Vodafone aims to use fully use renewable sources to power its networks by 2025
U.K. telco Vodafone is implementing a number of actions in order to be in a position to fulfill with its sustainability goals, according to Erik Kling, president and head of IoT Americas at Vodafone Business.
During a recent session at RCR Wireless News’ Telco Sustainability Forum (available on demand here), the executive noted that the company has been upgrading its complete fleet in Europe to electric vehicles and is powering its European networks via renewable sources, among other efforts.
Kling said that Vodafone aims to use fully use renewable sources to power its networks by 2025, adding that the carrier also aims to eliminate carbon emissions by 2030.
“By 2040, we expect … complete net-zero across the whole Vodafone value chain, which is also including our suppliers. So we are not looking at ourselves, we are also taking our suppliers with us to join us into sustainability efforts. And I think this is a very important element of Vodafone structure as well—not to do it just alone, because I think it’s not just an effort from one company alone or one person alone. It’s got to be all of us,” the executive said.
Commenting on the modernization efforts carried out by Vodafone, Kling said that the company’s decision to move forward with the modernization of its network infrastructure is also related to the benefits in terms of the cut in carbon emissions. He said that the company’s networks across its entire footprint are currently powered via renewable sources such as wind and solar. Kling also noted that Vodafone has been installing wind turbines to power its telecommunications networks in the U.K. and Germany.
In addition to making its own business more sustainable, Vodafone Business is also enabling other sectors to reduce their overall environmental impact or improve their energy efficiency. One of this initiative is an urban lighting management project called “Light as you Need” (LayN), in which Vodafone is working with Serveo to promote the efficient management of public lighting by optimizing energy resources and analyzing mobility patterns using big data technologies, analytics and the Internet of Things (IoT). Vodafone said that the LayN initiative aims to provide light to users based on their needs, determined by large volumes of anonymized data from the Vodafone network, which analyses citizen mobility in a very granular way.
The executive noted that this initiative results in improved public lighting that allows energy savings of up to 30%. “This is a very simple program but also very effective. And I think with 30% energy savings, the cities really see that it has also an economic impact for the city, because they don’t need to spend all this energy to light up the streets while the sun is still up,” he added.
