New Delhi / Bangalore – Greenpeace welcomes the disclosure of carbon emissions by Vodafone-Essar through their first-ever sustainability report “Leaving Footprints: Making a Difference One Step at a Time”, which was released on August 8 (1). In the absence of any statutory guideline, the disclosure hopefully raises the standard for the telecom sector in India, on acceptable norms of corporate responsibility on sustainability of their business.
This announcement follows the Cellular Operator Association of India’s (COAI) commitment to develop a detailed roadmap on sustainable measures to be adopted by the sector, including on the issue of emission reductions by September 2011.
“In the absence of public reporting by any of the companies in the sector so far, we appreciate Vodafone’s initiative, which has far-reaching consequences for the long-term sustainability of the company as well as the Indian telecom industry,” said Mrinmoy Chattaraj, Climate and Energy Campaigner, Greenpeace India in response to the report released. “While the first step has been taken, it is now important for the company in particular and the sector in general to establish absolute carbon emission reduction targets, for this initiative to add substance to intent.”
In May 2011, Greenpeace released its report “Dirty Talking: Case for Telecom to Shift to Renewable”, which highlighted an annual loss of Rs. 2,600 crore to the state-exchequer, as a result of the telecom sector’s excessive utilization of subsidized diesel (2). In recent months, this has also generated a discussion on the need for a differential or dual pricing mechanism on diesel and the possibility of large-scale deployment of renewable sources for certain sectors, including telecom, by politicians cutting across party lines, including former Minister of Environment and Forests, Mr. Jairam Ramesh and Janata Dal (United) President Mr. Sharad Yadav (3).
While the Ministry of New and Renwable Energy has created provisions for the sector within the National Solar Mission, these are yet to establish at a scale of significance in terms of the volume and spread of the telecom sector’s operations.
Greenpeace is demanding that telecom operators in India:
- Publicly disclose carbon emissions of their entire business operation and establish progressive emission reduction targets
- Commit to shift the sourcing of 50% of their energy requirements through renewable energy sources and phase out diesel use in their business operations by 2015.
- Catalyze a low-carbon economy wide growth by advocating for strong policies that promote renewable energy
Notes:
(1) Refer to http://www.vodafone.in/documents/pdfs/csr_report.pdf
(2) Refer to http://www.greenpeace.org/india/Global/india/docs/cool-it/reports/telecom-report-may-2011.pdf
(3) Refer to http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_jairam-ramesh-against-diesel-subsidy-enjoyed-by-mobile-companies_1551543 and http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-otherstates/article2220227.ece
Source: Greenpeace India.
