Practical guidance for future impact assessments
Services differ and their impacts need to be assessed in different ways. This part looks at climate impact assessment and introduces a simplified method for calculating climate impacts of digital services.
The starting point for a quantitative climate impact assessment
Climate impacts have typically not been the primary reason for digitalisation or the development of a new digital service. Thus, in most cases, climate impacts have not been assessed. As shown by the case study of the medicine robot services, there is good potential for climate benefits, at least in some healthcare and care services. However, all services differ and many more studies are needed to fully assess the potential for a green transition.
It is not practical to assess all digital services with the same level of detail as the medicine robot services in this study. A full life-cycle assessment is quite a heavy process, although an important part of research is to further our knowledge of climate impacts across multiple fields. Often, the most difficult services to assess are digital services because they comprise multiple products and also have hidden network components. To facilitate the assessment of the climate impacts of digital services, we have created an assessment framework to illustrate how to simplify a digital service for easier yet adequately accurate assessments.
This study has shown that the climate impacts of a digital service can be assessed with a reasonable degree of accuracy. Many services have specific equipment and require an LCA professional to assess the climate impacts of the specific parts, but there are also parts that are more generic and similar for a wider array of services.
Description and phases of the quantitative climate impact assessment
A simple assessment method has been developed that can be used to assess the climate impacts of digital or digitalised services. An online service is also available to illustrate the assessment method. The assessment method is based on both qualitative and quantitative assessments.
The main steps of the assessment method are shown in Figure 6.
- In the first step, the aim is to use the questions on the checklist to identify whether the digital service has significant negative or positive climate impacts.
- In the second step, the aim is to estimate the actual climate impacts. For some services, the calculation can be conducted using the simple calculator that has been developed in this context. However, for more complex services, a separate life cycle calculation performed by an expert is still needed.
- The third step is an assessment of improvement potential, also implemented in the form of a checklist. For the applicable services, the assessment of improvement potential can also be conducted using the online service to compare alternative options.
The assessment method can be used in both the development phase and for the assessment of established services. The opportunity to influence climate impacts is best when a service is being developed because potential improvements can be made directly, without any significant cost impact.
Figure 6. Simple assessment method (source: Melkas et al., forthcoming; adapted from Tuominen-Thuesen et al., 2022).
Identification of the most significant climate impacts
Digital services differ greatly, although some common factors that typically lead to higher climate impacts have been collected to help identify potential cases for further assessment. These factors have been turned into a series of questions that can be seen in the online tool of the simple assessment method. The questions are used to identify services that have potentially high climate impacts, either as a whole or per use, but also services that could potentially have significant positive climate impacts. A positive answer to any question on the checklist indicates an increased need to assess the climate impacts.
Calculation of climate impacts
If a service has been identified as having a significant climate impact potential, it should be assessed for climate impacts. A case-specific climate impact assessment by an expert produces the most reliable results and is suitable for any service, but this type of assessment takes time and money. Ready-made calculation tools enable a less expensive and faster way to assess climate impacts, but it is not feasible to develop such calculation tools for all services.
The calculation tool for digital services used via networks has been integrated into the online service of the simple assessment method. This tool can be used to estimate the climate impacts for the service or part of the service according to Figure 7. The numbers refer to Table 2, which shows the scope of the calculation for the different parts of the assessed service. The actual calculation can be conducted using the formulas in Table 3. The calculation also requires emission factors, which can be retrieved from emission factor databases or the environmental product declarations (EPDs) of the relevant products. The calculation tool is ready for use since it contains estimates for the emission factors needed in the calculation.
Figure 7. Digital service used via the network (source: Melkas et al., forthcoming; adapted from Tuominen-Thuesen et al., 2022).
Table 2. Scope of the climate impact calculation – digital services used via the network (source: Melkas et al., forthcoming; adapted from Tuominen-Thuesen et al., 2022).
Part of the assessed service | Climate impacts of the use phase | Climate impacts of the manufacturing phase |
1) Equipment of the producer, developer and administrator of the service | Calculated Energy consumption or share of energy used to provide the service | Calculated Equipment directly related to service production or allocation of the share used to provide the service |
2) Devices used to provide the service via the network (e.g. application servers in the intranet or in the cloud) | Calculated Energy consumption or share of energy used to provide the service | Calculated Equipment directly related to service production or allocation of the share used to provide the service |
3) Networks through which the service is delivered and maintained | Calculated Energy consumption for the whole network, estimated per transferred amount of data | Out of scope Networks are mainly built for other uses |
4) Equipment of the service user | Calculated Energy consumption during use of the assessed service | Calculated Allocation based on the time used |
5) User's network connections | Whole network calculated above (3) | Out of scope Networks are mainly built for other uses |
Table 3. Formulas for climate impact calculation – digital services used via the network (source: Melkas et al., forthcoming; adapted from Tuominen-Thuesen et al., 2022).
