Telefonica has taken advantage of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP25) in Madrid to announce five new environmental pledges ahead of achieving its ultimate target of carbon neutrality by 2050. The goals set out by COO Angel Vila include reducing its energy consumption per unit of data traffic by 85 percent in 2025 and using 100 percent renewable energy by 2030. Other commitments are halving overall emissions by 2025 and reducing them by 70 percent in 2030 on the way to zero-net emissions 20 years later, and avoiding 10 tons of CO2 for every ton produced by 2025.
Vila said Telefonica’s greatest contribution to the environment is its digitalisation, which serves to reduce the company’s impact while helping other sectors and accompanying its customers in their own decarbonisation processes. Services such as teleworking and fleet management, coupled with new smart agro, smart lighting and smart waste platforms are making a positive contribution to curbing climate change by improving specific consumption metrics by between 15 percent and 85 percent, said the executive.
Telefonica is the official technology partner for COP25, which is due to attract a total of over 25,000 representatives from 200 countries, and is offering more than 130 hours of special programming on nature and climate change on its Movistar+ pay-TV platform to coincide with the conference. Earlier this year it became the first company in the telecommunications sector to issue a ‘green bond’ with the specific aim of funding future environmental and energy-saving projects.
