Comparing ICT Greenhouse Gas Emissions to the Rest of the Economy

Comparing the carbon footprints of economic sectors is difficult when relying on dedicated studies based on Life Cycle Analyses and the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. Input-Output Analysis, in contrast, allows yearly homogeneous comparisons based on Multi Regional Input-Output (MRIO) publicly available databases and institutional air emissions accounts.In this paper, we analyze the global carbon footprint of ICT by comparing its average over the 2010-2021 decade to those of sixty other sectors of the economy featured in the Eurostat-JRC MRIO database (called FIGARO). The three basic indicators used in our analysis are direct emissions, total embodied carbon footprint and final demand carbon footprint. They vary steadily from year to year, in response to the variations of final demand volumes. We also consider the two associated ratios of direct emissions and final demand footprint divided by total embodied footprint, and a third independent ratio, the self-consumption ratio of sectors. These ratios appear as structural features of the sectors value chains. We compare the growth rates of ICT to those of the other economic sectors, by distinguishing two periods, the 2010-2019 time span, considered as a "business-as-usual" period, and the extended 2010-2021 time span, which includes the effect of the COVID world crisis. The crisis impacted strongly a few sectors like aviation, boosted a few sectors like health and government, and had a more moderate impact on ICT and many other sectors.