How is the Telecom sector reducing the environmental footprint?
Published by Colt Technology Services on July 12, 2023
The telecom sector has been taking several initiatives to reduce its environmental footprint in recent years. Some of the main goals include reducing carbon emissions, energy consumption, and waste generation. Telecom providers are adopting energy-efficient technologies like renewable energy sources, smart grid systems, and energy-efficient hardware and software to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions. For example, telecom companies are investing in solar panels, wind turbines, and fuel cells to generate renewable energy for their operations. They are also adopting green building practices in their offices and data centers to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions. These practices include using efficient heating and cooling systems, energy-efficient lighting, and implementing recycling and waste reduction programs.
We have seen many telco providers working to promote sustainable practices among their suppliers and partners. This includes encouraging the use of sustainable materials and reducing waste in the supply chain. They also are promoting the sustainable use of technology among their customers by offering energy-efficient devices and promoting sustainable behaviors such as reducing paper usage and recycling old devices.
Many telecom companies have set targets to reduce their environmental footprint, such as reducing carbon emissions by a certain percentage or using renewable energy to power a certain percentage of their operations. Some Telecom companies have continued to focus on sustainability and environmental initiatives. For example, some companies have invested in renewable energy sources to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels, while others have implemented green building practices to minimize their environmental impact. As part of our commitment to a strong, sustainable future for our business, we subscribe to EcoVadis, a global index that benchmarks our environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance against more than 75,000 other organisations across all industries. Our most recent industry ranking has placed Colt in the 97th percentile, with a score of 71. This has earned us a Gold medal and a place in the top 3% of telco companies registered for ESG performance.
We’re working towards Zero Waste to Landfill. This means we’re making a concerted effort to ensure all our waste is prevented where possible, reused or recycled. This includes waste from our network equipment, IT equipment, office equipment and our supply chain.
In October 2022, Colt Technology Services obtained a Gold rating from world leading sustainability ratings provider, EcoVadis, for our environment, social and governance (ESG) performance, and a B rating from the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) for company environmental performance. The long-term strategy of Colt is to create a lean, green and modular network whereby network optimisation is instilled as a continuous discipline.
The Telecom sector is working towards reducing its environmental footprint by implementing energy-efficient technologies, adopting green building practices, promoting sustainable supply chain practices, encouraging sustainable use of technology, and setting environmental targets.
At Colt, our aim is a carbon reduction of 47% by 2030 to meet the ambitious target of limiting temperatures to 1.5 degrees. Our objective is to provide renewable energy power and achieve 75% renewable electricity for all sites globally by 2023. Future savings will be achieved. We will decarbonise our in-house fleet through electrification, and we have committed to a 75% pure electric fleet by 2030, with an interim target of 38% by 2025. Our laptop replacement program removes outdated assets from the business but we are extending the life of them by sending to local schools – this also has a broader impact in Corporate Social Responsibility and digital inclusion.
The new devices contain 65% post-consumer recycled material as well as being more energy efficient, delivered in boxes made from 75% recycled fibres and bamboo – this again means that we are extending the life of key materials and reducing the need for virgin resources which ties into the circular economy model.
We continue to adopt energy efficient technologies to transform our network infrastructure and data centres of Colt DCS and improve our energy efficiency by reducing emissions by 28%. In our approach, when we are replacing our equipment with new hardware, we take all these aspects into account to make a difference. For example, at the end of December 2022, we had all our SDH network equipment (99,99%) removed. It is not only looking at the next generation things, but also looking at our processes in our organisation to see how we can do things in efficient way and how it will enable more sustainable infrastructure in long-term.
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