Grantee	DotAsia Foundation
Project Title	EcoInternet Index
Amount Awarded	USD 30,000
Dates covered by this report:	2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31
Report submission date	2024-02-28
Economies where project was implemented	Asia Pacific
Project leader name	Jasmine Ko
Project Team	Edmon Chung Jennifer Chung Phyo Lhiri Lwin Clement Chan Rebecca Chan

Project Summary

DotAsia Organisation is keen to advocate the EcoInternet Initiative and support the dialogue and action around the environment and the Internet in the APAC region.  With its role as the Secretariat of APrIGF, DotAsia thrives on the challenges in bringing together multi stakeholders across the region and lead the policymaking discussions for concrete strategies and actions to achieve a sustainable and energy efficient Internet.

Project Objectives

In the pilot study, one of our goals was to formulate a standard methodology which can provide a useful indicator to compare the eco-friendliness of Internet use across different jurisdictions.  The EII framework was then designed and is built around three axes: Economy, Energy, and Efficiency.  Each of the axes highlights the relevant relationship between the positive aspects of the growth of the Internet along with the negative impacts on the Internet’s carbon footprint, and hence reflecting the issue of climate change.

Based on this model, to cope with the rise of the digital economy and the expansion of online access, the Internet infrastructure, energy mix and grid emissions have to be greatly improved in terms of environmental impact reduction.  This relies heavily on the responsibility of all stakeholders, especially governments and the industry, and requires close cooperation among different sectors.  One of the main objectives of the research is to encourage governments to find ways of adopting the utilization of cleaner energy and renewable sources for the power grid, promoting digital access and inclusion, as well as implementing policies for the Internet industry to comply, to enhance the infrastructure and connectivity, and to select greener energy sources for their businesses.

Main activities as next phase of the pilot study as project developments:

1. Expanded the application of EcoInternet Index from 6 to 14 jurisdictions in the Asia Pacific region.  In this phase, the study has included some of the less developed countries to see the differences in Internet infrastructure and online behavioral patterns with the original six jurisdictions, but availability, consistency and reliability of data affects the result. 
2. Conducted further analyses on the methodology based on the larger data set collected and to consider potential refinements. For example, the difference in mobile network and fixed broadband Internet usage may be included to be explored if the sensitivity is appropriate.
3. Delivered a launch during Internet Governance Forum 2023 at Kyoto in hybrid, at Media room and Village Booth
4. Meeting with government officials and business sectors during public forums
5. Raise public awareness through online platforms by DotAsia’s digital character Ajitora, with social media campaigns and video clips produced to promote the importance of EcoInternet to the general public in a friendly approach.

Table of Contents

• Background and Justification
• Project Implementation Narrative
• Project Review and Assessment
• Diversity and Inclusion
• Project Communication
• Project Sustainability
• Project Management
• Project Recommendations and Use of Findings
• Bibliography

Background and Justification

Sustainability has now become one of the major goals in every agenda at a global level, at industry level, down to individual level. It has been one of the three thematic tracks of the Asia Pacific regional Internet Governance Forum (APrIGF) since last year but the topic is only slowly gathering attention in the region. The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) has also started the Dynamic Coalition on Environment this year, which we see as an indication of the rising concerns within the Internet community.  While “People at the Centre” is the overarching theme of APrIGF this year, the objective of our project on EcoInternet Index also drives public awareness and multistakeholder discussions on the impact of the ever-growing Internet on the environment that people live in.

Asia is particularly lagging behind when it comes to sustainability and carbon initiatives.  According to a recent report, Asia most frequently presents barriers to energy sourcing experienced by the members in RE100, the global corporate renewable energy initiative bringing together hundreds of large and ambitious businesses committed to 100% renewable electricity), with high cost of renewables, poor corporate procurement options and limited availability of renewables being common prevalent barriers.  Despite these challenges, RE100’s membership has seen its biggest yearly growth in Asia Pacific.  It now has 102 members in Asia Pacific, up from less than 10 in 2016, demonstrating the growing appetite from businesses in the region to adopt 100% renewable electricity.  We are keen to initiate conversations among different sectors and foster collaboration in order to make sure the Internet network and infrastructure in the Asia Pacific region are capable of keeping up with the Sustainable Development Goals.

Project Implementation Narrative

Problem statement: Climate change is still impacting the planet nowadays while its impacts caused by the Internet sector are not well understood and measured across the globe. How might we drives public awareness and multi-stakeholder discussions on the impact of the ever-growing Internet on the environment that people live in. 

Project Objectives 

Encourage governments to find ways of adopting the utilization of cleaner energy and renewable sources for the power grid, promoting digital access and inclusion, as well as implementing policies for the Internet industry to comply, to enhance the infrastructure and connectivity, and to select greener energy sources for their businesses.

