The belief in Moore's Law is undermining ICT climate action

TL;DR

This paper critically examines how the overconfidence in Moore's Law fosters reliance on digital solutions that may exacerbate environmental and social issues, urging a systemic approach to ICT's climate impacts.

Contribution

It highlights the need to view ICT's environmental impacts as interconnected systems rather than isolated efficiency metrics, emphasizing the social and material costs of semiconductor reliance.

Findings

ICT's growth has significant environmental and social costs.

Techno-solutionism may hinder systemic climate action.

A call for a community to address semiconductor industry impacts.

Abstract

The growth of semiconductor technology is unprecedented, with profound transformational consequences for society. This includes feeding an over-reliance on digital solutions to systemic problems such as climate change ('techno-solutionism'). Such technologies come at a cost: environmental, social and material. We unpack topics arising from "The True Cost of ICT: From Materiality to Techno-Solutionism (TCICT)", a workshop held at the International ICT for Sustainability (ICT4S) conference 2024 in Stockholm, Sweden -- exploring, as a matter of global climate injustice, the drivers and material dependencies of these technologies. We point to the importance of addressing ICT's impacts as a system, rather than purely in terms of efficiency and energy use. We conclude by calling to build a community of like-minded and critical colleagues to address the intersectional climate impacts of the semiconductor industry and the techno-solutionism it embodies.