Part of the assessed service | Climate impacts of the use phase | Climate impacts of the manufacturing phase |
1) Equipment of the producer, developer and administrator of the service | Electricity consumption X share of use X electricity emission factor | Emission value X share of use |
2) Devices used to provide the service via the network (e.g. application servers in the intranet or in the cloud) | The electricity consumption of a typical server per one core X the number of allocated cores X the share of the capacity allocated to the service in question X power usage effectiveness (PUE) factor of the data centre X electricity emission factor | Separately, emissions of a typical server per one core and disk space emissions per terabyte X number of allocated cores/terabytes X share of capacity allocated to the service in question |
3) Networks through which the service is delivered and maintained | In a simplified form, the entire network's energy use per gigabyte X electricity emission factor | - |
4) Equipment of the service user | Electricity consumption of typical devices X share of the service in question X electricity emission factor | Emissions of typical devices X share of the use of the service in question |
5) User's network connections | Whole network calculated above (3) | - |
Assessment of improvement potential
Traditionally, there has been minimal focus on the carbon footprint of digital services. The emissions of most services can be reduced using relatively simple measures. In particular, if significant negative climate impacts have been identified in earlier stages of the assessment method, it is necessary to identify the most relevant factors and the most optimal ways of rectifying the situation.
The simple assessment method involves a set of measures that aim to reduce climate impacts in three relevant areas:
- emissions from the manufacture of the devices
- energy consumption during use
- the amount of data transferred
These proposed measures have been collected into the online service. The identification of the most effective measures cannot be conducted on a general level without there being information on the distribution of the emissions of the service in question. However, once a climate impact assessment has been conducted, the measures can be prioritised. When planning a new service, all the proposed measures should be considered. Implementing these improvements in the planning phase will incur little or no cost.
Integration of the qualitative assessment
The qualitative assessment of climate impacts and social impacts showed the multi-directionality and interconnectedness of the impacts of medicine robot services, as well as the associations of the impacts with people and their actions. This emphasises the need for a contextual understanding that is based on a qualitative assessment when making quantitative impact assessments. For example, the qualitative results showed that it is important to adequately assess the suitability of the distance spanning service, or the technology it uses, for the client/patient before its implementation and to carefully familiarise all parties involved so that it can be safely and successfully used. This, in turn, will contribute to the planning and foresight of the work and thus the functionality of the whole services, thereby increasing the possibility of achieving positive climate impacts (see Figure 8). When planning and implementing distance spanning solutions in health care and care with a view to contributing to the green transition, this kind of systems thinking is vital.
The knowledge provided by the qualitative assessment enables an in-depth contextual understanding and knowledge related to people's ways of working and using services, which the service organisation and system are able to affect (unlike the manufacturing processes of their distance spanning technologies, for example). Thus, the service organisations and systems can also use such knowledge and understanding in their service design and development activities.
Towards a more meaningful, optimised balance of impacts
This part has provided an example of how a qualitative assessment can be conducted and combined with a quantitative assessment, and how a climate impact assessment and a social impact assessment can be combined. Figure 9 illustrates this combination.
Figure 9. Towards understanding and contributing to a balance of impacts.
Both types of assessment require similar data but – as shown in this part – they make different contributions. The economic impacts – especially the positive impacts – of digital service innovations, such as the use of distance spanning solutions in health care and care, are usually assessed (or at least recognised), but climate and social impact assessments should also be conducted. In health care and care, in particular, it is a question of finding a meaningful and humanely balanced focus on the climate and social impacts – as well as the economic impacts. Achieving positive climate impacts is good, but in health care and care, the main priority must be to provide good health care and care.
Finding the right balance requires careful and informed planning. What is the relative value of the different impacts? In what way are the different impacts intertwined? Optimisation based on one aspect alone is not a viable solution. Holistic climate and social impact assessments will contribute to achieving a more meaningful, optimised balance of the impacts of distance spanning solutions in the future. Nordic policy measures should speed up the proliferation of such impact assessments.