The telecoms industry generates only a small percentage of overall human carbon emissions. Power consumption is concentrated in the energy used by datacenters, radio base stations and fixed network access equipment.

Even so, operators, together with suppliers, can work towards making their energy consumption more efficient, and help reduce the industry’s CO2 emissions, Salanave says.

But even more important is the contribution telecoms can make to reducing the negative environmental impact of other sectors.

“The telecoms industry is not just an emission-generating industry, but an industry that can help curb the emissions from other industries and society as a whole.”

Suppliers’ intimate knowledge of operators’ network infrastructure, organizational processes, and working habits, can help both of them address energy consumption and be more efficient, Salanave says.

“Suppliers and operators need to focus their actions on their value chains,” he says. “Particularly, they must focus on controlling and reducing the footprint of their own activities through ‘greener’ behaviors, datacenters and networks and the stimulation of ‘upstream’ innovations such as lower power-consumption modules, higher battery efficiencies and cleaner energy sources.”

Salanave continues: “This can also be done by driving ‘downstream’ evolutions by encouraging environmentally-sustainable devices, and recycling and disposal of mobile devices, as well as supporting environmentally-conscious end-user behavior.”

There are a number of ways the telecoms industry can help reduce CO2 emissions, he adds. Firstly, CO2-intensive activities can be replaced with CO2-light alternatives. Videoconferencing and telecommuting are examples of how to reduce the need for travel.

Secondly, telecoms can also optimize the supply chain and reduce emissions associated with the transportation of goods. Also, moving from traditional services to smart grids, e-health, and e-government, which can be better managed electronically and are supported by fiber and mobile broadband technologies, can also help.

The third way in which telecoms can help reduce the CO2 footprint is in the dematerialization of society – doing less with more.  Systemic changes enabled by telecoms include new ways of shopping that reduce the need for travel and transport keeping industrial production and transportation to a minimum. The virtualization of human interactions, which allows people to communicate remotely and interact without physical presence, is another example.

“These contributions can have a significant impact on society, and at the same time, they also represent important business opportunities for the telecoms industry,” Salanave says.