Mobile Net Zero: How can we turn ambition into action?

According to the recent IPCC Climate Change report, emissions must peak by 2025 for the world to have a chance of meeting the goals set out in Paris. The window to prevent temperatures rising more than 1.5°C is rapidly closing. Decisions made this year could determine whether that target is met, or whether the world will have to deal with even more severe weather extremes.

This is why the mobile industry is now focussing on turning ambition into action. The last year has seen many more carbon reduction commitments from the industry, which is starting to drive transformational change. Although there is still some way to go, there continues to be a decoupling of electricity use and carbon emissions from the increase of data use. But many challenges remain such as accessing renewables and decarbonising supply chains.

This event saw the launch of the second annual GSMA State of the Industry report on Climate Action: Mobile Net Zero 2022. This report is the mobile industry’s annual assessment of how it is doing against the ambition the GSMA Board set in 2019 – to be net zero by 2050.

During the webinar we heard from leading mobile operators and government representatives on:

• What the increase in data traffic means for carbon emissions and energy consumption
• The challenges and the keys to unlocking renewable energy markets
• The impact of the rollout of 5G for the industry’s emissions and what it means for legacy networks
• How the industry is moving toward a circular economy for both network equipment and consumer devices?

Below is the agenda with the time each section begins: