've replaced the student diary, we've replaced the need for a graphics calculator," he said.

Mr Phillips said that a Melbourne IT firm and senior students were working on education applications to deliver course material through the iPad.

Year 7 student James Kay said he couldn't wait for the day when school bags were lighter.

"I always have trouble getting all my textbooks and keeping track of them all," he said.

"They get pretty heavy and you start to get a bit of a sore shoulder. Having one or two things would be a lot easier to carry around and find."

Under a State Government program, eight public schools will get a total of 500 iPads to try out.

The schools include the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School and Manor Lakes P-12 Specialist College in Wyndham Vale.

Premier John Brumby said the iPad would complement student use of netbooks and interactive whiteboards as the Government introduced the Ultranet - an online learning system for state schools.

"This trial will allow us to understand the impact of iPads on student learning and communication, and on the way teachers plan and deliver curriculum in the classroom," he said. ((BUT WHAT ABOUT THE IMPACT ON ECO-SUSTAINABILITY? LESSER PRINTED TEXTBOOKS = LESS PAPER, LESS INK TO PRINT THE BOOKS, LESS TREES BEING CUT DOWN)).

Parents Victoria spokeswoman Elaine Crowle said she welcomed the move away from textbooks provided the new technology was eventually rolled out to all students.

"It's a huge concern the amount of books that students are required to carry to get their homework done," she said.

Examples of "Green IS"

From: http://www.channelinsider.com/c/a/Cisco/Cisco-Iceland-Volcano-Boosts-Video-Conferencing-153040/

The Iceland Volcano that has created a cloud of ash over Europe is yielding an unexpected result -- an increase in video conferencing demand as business travel across the continent is disrupted.

OSLO/LONDON (Reuters) - The videoconferencing industry is getting a boost in demand from the disruption to business travel across Europe caused by a volcano in Iceland, Cisco Systems said.

"The only evidence is anecdotal, but you will not get a demo room in any of the Cisco facilities," said Fredrik Halvorsen, former Tandberg CEO and head of the Cisco Systems's TelePresence Technology Group. "We have seen a huge spike in usage."

Large parts of Europe enforced no-fly rulings for a fifth day on Monday because of a huge ash cloud from an Icelandic volcano that has caused the worst air travel chaos since the September 11 attacks.

Cisco became the biggest maker of videoconferencing equipment on Monday as its $3.3 billion acquisition of Tandberg, announced last October, closed. It is already the world's biggest network equipment maker.

Norwegian tech start-up Videoworks, which opened for business on Monday, said it would begin supplying a range of high-definition conferencing systems based on technology from Sony. One of the company's founders came from a top sales position at Tandberg.

Videoworks Chief Executive Even Zimmer said the volcano will make business people think about the benefits of videoconferencing.

"The timing is very good. The market's growing and the consequences of the ash cloud won't be forgotten very soon," Zimmer said.

The videoconferencing sector has seen a flurry of acquisitions and, analysts say, is a key growth area as companies seek to cut business travel costs.

On a smaller scale, Logitech International SA has acquired privately held video conferencing company LifeSize Communications and U.S. based Polycom is attracting interest as the only major public videoconferencing company left without a deal.

(Editing by Tarmo Virki and Erica Billingham)

>> What's the tipping point for the use of VC? Do we need to experience another natural disaster like the Icelandic volcano eruption in order for us to go "green"? Do we want to see a global endemic like the H1N1 or bird flu first before we decide that VC is a solution to reduce travel (and avoiding the hassle of flying/getting infected etc??)


+++

From: http://daysofchange.org/support/organisation-pledges/increase-use-of-teleconferencing-and-video-conferencing.aspx?idPledge=50d8927d-645e-4dda-9b44-a0216785c679&idGroupType=2a9cdea0-f7d2-440d-a187-9ce800cc858a

Avoid 10% of scheduled business air travel through increased use of webinars, teleconferences, videoconferences

Replace at least one out of ten business trip with a teleconference, and save time and money while reducing your ecological footprint.

Video Conferencing_optAir travel is much more damaging to the environment than train, bus or car travel.

The first reason is that planes make it possible for people to travel vast distances which was previously impossible or very restricted prior to the age of modern jet travel. Vast distances travelled equate to vast amounts of fuel consumed. This means high levels of CO2 produced, and also exacerbates the problem of peak oil, where the world is rapidly approaching the point at which oil reserves start to diminish rapidly, thereby pushing fuel prices skywards (pun intended).

As well as CO2, planes also emit nitrogen oxide, sulphur dioxide, soot and water vapour directly into the atmosphere at high altitudes. The effect of these contrails on the environment may be double that of ground travel (1).

By reducing the amount of flights your employees take each year by increasing the use of video- and tele-conferencing, you'll be reducing your ecological footprint substantially, and you will significantly reduce your organisation's travel costs.

Video or phone-conferencing is much quicker, cheaper and more convenient than business travel - saving administration time lost in booking flights and accommodation, valuable working hours lost sitting on planes and in airports, and money spent on restaurant meals and taxi fares. There is no risk of turning up tired, washed out and cranky from hours on the 'red-eye', or losing your luggage on the walk to the boardroom.

Here are some answers to some of the most common questions around this pledge

  1. What if my organisation doesn't have video conference facilities?
  2. How can staff reduce their footprint even if they have to fly?
  3. What if my business can only be conducted face to face?

What if my organisation doesn't have video conference facilities?

Give Skype a go. It is completely free and easy. All you and the person you wish to call needs are:

  1. a computer with a video camera, microphone and speakers. Most laptop computers have these built in.
  2. a free Skype account.

If you need to deliver a slideshow presentation, you can even share this via Skype!

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How can staff reduce their footprint even if they have to fly?

For some people it is impossible to avoid flying completely. In these cases the advice is to try to combine as many possible trips into one longer trip. Encourage your staff to fly just once and achieve multiple things. Of course travel in economy class has a smaller footprint than travel in business or first class, so choosing that option is also better.

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What if my business can only be conducted face to face?

Video conferencing is high quality and high resolution, and you can hire the equipment short term at a much lower real and environmental cost than flying.

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Sources

(1): www.greenprogress.com/carbon_footprint_calculator.php

Unit of Analysis and Status of IS for Eco-sustainability

From Melville, 2010

on why organisations are typically chosen as the unit of analysis ...

By virtue of their dominance in the global economy, business organizations play a critical role in mitigating climate change and promoting environmental sustainability. Organizations pursue environmental sustainability by informing stakeholders of the need to make changes to business as usual, by motivating them to take actions to achieve environmental objectives, and by assessing the impact of such actions on economic and environmental performance.

on the status of IS for eco-sustainability. It is not well understood and under-research although the role of IS can be transformative ...

Information systems are an important but inadequately understood weapon in the arsenal of organizations in their quest for environmental sustainability by enabling new practices and processes in support of belief formation, action formation, and outcome assessment. Research reports from Cisco (2008), McKinsey (Boccaletti et al. 2008), the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU 2008), the Climate Group (2008), and the European Union (Barroso 2008) underscore the potential of IS to promote environmental sustainability. At the same time, popular media accounts paint IS as a villain, as illustrated by the following newspaper headlines: “Massive Computer Centers Bad for the Environment” and “American Electronic Waste Contaminates China and India.”15 IS scholarship is sorely needed to overturn half-truths, contribute to the body of knowledge about environmental sustainability, and develop a well-founded discourse on IS for environmental sustainability that leads to improvement of the natural environment.