America’s telecoms industry is lagging behind on clean energy

Major players in America’s telecommunications industry are not doing enough to reduce carbon emissions and make the transition to renewable energy.

This is one of the findings of a new report from the non-profit organisation, Green America, which assessed the performance of the four largest companies in the sector.

The organisation reviewed AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile’s commitments on renewable energy and their plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

At the moment, only T-Mobile scores an A grade for having recently made a commitment to source 100 percent of its energy needs from renewables by 2021.

Verizon was the worst performing, achieving an F in all categories. AT&T and Sprint also received an F for its current levels of clean energy sourcing, which Green America estimated to be only 2 percent across all three telecom giants.

AT&T has made some inroads to improving its clean energy commitments. As recently reported by Climate Action, the global company has agreed to purchase 520 megawatts of renewable energy from two wind farms in the US. It also has a stated goal of making carbon savings which are 10 times its global footprint by 2025. However, it currently receives a D- from Green America on its emissions reduction score.

Telecommunications is a massive industry in the United States, and the four companies assessed consume more than 3 million megawatt hours of electricity each year. AT&T and Verizon’s energy consumption alone could power 2.6 million homes for a year, according to analysis.

The issue is, therefore, one of vital importance for the industry, and can be easily remedied as other corporate companies in the US have shown.

Todd Larsen, who works on corporate engagement at Green America urged the industry to do more: “Verizon is flunking when it comes to adopting renewable energy, and AT&T and Sprint aren’t doing much better. T-Mobile deserves credit for stepping up and being best in its class. To reduce our climate emissions at the speed and scale necessary to address the climate crisis, all companies should shift to 100 percent renewable energy within the next decade”.

“If companies like Apple and Google can achieve 100 percent clean energy, telecom companies can too”, he added.

 

 

Photo Credit: Álvaro Serrano