Measuring CSPs' advances in sustainability

Communications service providers (CSPs) are increasingly vocal about their efforts to improve energy efficiency and contain CO2 emissions amid rising data usage, but how easy is it to measure who is making the greatest progress?

A new index from ABI Research, when compared with other recent sustainability indices, suggest it is a tricky process, but also highlights the progress CSPs are making.

CSPs increasingly cite sustainability as a major factor of strategic technology and business decisions. Orange, for example, at Mobile World Congress 2022 said it is phasing out its 2G and 3G networks between 2025 and 2030 in order to become more energy efficient.

“Orange’s sustainability and responsibility targets set out in its Engage 2025 strategy played a pivotal role in influencing the Group’s network modernization roadmap towards more energy efficient technologies,” said the company in a statement.

“This focus on maximizing the efficiency of our networks will also contribute to reducing our carbon emissions and help us meet our sustainability targets of becoming ‘net zero’ by 2040,” said Michaël Trabbia, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer for the Orange Group.

There are also moves to provide much greater accountability. In January, for example, Telefónica announced a 5.5 billion euro refinancing program that links the company’s interest rates to compliance with environmental objectives.

Under pressure

CSPs are under pressure to take action from multiple fronts, from customers and governments that want action on climate change through to rising energy costs which coincide with growth in data traffic.

All of which points to the need to accurately benchmark CSPs’ sustainability performance. Indices, however, differ in what they measure and how.

Nevertheless, two recent reports suggest Deutsche Telekom is one CSP that is ahead of many of its peers.

ABI Research’s Sustainability Index Telco Operators report, examines the sustainability progress of ten CSPs worldwide, based on their performance in six categories: renewable energy, network upgrades, energy efficiency, waste disposal and circular economy, green buildings and vehicles, and reporting and governance.

The results show Deutsche Telekom, Telefónica, Vodafone and KPN as leaders; AT&T, Verizon and, Orange as part of the mainstream; and SK Telecom, NTT DoCoMo and Singtel as followers.

Deutsche Telekom emerged as a leader in European 5G and fiber, while its subsidiary, T-Mobile US, also a leader in 5G, announced in early 2022 that it had become the first U.S. provider to source 100 percent of its electricity from renewable energy sources, helping the global Deutsche Telekom Group reach 100 percent renewables worldwide. T-Mobile reported zero percent renewable energy use just a few years ago in 2017, and this transition to 100 percent occurred during a historic merger with Sprint. Deutsche Telekom also ranked relatively highly in S&P Global’s recently published sustainability yearbook, based on the rating agency’s 2021 Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA).

The yearbook categorizes the sustainability performance of more than 7,000 companies across numerous sectors as gold, silver, bronze or “industry mover”. Deutsche Telekom achieved silver status, along with Taiwan Mobile and FarEasTone Telecommunications. Telefónica and KPN achieved bronze status, alongside SK Telecom, Telecom Italia,Chunghwa Telecom and TELUS.

True Corporation of Thailand was the only CSP to achieve a gold ranking.

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