KARI VAIHIA
Director, Corporate Social
Responsibility, TeliaSonera

Climate change concerns everyone, both companies and individuals, but different sectors/ industries have different possibilities to tackle the major challenge of helping the economy to grow while reducing environmental impact. In this context, the telecom industry sees its duty and opportunities in aiming for sustainable growth in general and combating climate change in particular.

However, in order to be credible, the company must ensure that it is seen to be working actively with climate change issues. In order to be efficient and effective, a company therefore has to work on at least 3 levels: own operations, co-operation and communication.

TeliaSonera carefully considers the energy and other CO2-related issues in all its operations. We try to take care of our own backyard and, more importantly, - we try to take initiatives, develop indicators and find new solutions. For example,

• 9.6 % of Finnish operations used windpower in 2005
• Pilots of fuel cells are being conducted in Sweden
• An Energy Efficiency Index has been developed in Sweden
• LCAs (life cycle assessment) have been conducted for all telecom services
• R&D has facilitated the development of ICT for sustainable development

TeliaSonera has worked closely with ETNO, the voice of Europe’s telecoms and electronic communications operators in Brussels. ETNO launched its Environmental Charter already in 1996 and in 2004 upgraded that to the Sustainability Charter. Around 20 major operators have signed the charter, which represents about 90 % of the market in terms of turnover. Of particular note regarding the environment and climate change are a set of energy and climate change policies drawn up in 2006 and the annual ETNO sustainability report.

In 2001, a number of major ICT companies, with the support of UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) and ITU (International Telecommunications Union), launched a global initiative for sustainable development, GeSI. TeliaSonera is a member of this through ETNO. The GeSI Forum was part of the Kyoto Plus Conference in Berlin and will investigate the increasing role information and communications technologies (ICT) can play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, including

• The potential and limits of ICT to reduce GHG emissions.
• Different strategies and means to realize the potentials of emerging telecommunication services compared with current solutions.
• AThe role and responsibility of key stakeholders in the development of tools required for maximising the contribution of ICT to climate change mitigation and adaptation.

The amount of CO2 emissions for the EU-15 in1990 was 4266 million tons. Germany’s emissions in 1995 were 1230 million tons and Finland’s were 71 million tons. Emissions of climate-changing greenhouse gases (GHG) between 2003 and 2004 from the EU-15 increased by 11.5 million tons (0.3 %). Emissions of CO2, the most problematic GHG, were 4.4% above 1990 levels for the EU-15. Road transport was the biggest contributor to this trend.

The project “Saving the climate @ the speed of light” is a joint ETNO-WWF initiative. The fruit of this project is a report entitled ”Saving the climate @ the speed of light – first roadmap for reduced CO2 emissions in the EU and beyond”. The objective of the report was to transfer small demonstration projects of how ICT services can reduce CO2 emissions to best practices on a European scale. The main milestones of the roadmap are the following:

• The first phase: an annual reduction of CO2 emissions by 50 million tons by 2010
  • Virtual meetings: 24 million
  • E-dematerialisation: 4 million
  • Flexi-work: 22 million
  • Additional tasks for policy revision, e.g on energy, taxation, transportation, innovation, procurement, incentives

• The second phase: a 15-30 % reduction by 2020
  • More services
  • System solutions (combined services)
  • Focus on sustainable consumption, production, city planning and community development

Today, many actors offer different options to reduce climate change. However, there should be a focus on solutions which allow a real change in travel practices for example, rather than options such as forest plantation, which are useful but may not represent a long term solution.

Indicators should be used to chart progress, e.g. that videoconferencing will replace 20 % of internal EU business travel by 2010.

An important trend that could enable a shift towards virtual meetings, for example, is the increasing number of companies with meeting departments instead of travel departments in order to ensure that the most efficient way of meeting within the company

1. ICT is recognised as an important part of the solution for combating climate change in Europe
2. Key actors have a climate change strategy for ICT
3. Concrete "ICT – Climate Change" programmes are initiated in Europe by 2007

We need to communicate our opportunities. If communication and awareness-raising are conducted by a third party, the message is more credible and hopefully more acceptable for the decision makers, encouraging them to act accordingly and really take advantage of the opportunities telecommunications offer for combating climate change.

TeliaSonera is one of the partners in the Centre for Sustainable Communications, a centre of excellence established in Sweden in 2006 and co-ordinated by The Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. The centre aims to create and develop new, innovative tools and methods for communication, e.g. providing viable alternatives to physical travel and transportation, thereby supporting growth and inclusion while reducing our consumption of natural resources.

Symposium "Information Technology, Competitiveness and the Environment" in Helsinki, November 20, 2006
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