Carbon emissions from mobile network operators fell 6% globally between 2019 and 2022, according to the fourth Mobile Net Zero report from the GSMA, released today at MWC Barcelona.
The report reveals regional variations in operational emission reductions, with Europe leading the way with a 50% reduction. In North America, Latin America, the Middle East, and North Africa, emissions dropped by 20 to 30%. Although operational emissions increased in Greater China and Asia-Pacific, the world’s largest and second-largest mobile markets, respectively, overall global emissions decreased despite the growing data usage.
To achieve the mobile sector’s net zero target by 2050, the industry must reduce emissions by 45% below 2020 levels by 2030. This means total emissions, including Scopes 1, 2, and 3, must decrease by around 7% per year until 2030.
Recent progress shows that this is achievable, as the target reduction rate has been exceeded over the last three years for operational emissions in Europe, North America, Latin America, and MENA. The report highlights the need for better data and additional analysis to better understand trends in “Scope 3,” which relate to emissions from operators’ supply chains.
Progress in energy efficiency and renewable energy
According to the analysis, operational emissions decreased despite an increase in data and connectivity demand: the number of mobile connections worldwide increased by 7% between 2019 and 2022, while internet traffic more than doubled. Industry carbon reductions were largely driven by significant progress in energy efficiency and renewable energy usage.
More than half of the emission reductions reported in 2022 were driven by energy efficiency improvement efforts in networks, data centers, and offices, as well as fleet and generator electrification. The GSMA Intelligence’s Energy Efficiency Benchmarking project, in collaboration with 17 operator groups worldwide, aims to gather more data in this critical area, quantifying network energy consumption, efficiency levels, and fuel sources.
Meanwhile, renewable energy accounted for 33% of the electricity purchased by operators reporting to the CDP in 2022, up from 14% in 2019. The report showed that operators purchased a combined 50 TWh of renewable electricity in 2022, equivalent to the annual electricity demand of Qatar or Singapore, almost doubling their purchases since 2019. Without these purchases, operational carbon emissions would have been 15 million tons higher in 2022.
Accelerating progress towards net zero
Moving the entire industry towards net zero emissions by 2050 will require strong and concerted action from the industry, supported by government policy support and investments. The report concludes by providing key recommendations and action points for operators, their suppliers, and policymakers to accelerate climate action progress.
For operators and suppliers, the greatest opportunities lie in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and improving supply chain circularity and materials in the ecosystem. Meanwhile, governments can play a key enabling role in these areas by implementing strong climate policies and ensuring that energy markets and regulations encourage investment in renewable energy and networks.
John Giusti, Director of Regulation at the GSMA, said: “The evidence shows that the mobile industry’s commitment to net zero by 2050 is yielding results. Despite the growing demand for connectivity and data, operators’ global carbon emissions continued to decline. While we see stronger leadership from Europe in the race to net zero and encouraging progress in the Americas and MENA, this is a race that everyone needs to win, or we all lose. We see what is possible when there is a focus on energy efficiency and access to renewables.
We call for deeper commitment from governments to support the mobile industry in accelerating decarbonization, with a concerted focus on fostering investment in renewable energy, as the lack of access to renewables in some regions creates a barrier for operators to continue their journey towards net zero.”
Other key findings:
– Eight operators have set new short-term science-based targets to the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) in the past year, bringing the total to 70 operators, nearly half of global mobile connections. Additionally, 53 operators have committed to long-term net zero goals.
– A growing number of operators are publicly disclosing their climate impacts, with 70 operators reporting to the CDP in 2023, compared to 67 operators in 2022.
– The quality of disclosures has also improved, with a record 19 operators on the CDP A List in 2023. This means that over a quarter of operators reporting to the CDP received an A, compared to only 1.5% of all companies reporting to the CDP in 2023.
– Three-quarters of the total carbon emissions of the mobile industry are Scope 3 value chain emissions, 90% of which come from just five categories: purchased goods and services; capital goods; fuel and energy-related activities; use of sold products; and investments.
– Increasing the circularity of mobile phones and network equipment is critical to reducing these Scope 3 emissions. To this end, the GSMA announced two new circularity targets in June 2023 to reduce environmental impact of mobile phones by driving their circularity through reuse, refurbishment, and recycling: as of January 2024, 15 operators have signed up to the new targets, representing one billion mobile connections.
Press Release MWC 2024