Intergovernmental Group of Experts on E-commerce and the Digital Economy, 8th session

Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen,

It is a pleasure to welcome you to the eighth session of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on E-commerce and the Digital Economy.

This year’s theme, “Making digitalization work for inclusive and sustainable development”, is what you, the member states, and UNCTAD have been partnering on for some time, and we agree that this is not only timely but also necessary. It speaks directly to a double imperative: the need to close digital development gaps and to protect our planet.

We live in a time of rapid digital acceleration. Some 5.5 billion people are now using the internet, and more digital devices than ever before are being produced and used. Data flows underpin global trade, digital platforms are influencing almost everything, from health care to education to the way we do commerce, with the international trade of digitally delivered services growing by almost 10% last year.

Meanwhile, artificial intelligence is developing exponentially and expected to grow 25-fold between now and 2033 to become a $5 trillion market. But even this huge number is only a third of our total estimate for frontier technologies in 2033, which we estimate will be $16.5 trillion.

Within these numbers, the potential for development, for growth, for job-creation, for poverty-alleviation, is truly astounding. But we face a fundamental problem. As the tide of technology rises, it does not lift all boats equally. The digital divide – once a simple gap in physical access – has evolved into a complex chasm of data, skills and opportunity. In least developed countries, only 36% of those covered by mobile networks can afford to connect, creating a world where digital exclusion reinforces and deepens existing inequalities.

Furthermore, and as we reported in our Digital Economy Report last year, this digital economy, often described as invisible and virtual, leaves very tangible and physical scars on our planet.

The production of a single 2-kilogram computer requires extracting 800 kilograms of raw materials. Critical minerals are extracted at tremendous environmental and human cost in the Global South, while the benefits usually flow elsewhere. E-waste returns to these same regions without the infrastructure to manage it safely. In 2020, the ICT sector accounted for around 3.2% of global greenhouse gas emissions – equivalent to the entire global shipping industry. In 2022, data centres alone consumed 460 terawatt-hours of electricity, enough to power about 42 million US homes for a year – and this figure is expected to double by 2026.

Even more concerning is water consumption. Google reported 21 billion litres of water consumed in 2022 at its data centres and offices – enough to meet the annual needs of nearly 2 million people. Microsoft disclosed 6.4 billion litres of water consumption that same year, with a substantial portion dedicated solely to training AI models like ChatGPT.

Excellencies,

These are not abstract risks. They are real, measurable and growing. But let me be clear: the answer is not to slow down digitalization. The answer is to shape it.

For this, we need new policies, new partnerships and a new global commitment to integrate environmental sustainability into digital strategies – not as an afterthought but by design.

This is increasingly being recognized. The Global Digital Compact includes a commitment to this in paragraph 11(e), calling for minimizing the environmental impact of digitalization across its full lifecycle. This is an important step. It reflects an emerging consensus that digital governance must go hand in hand with environmental responsibility.

Over the next three days, this Group of Experts offers a rare opportunity for member States and other stakeholders to explore how to contribute to making this global commitment a reality.

We will hear from countries already taking steps – investing in renewable-powered infrastructure, innovating on e-waste regulation and the circular economy, and integrating sustainability into national digital strategies.

UNCTAD stands with you. Through our research, our eTrade readiness assessments and our work on e-commerce and the environment, we aim to provide evidence, guidance and a platform for cooperation.

These discussions are also closely connected to other workstreams at UNCTAD. This includes discussions on critical minerals through the UN Secretary-General's Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals whose secretariat is co-led by the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Action Team (CAT), UNCTAD and UNEP.

It also links to the deliberations on data governance that we launched two weeks ago here in Geneva, through our role as the secretariat of the Commission on Science and Technology for Development and its new working group on data governance – as requested by member States in the Global Digital Compact (GDC). Our work on improving consumer information and protection related to the environmental impact of e-commerce and ICT devices is also relevant in this context, as are general efforts to support a more circular economy.

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

This Group of Experts is essential. The recommendations from this session will contribute to the implementation of the GDC, the World Summit on Information Society, our 16th UNCTAD ministerial and the UN General Assembly resolution on ICT for Development in the fall.

I want to close with a thought. The poet T.S. Eliot once wrote: "Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?”

As we navigate the digital revolution, we risk being overwhelmed by its scale and speed – the trillions in market value, the billions of connected devices, the terawatts of electricity consumed. But behind these numbers lie human lives, communities, and ecosystems.

When we speak of "making digitalization work," we must ask ourselves: Work for whom? Work how? Work at what cost?

Those are the questions this Group of Experts must answer, and which we must all reflect upon as we work to ensure that digital progress and human development advance hand in hand, leaving no one behind.

I thank you.