Activities

APrIGF 2022 session: Speakers have been invited for a multi-stakeholder dialogue in a session organized at the public platform in Singapore on how to achieve and sustain an EcoInternet from Asia Pacific’s perspective. 

Global IGF 2022 session: The discussion has been brought to a global level at the United Nations IGF to get a wider perspective, and to better understand the situation in Asia Pacific as compared to other regions.

2023 onwards, we continue to expand our research scope. 

Data collection and Analysis

The project team has reviewed the methodology, collected new data sets, and conducted comparison analysis on the original and newly selected jurisdictions. 

Expert consultation /stakeholder engagement

New data and findings will be presented to subject matter. Experts and different stakeholders to create meaningful conversations for new insights and inspire collaborations. 

Outreach and Social media campaign

Targeted outreach efforts are made to invite and engage governments in the region to pay attention to the matter and to understand the EcoInternet index and how it relates to the sustainability of their local Internet infrastructure. This will continue to be carried out through the digital character, Ajitora, to promote the findings of the project this year, to raise public awareness of the EcoInternet, using the social media platform.

Report writing

The final report includes new data sets and comparison analysis on all jurisdictions, and compiles a set of concrete policy recommendations based on the discussions with different sectors and subject matter experts. Further research on compelling country profiles and focus case studies on top performing countries. Creative video production and launch of it on multiple platforms including YouTube 

There are mini/ 1-on-1 dialogues during APrIGF 2023, and give away 30 EII report first draft 

Thereafter, the team has been preparing for the EII report launch session during IGF 2023 with a secured onsite and virtual booth. We delivered 100 EII final reports during the conference targeting government representatives and other sectors. Meanwhile, we kick start a Social Media campaign with a third party PR firm on 8 dedicated posts. 

After the international UN conference, we keep rolling on social media platforms to increase awareness of EII and its relevant issues. There have been bilateral meetings with various government representatives during the ICANN Hamberg meeting. 

Project Review and Assessment

To the large extent as 90% the project achieved its objectives. The most important findings are the classification of the countries/economies studied in EII 2023 into 3 distinct groups. The more advanced cluster suggests that policy directives are making a positive impact on the eco-friendliness of the Internet infrastructure in the country/economy, whereas the developing and trailing clusters indicate a relatively slower adoption of policy directives aimed at promoting a more sustainable energy grid and Internet. Surprisingly, SG and HK appear to be trailing behind in this regard. 

This project has contributed to Internet Development in that it gives a comprehensive measurement index on the unaware aspects of how the Internet has impacted the environment with tracked records. The report has been shared with key stakeholders to reflect and adjust their action plan accordingly.  To a large extent this has lived up to its potential for further development since the team has received interest from other jurisdictions to expand the research scope. This also supported the development of local technical capacity by enabling them access to our measurement and act accordingly to adopt more efficient internet activities. The project helped build the capacity of our team in research, writing, content creation skills. 

Diversity and Inclusion

In large extent this project supports language and cultural diversity, both as part of the project team and communities served. Our team composition and jurisdictions that we research on can be reflected. 

In large extent this project supports active participation from women and gender diverse people both as part of the project team and communities served. Our team consists of gender-diverse members and decision-making is democratically based on open discussion structure. 

Project Communication

During the reporting period, the team has been utilizing our usual social media channels to communicate our project background and outputs. We have put effort into boosting awareness by putting our project in international stage at IGF as launch session, as well as partnering with a 3rd party PR firm on online campaign alongside the in-person engagement.

Project Sustainability

The project has potential to generate opportunities for future development including new funding from partnerships and investment. Our team will be looking up for more UN-driven funds. 

This is a 10 year project plan thus our team will keep working on even after the grant.

Project Management

The general project team consists of talents with needed expertise on research, writing, communication and project management. These comprehensive sets of expertise contribute to the fulfillment of project objectives. However, the bandwidth of the team is limited by other ongoing projects as the organisation has also been involved in various regional and international community roles. Another challenge is the access of data during the research process. Research is not usual business practice in our organisation, thus the team is able to learn fast and apply some industry knowledge throughout the process. 

Project Recommendations and Use of Findings

Project findings are equally important and distributed to the whole team and we discuss decisions together. The findings shared with other organisations have been further shared with their partner organisations such as community which may be beneficial from our report. In future, it is suggested to track all activities and impacts as a transparent and producing impact measurement process, at least for project managers.

Bibliography

Website: https://www.ajitora.asia/eco-internet-index-2023/ 

Youtube overview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I82AJtNut6Y

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