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I. Roles of Information Technology for Sustainability
Information technology (IT) is expected to play important and wide-ranged roles in pursuing sustainable societies. The roles may be classified into three groups: direct technological effects, indirect contributions through changes in the behavior of individuals and organizations, and promotion of the overall decision-making capability of a society. First, direct effects arise from the increase in the efficiency of facility operations or human activities through the use of various information systems. An example is the saving of energy with air conditioners through controlling them by information devices. Second, indirect contributions come from changes in the style of living and work with the use of IT. For example, telework/telecommuting (T/T) saves not only the daily commuting time of workers but also the energy consumed for commuting. Third, IT improves the overall decision-making capability of a society to implement public policies for sustainability. In order to accept the consequences of public policies which are useful for the global community as a whole in the long-run but often go against the direct and short-run interests of individuals and communities, the majority needs to understand the consequences of selfish decisions.
II. Complex Causal Relationships
In considering the contribution of IT for sustainability, we need to take note of the causal relations of IT. Take the case of T/T for example. The development of IT helps people telework, thus relieving them of physical commuting and decreasing the atmospheric emission of CO2. This is easy to understand at a glance, but the causal relations involved may be complicated. For example, the promotion of T/T contributes to the reduction of atmospheric emission of CO2. The penetration of T/T depends on IT technology and services and also on policy instruments. The decision on T/T is made by workers and corporate management for private benefits, not for global sustainability. The government (or the society as a whole) can influence T/T by means of various policy instruments, but it can do so only indirectly. Furthermore, IT and T/T may contribute towards unsustainability, i.e. have a negative impact on the environment. For instance, the actual reduction of transport due to T/T is less than expected due to a number of other transports taking place, such as personal transports during the day, transports at a later time to the offices, increase in customized delivery to the T/T personnel, and so on.
III. Policies for Sustainability in Japan: the Case of Telework/Telecommuting
In the summer of 1997, the COP3 meeting (a United Nations Climate Change Convention) was held in Kyoto, Japan; the understanding of the need for sustainability by the Japanese people was promoted greatly around this meeting. In the Kyoto meeting, it was agreed upon that Japan, together with other advanced countries, decrease by the year of 2008 the atmospheric emission of CO2 and other greenhouse gases to the level that is lower by 6% than the emission level in 1990. This means a decrease of the emission by 56.5 MTC (million tons of carbon) in a year in Japan.
The Japanese government recently formulated a set of policies for achieving this goal. As part of these initiatives,the Telecommunications Council in the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) submitted a Report in May 1998 toward this target in relation to the possible contributions of IT (MPT [1998], pp.74-76) (the Report).
The Report presents a decomposition of Japan's target of 56.5 MTC into subcategories; T/T is projected to contribute by a decrease of 1.29 MTC, 2.28% of the total projected decrease.
IV. Analysis of the Behavior on Telework/Telecommuting in Japan
One of the important policy issues is the actual choice of policy instruments. The Report presents a set of preconditions needed to achieve the target set in COP3; it does not deal with whether the preconditions will become reality, or, if not, what policy instruments should be used to have them become reality.
To deal with this issue systematically is a formidable task; we can only proceed step by step. Recently, H. Mitomo and T. Jitsuzumi [1998] (the Paper) made an attempt to approach this issue in relation to T/T. The Paper gives a forecast of telecommuters in Japan in three scenarios for the period from 1995 to 2020 by using assumptions based on the growth curve represented by logistic functions.
In the Paper, an attempt is made to estimate the value of T/T for telecommuters, and the value for non-telecommuters, in relation to train transportation in the metropolitan Tokyo area. Telecommuters receive direct benefits from T/T on shorter commuting time (often zero) and no traffic. To non-telecommuters (i.e., ordinary commuters), T/T still gives the benefit of having less congestion. Thus, T/T gives direct benefits to telecommuters, and indirect benefits to non-telecommuters; this is a case of positive externalities.
The Paper estimates the benefit of T/T, with the aid of an assumption on the marginal elasticity of substitution between the level of congestion and the commuting time. The direct benefit of T/T to telecommuters is somewhere between 197 and 253 yens per workday, whereas the indirect benefit of T/T to non-telecommuters for the intermediate scenario lies between 37 and 99 yens per workday.
References
Mitomo, Hitoshi and Toshiya Jitsuzumi, "Impact of Telecommuting in Japan: Implications for Mass-Transit Congestion," mimeographed and submitted to a journal for publication, 1998.
Telecommunications Council (Japan), "Toward Sustainable Global Environment by means of Information and Telecommunication," a report submitted to the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications in response to Investigation Order No.39 of 1997 (Japanese), May 1998.
information technology, sustainable societies, telework, sustainability, telecommuting, greenhouse effects
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Hajime Oniki