Facebook Connectivity’s mission is to bring more people online to a faster internet. Together with hundreds of partners around the world, Facebook is working to help overcome the global internet connectivity challenges of accessibility, affordability, and awareness — with the hope that one day, everyone will have high-quality internet access.
Connectivity is at the heart of Facebook's mission of giving people the power to build community and bring the world closer together. High-quality internet connectivity not only gives people a voice, but it also creates new opportunities to share knowledge that can strengthen both local communities and global economies. Building upon the work that began with Internet.org in 2013, we're collaborating with partners around the world to help connect the approximately 3.8 billion people who aren’t yet online.
No single organization or technology can solve the global internet connectivity challenge alone. Together with our partners including internet service providers, network operators, developers, local entrepreneurs, non-profits, universities, and governments all over the world, we're committed to exploring new ways of bringing fast, reliable internet to those without it.
What is Verdant Place?
“Sustainability” is an increasingly mainstream topic across the globe covering the environmental, social, and economic issues that are arising as humanity begins to hit finite planetary bounds.
Verdant Place is Facebook Connectivity’s co-creation center to bring together sustainability stakeholders, initiatives, opportunities, researchers, industry, investors, and other World Citizens to ensure that Connectivity and Information Communication Technologies (ICT) are part of the solution to achieve Sustainable Development Goals.
“Connectivity” refers to the global digital society enabled by information and communications technologies. The sustainability issues targeted by Verdant Place include both the direct impacts of ICT and connectivity infrastructure, such as carbon emissions or end-of-life product recycling, as well as indirect impacts, such as social and economic consequences of increased and enhanced connectivity to individuals and communities.
Other possible direct impacts include environmental factors such as toxicity, ozone depletion, and soil and atmospheric acidification. Indirect consequences include sustainability goals, such as those considered in the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
From these efforts, we aim to forge one or more programs (i.e. collections of projects contributing to common goals) addressing (a) approaches to leverage stakeholder desire to achieve sustainability goals to create demand for increased and enhanced connectivity, and (b) the consequences of increased and enhanced connectivity to achieving sustainability goals.
Example focus areas include:
Sustainable connectivity infrastructure
- Sustainable/renewable energy sources including solar and beyond to provide “green” power to core, backhaul, and edge equipment
- Reduced power consumption in core, backhaul, and edge equipment
Consequences of connectivity to global sustainability
- Per-capita CO2 emissions and other environmental impacts from increased connectivity
- Impact of connectivity on UN SDGs
Sustainability as a driver for connectivity
- SDGs as motivators for increased/enhanced urban, peri-urban, and rural connectivity
- Models development for sustainability impacts and stakeholder engagements
- Approaches to engage community stakeholders to achieve SDGs via enhanced connectivity
Interested in being a part of this initiative? Send an email to verdantplace@fb.com