A this week’s Mobile Asia Congress in Hong Kong, the GSMA unveiled its “Mobile’s Green Manifesto” — a position paper that sets out how the mobile industry plans to lower its greenhouse gas emissions per connection, and demonstrates the key role that mobile communications can play in lowering emissions in other sectors and industries. It makes specific policy recommendations for governments and delegates attending the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (COP15), December 7-18, to realize the full potential of the role that mobile communications can take in reducing global greenhouse gas emissions.
The Green Manifesto was developed in collaboration with The Climate Group. Specific goals include:
- To reduce its total global greenhouse gas emissions per connection by 40% by 2020 compared to 2009. This forecast covers all emissions from energy sources under the control of the mobile operators, including energy consumption from the radio network, buildings, and energy consumption and emissions from transport.
- The mobile industry is aiming for carbon neutral growth. The number of mobile connections is set to rise by 70% to 8 billion by 2020 as the industry builds out a new generation of mobile broadband networks, bringing billions of people into the information economy. Despite this growth, the mobile industry forecasts that, through its activities, its total emissions will remain constant at 245 mega-tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (Mt CO2e) – equivalent to 0.5% of total global emissions in 2020, or the greenhouse gas emissions of the Netherlands.
- To work with handset vendors to ensure that the energy consumed by a typical handset, in standby and while being used, is reduced by 40% by 2020.
- To work with equipment vendors to ensure that the life cycle emissions of network equipment components are reduced by 40% by 2020.
“With the right public policies in place, the mobile industry can make a major contribution in the fight against global warming, lowering emissions in other sectors by more than 4.5 times mobile’s own footprint, which is the equivalent of taking one in every three cars off the road,” said Rob Conway, CEO and Member of the Board, GSMA. “The mobile industry could enable greenhouse gas emission reductions of 1,150 Mt CO2e in 2020 – twice the present emissions of the United Kingdom. We will be calling upon governments at COP15 to ensure that mobile solutions are at the forefront of the global fight to prevent climate change and mitigate its consequences.”http://www.gsmworld.com
