Vodafone to Power European Operations with 100% Renewable Energy from July

Vodafone has announced that its European operations will be entirely powered by renewable energy sources starting in July.

The announcement follows recent global discussions on climate action, including a G7 leaders’ meeting in Cornwall where tackling climate change featured prominently. The 2021 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow this November is expected to bring further commitments and clearer action plans.

Rather than waiting for international mandates, many companies are taking their own steps to reduce environmental impact, and Vodafone is among those accelerating their plans.

Vodafone says this move is a significant milestone toward its broader target of reaching net-zero carbon emissions for its own operations by 2030 and across its entire value chain by 2040.

Nick Read, CEO of Vodafone Group, commented:

“From 1 July 2021, Vodafone’s customers across Europe can be reassured that the connectivity they use is entirely powered by electricity from renewable sources.

This is a major milestone towards our goal of reducing our own global carbon emissions to net zero by 2030, helping our customers reduce their own environmental footprint and continuing to build an inclusive and sustainable digital society in all of our markets.”

Vodafone had originally planned to reach 100 percent renewable energy use by 2025, but in July 2020 it accelerated that target to achieve it in 2021. The company aims to replicate a similar transition in its African markets by 2025.

Even as mobile data traffic grew by 47 percent year-on-year, Vodafone’s overall energy consumption has remained largely stable. The company credits this to deploying more energy-efficient mobile technologies and analytics, including Massive MIMO (M-MIMO), which it says is up to around 70 percent more efficient than 4G in certain scenarios. Vodafone has also been progressively retiring its legacy 3G network, which typically consumes more power than newer-generation networks.

To encourage wider action, Vodafone plans to promote greener behavior among businesses and consumers by adopting eco-focused branding across key digital and social channels in twelve markets.

(Image Credit: Vodafone)

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