Vodafone to source 100% renewable electricity by 2025

Vodafone has become the latest corporate to join The Climate Group's RE100 initiative, pledging to source 100% renewable electricity for its operations by 2025.


The London-based telecoms company currently powers 13% of its operations from renewable energy sources – a figure that will be increased by signing Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), purchasing renewable energy certificates and developing onsite renewables systems at its technology centres.

The Climate Group’s head of RE100, Sam Kimmins said: “I’m delighted to welcome Vodafone Group to RE100. Setting a target to source 100% renewable power by 2025 demonstrates real leadership and a commitment to be a driving force in the clean energy transition.”

According to Vodafone’s latest sustainability report, its emissions from purchased electricity (Scope 2) are estimated to be 2.19 million tonnes CO2e – a figure that will be reduced to zero if it complies with the RE100 target. Vodafone estimates that it used 6,239 GWh of energy in 2017.

Vodafone’s other sustainability pledges include a target to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from its own network operations by 40% by 2025, with the firm incorporating energy efficiency measures into new network designs as it moves towards this goal.

It has also helped its 462 million customers reduce emissions by more than 3.5 million tonnes of CO2e, as of October 2017, thanks to innovations built into the Internet of Things (IoT). This meant that for every tonne of emissions generated by Vodafone, its consumers saved 1.9 tonnes.

Vodafone formed a partnership with Philips Lighting in 2016 to combine an IoT network with an integrated LED street light management system. This could see cities across the world slash energy use by 70%.

RE100 and growing

More than 100 companies have joined the RE100 initiative since its launch in 2014, including insurance firm AXA, fashion brand Burberry and beverage giant Carlsberg. The members are estimated to be creating 146TWh of demand for renewable electricity annually – similar to the electricity consumption of Poland.

The biggest electricity user to have signed up is Walmart, with coatings manufacturer AkzoNobel coming in at a close second, and The Climate Group is now aiming for 500 RE100 members by 2020.

Sarah George

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