Vodafone: sets new sustainable targets to go 100% green

Following its announcement of its new sustainable targets, Vodafone has revealed that its European network will be powered by 100% renewable electricity by July 2021. The new targets will create a Green Gigabit Net for its customers in 11 markets that will use only power from wind, solar or hydro sources. Vodafone has also announced its commitments to help business customers reduce their carbon emissions by a cumulative total of 350mn tonnes over 10 years, between 2020 and 2030.

These pledges made by Vodafone align with the company’s ambition to improve the lives of 1bn people while halving its environmental impact by 2025. 

“More than ever, Vodafone is relied upon to connect millions of people around the world. As society rebuilds and recovers from the COVID-19 crisis, we have an opportunity to reshape our future sustainably to ensure that recovery does not come at a cost to the environment. Our accelerated shift to 100% renewable electricity on our European networks will change the way we power our technology for good - reducing our reliance on fossil fuels, helping our customers manage their resources more effectively and reduce their carbon emissions, while helping to create a healthier planet for everyone,” commented Nick Read, CEO of Vodafone Group.

The new targets were developed with support from global carbon and sustainability experts at the Carbon Trust - a partner of Vodafone;s for several years. 

“We have been working closely with Vodafone on its sustainability agenda since 2010, and for the last seven years on quantifying the carbon enablement impact of Vodafone’s products and services. There is a growing and important opportunity for the ICT sector to develop and enable new solutions that help drive decarbonisation and this target represents a very high level of ambition for Vodafone to continue to drive this strategy, further developing its IoT and other services, and engaging with its business customers,” added Tom Delay, Chief Executive of Carbon Trust.

‘Green networks plan accelerated in Europe’

The European Green Gigabit Net commitment made by Vodafone, has accelerated by three years an earlier pledge made by the company to source 100% renewable electricity for the company’s fixed and mobile networks by 2025.

Broken down, around four-fifths of Vodafone’s network energy will be renewable sources obtained directly from national electricity grids via PPA and green tariffs. The remaining fifth wll be obtained from credible renewable energy certificates. Where possible Vodafone will also invest in self generation on site, predominantly via solar panels.

Green Gigabit Net will be adopted across all Vodafone markets in Europe including: Germany, UK, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Romania, Albania, Czech Republic and Hungary by July 2021.

Vodafone markets which have already made commitments to renewable electricity include:

• Vodafone Italy, Czech Republic and Ireland have been using renewable electricity tariffs for a number of years
• Vodafone Spain has announced a Power Purchase Agreement with Iberdrola
• Vodafone Germany, Romania, Greece and Hungary all sourced renewable tariffs or certificates in 2019

To find out more about Vodafone’s commitments to a 100% green network, click here!

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Image source: Vodafone