As the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona focused on green sustainable futures yesterday (February 17), Deloitte called on the industry to tackle its emissions.

The global telecoms industry currently serves more than four billion customers and generates 183m tons of CO2 annually, or, approximately 0.7% of global emissions.

This, according to Deloitte’s telecoms partner, Tony Cooper, is a carbon footprint on a level with industries like the automotive and aviation sectors.

He said: “Telecoms businesses are responding to this issue, but there is still significant progress to be made in areas such as increased network sharing, reduced power consumption, improved field force effectiveness and reduced handset renewal.

“While the economic downturn has led to the emergence of a global cost reduction agenda and while the recent global drive to cut carbon emissions gathers momentum.

“There is now a unique opportunity for telecoms businesses to lead from an eminence perspective and also to open up significant new revenue streams.

“Experience in the telecoms industry suggests that reducing emissions is as much a behavioural challenge as it is a technology one.”

Luke Walsh

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