FOREWORD
Tackling climate
change
Just how much do telecoms companies contribute to global
emissions, and what can they do to stimulate reductions?
s the most important climate good record on the consumption of en-
A
change summit in history takes ergy. Roberta Bigliani, EMEA research di-
place in Copenhagen, telecoms rector, IDC Energy Insights, says Europe’s
operators and equipment man- ICT industry accounts for about 8% of EU
ufacturers continue to explore how they energy consumption. That covers a swathe
can contribute to reducing global CO2 of consumer electronics equipment; but
emissions. In this special supplement Total taken alone, PC and telecoms infrastruc-
Telecom talks to senior executives at key ture already accounted for approximately
companies within the telecoms industry 4% of EU energy consumption in 2005,
to find out what environmental measures says Bigliani.
they are taking. The charts opposite show the Climate
Their contribution could be critical. Group’s estimates for telecoms and ICT
In spite of industry moves to adopt en- footprints now and in the future, based on
ergy saving technologies, the ICT sector both a business as usual scenario and with
continues to account for an ever growing environmental measures being taken.
percentage of the world’s CO2 emissions. The simple cause of rising emissions working products such as WiFi, bring more
In 2007, the ICT sector was responsible and energy consumption is service growth. equipment into the home. As a result, the
for 2% of global carbon emissions accord- In the case of telecoms, that means rapid global footprint of telecoms devices is ex-
ing to data from Gartner. In a “business as growth in mobile and fixed penetration pected to nearly triple from 18 MtCO2e
usual scenario” that is set to grow at a rate in developing countries as well as a shift in 2002 to 51 MtCO2e by 2020, “driven
nUmber of reneWable baSeSTaTionS
of 6% per year until 2020, at which point to offer new energy-hungry services in mostly by the rise in the use of broadband
Region Country Operator y
tt
er
the ICT sector would produce 1.43 bil- saturated regions. Uptake of storage and modems, routers and IPTV boxes” says the
able
a
t
or-ba
ell
lion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent video services, for example, mean emis- report (see chart Global Telecoms Devices
R
enew
S
olar ind
W
S
olar-wind
G
ener
F
uel c
B
iofuel
O
ther (GtCO2e), up from 0.5 GtCO2e currently, sions from data centres will grow from 76 Footprint). The spread of mobile devices,
517 453 6 42 13 3 according to the report Smart2020, pub- million tonnes of carbon dioxide equiva- particularly in developing countries, will
Africa Egypt Mobinil (ECMS) 34 34 lished in 2008 by The Climate Group on lent (MtCO2e) in 2002 to 259 MtCO2e by also push up energy consumption. The
Africa Kenya Safaricom 27 4 21 2
behalf of the global e-sustainability initia- 2020, even taking into account the energy GSM Association says there were 4 billion
Americas Chile Movistar (Telefonica) 19 16 1 2
tive (GeSI), an association of telecoms and efficiencies created by virtualisation, says mobile connections worldwide by March
Americas Ecuador Movistar (Telefonica) 100 100
ICT companies. the Smart2020 report. 2009, and predicts that will rise to 6 billion
Americas Mexico Movistar (Telefonica) 2 2
Neither does the ICT industry have a IPTV services, coupled with home net- by 2013 and 8 billion by 2020. Moreover, all
Americas Peru Movistar (Telefonica) 65 65
Americas Venezuela Movistar (Telefonica) 23 14 9
ToTal carbon abaTemenT poTenTial for all ToTal conecTionS reqUireD for all
Asia Pacific Australia Telstra 200 200
moDelleD opporTUniTieS (eU-25; 2020) moDelleD opporTUniTieS (eU-25; 2020)
Asia Pacific Bangladesh Grameenphone (Telenor) 2 2
1.9
Asia Pacific India Idea Cellular 1 1
Asia Pacific Indonesia Indosat (Qtel) 3 1 2 139.3
3.3
Asia Pacific Pakistan Telenor 4 4
22.1
Asia Pacific Sri Lanka Dialog Telekom (Axiata) 3 1 2
35.2
n Dematerialisation
318.6
n Dematerialisation
Asia Pacific Thailand DTAC (Telenor) 14 14
n Smart cities
E Europe Hungary Pannon (Telenor) 2 1 1
Total
n Smart cities
Total
10.5 n Smart grid
1,040
n Smart grid
E Europe Montenegro Promonte (Telenor) 1 1
112.8
n Smart logistics
n Smart logistics
W Europe Germany 02 (Telefonica) 1 1
n Smart manufacturing
n Smart manufacturing
W Europe Ireland 02 (Telefonica) 1 1
83.7
495.1
W Europe Norway Telenor 1 1
W Europe Spain Movistar (Telefonica) 14 14
43.1
Source: GSM Association
Carbon savings (MtCo
ccenture
Connections (millions)
Source: Vodafone/Accenture
2
e)
Source: Vodafone/A
8 TOTAL TELECOM ENVIRONMENT SPECIAL
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