Ongoing climate change and unsustainable use of natural resources is putting both ecosystems and humanity at great risk. Digitalization can accelerate the transformation needed to change this course. The time for forceful action is now. That’s why we have committed to reach zero CO2 and zero waste by 2030.
The road to zero - CO2 and waste
In 2019, Telia Company adopted two daring environmental goals: by 2030, our CO2 and waste footprints will be zero. The zero CO2 ambition focuses on creating a climate-neutral value chain by 2030. The work on zero waste focuses on our own and network operations while enabling a circular economy through our offerings.
Telia’s long-term decarbonization journey is broken down into more detailed goals to be reached by 2022 and 2023, as well as 2025 science-based targets, aligned with the 1.5° C pathway for the ICT industry. The full list of goals and our performance in 2022 is available under Goals and performance.
Our approach
Our strategy captures both our responsibility to forcefully address our negative footprint and business opportunities to help our customers reduce theirs.
Negative footprint to address
In the past few years, we have significantly reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from our own operations. Since 2020, we use 100% renewable electricity thus reached our goal two years ahead of schedule, and achieved climate neutrality by offsetting the remaining GHG emissions. An assessment of our total value chain emissions shows that the majority are generated in the supply chain. Working closely with suppliers to enable them to transition to a low-carbon economy will be key in achieving the 2030 goal of zero CO2. Through this work we contribute to the realization of Sustainable Development Goal 7: Renewable energy and Goal 13: Climate action.
When it comes to waste, the largest amounts in our own operations are generated when we develop our network infrastructure. Significant e-waste volumes are generated from network equipment but also to a lesser extent from consumer electronics such as mobile phones and routers. To address these waste flows, we apply the “Prevent – Reduce – Reuse – Recycle” principle while exploring and expanding the use of circular business models. These models are applied in all of our work, for example when it comes to reusing network equipment or providing devices “as a service” which allows us to get electronics back for reuse and proper recycling. Through this work we contribute to the realization of Sustainable Development Goal 12: Sustainable consumption and production.
Enabling societies to transform
Several research reports such as the Exponential Climate Action Roadmap, GSMA Enablement Effect report and a Telia/Accenture report on the circular economy show the importance of connectivity and digital solutions for societies to become low-carbon and circular.
Since 2020, we track “enablement effects” for some of our products and services: remote meetings and IoT for buildings, transport, and utilities. According to our estimations for 2022 based on our carbon enablement model, the use of our remote meeting services and some of our Internet of Things (IoT) solutions applied in buildings, transportation and utilities, enabled GHG emission reductions of 330,000 tons CO2e. Apart from the carbon enablement effect, Telia also measures energy reductions enabled by IoT which enabled savings of approximately 810 GWh electricity in 2022.
We are actively contributing as a supporting partner to the Exponential Climate Action Roadmap project, which lays out 36 solutions to halve global CO2 emissions by 2030. The project highlights the role of digital solutions as an enabler for many other industries, stating that globally, “The digital sector has the potential to directly reduce fossil fuel emissions 15% by 2030 and indirectly support a further reduction of 35% through influence of consumer and business decisions and systems transformation.”
More information can be found on pages 80-84 in the 2022 Annual and Sustainability Report.
