GOING GREEN : And what that may mean to telecom

When “going green” sometimes means having large polluters pay for lavish advertisements focused on how much they care about the earth, it helps to look beyond platitudes to tangible specifics.
Right now, the telecom industry in general is in the early phase of defining what “going green” means, according to analyst Jason Marcheck at Current Analysis.
” ‘Green’ is almost too diffuse a term and, repeated too often, it begins to lose its meaning,” said Marcheck. “Everyone is at the beginning of the process, trying to figure out how powerful this is going to be, where the shortcomings are and, as an analyst, I have to cover it. We’re all in the same boat.”
Morphing into green initiatives
Vendors have been asking for help in discerning the difference between traditional notions of lower total cost of ownership (TCO) and actual green initiatives, the analyst said. Lowering the TCO by lowering the energy consumption of a piece of equipment, say telecom infrastructure, is a traditional notion, Marcheck said. So it bears examining where that practice morphs into a green initiative.
Perception is important. Because telecom and information technology make up one of the largest business sectors in the world, companies in these markets will want to be seen as leading the charge on green initiatives, as opposed to being dragged along, according to Marcheck.
The possibilities for wireless-related companies range from handset recycling programs, reducing hazardous materials within the handset and using energy-efficient equipment to evangelizing the environmental benefits of telecommuting and teleconferencing, the analyst said. Many wireless companies already are exploring the possibilities, but the effort overall still is nascent, according to Marcheck.
In the business-to-consumer environment, there’s an aspect of “telling your story” of corporate responsibility in pursuing environmentally friendly practices, Marcheck said. But in the business-to-business arena there’s also keen interest in learning how to leverage actual practices into a tangible, competitive edge.
“Corporations are emphasizing their actions to reduce their carbon footprint,” Marcheck said. “By and large, everyone has a ‘green story.’ A lot of it now is a marketing story, which makes sense. But it is unlikely that implementing green corporate practices will result in an ongoing competitive advantage for any company.”
As more companies take the marketing angle, companies will try to “out-green” each other, the analyst said. For instance, the term “energy efficient” gets stretched to the breaking point and there’s a danger of rendering marketing messages less effective if a claim doesn’t ring true.
Meaningful impact
In contrast, making one’s product offerings more environmentally conscious can have a more meaningful impact on a company’s competitive position, the analyst said.
Three main categories present themselves: reducing power consumption, using renewable materials in products and packaging and conformance with government regulations and/or recommendations from advocacy groups.
Equipment vendors have always touted lower energy consumption as a means to lower costs for their customers. Now it’s got a green spin. So, metrics and definitions should be clear and, in telecom as in other industries, new certifications may be necessary to bring coherence to the issue of green claims, the analyst said.
“Cisco Systems recently told me, for instance, that a teleconference with 98 participants has the same carbon footprint as one cross-country flight,” Marcheck said. “The message there is: companies are trying to quantify their actions to reduce their carbon footprint.”
The sprawling subject does include numerous examples of positive, if tangentially related trends.
The global nature of the wireless industry, for instance, appears to extend the positive influence of various regulatory practices. The European Union’s RoHS (restriction of hazardous substances) directive means that global handset vendors selling into Europe meet the RoHS requirements. Beginning last year, Chinese manufacturers have had to review and disclose any hazardous substances in their products. (Chinese factories, of course, make an outsized proportion of the world’s consumer electronics, including handsets.) According to Michael Kirschner, president of Design Chain Associates L.L.C., most manufacturers are “struggling quietly” to meet an array of regulations.
Nokia Corp. may be something of an exception in that it is, in fact, a very large multinational company that has presented numerous environmentally friendly initiatives and largely been treated as a genuinely interested party – as they should, Marcheck said.
The company recently announced its “Evolve” handset, which neatly combines the green marketing angle with actual substance.
“Nokia’s mission is to develop new products that enable consumers to make sustainable choices,” said spokeswoman Laurie Armstrong.
About 65% to 80% of a Nokia phone is recyclable, she said, and the Evolve’s cover uses 50% renewable materials, as does its packaging. The handset’s charger consumes one-tenth the energy of chargers commonly in use.
“We’ve made good progress, but we want to do more,” Armstrong said.