Ericsson was the only telecommunications company and only Swedish firm to feature in the CDP’s Global Leadership Index for global corporations addressing the challenges of climate change.  Ericsson also ranked third overall on the CDP’s Nordic report.

The CDP is an independent organization that sets the benchmark for carbon-disclosure methodology and processes. In its latest report, the CDP reviews how the world’s largest companies FT500 are addressing the issue of climate change.

It ranks the companies across a number of criteria, including transparency about their carbon-dioxide emissions and whether they have a clear climate strategy.

The CDP also advises 300 of the world’s largest institutional investors, with USD 41 trillion in funds collectively under management, highlighting the importance of environmental issues, particularly climate change, to businesses and their stakeholders.  Many investors now use the CDP to validate the information provided by companies.

Elaine Weidman, director for Corporate Responsibility at Ericsson, says: “Despite the rapid growth of telecom, we have been and remain a very energy-lean industry.  There is a great opportunity for information and communication technology to reduce CO2 emissions.  The CDP provides an efficient vehicle targeted toward investors and other stakeholders that allows us to communicate our strong track record of actively tackling environmental issues, and confirms Ericsson as an industry leader in addressing climate change.”

Although telecommunications is a relatively energy-lean industry, Ericsson’s environmental efforts have led to it focus on decreasing the energy consumed by its products during usage. In 2006, Ericsson improved its 3G radio base stations’ energy efficiency by 35 percent. Having fewer energy-demanding networks is good news for the environment and operators looking to reduce running costs. It also provides Ericsson with a significant competitive edge.   In addition to tackling network energy consumption, Ericsson has also introduced a number of innovative initiatives geared at energy-efficiency.  These include the GSM Power Standby Feature, the Tower Tube, biofuel powered telecom sites, and the solar village charger, which was co-developed with Sony Ericsson.

“Around the globe, top managers and CEOs are talking about climate issues,” Weidman says. “Five years ago, this wasn’t the case. There is increased awareness of social and environmental issues, and they are closely connected to financial performance.”