The "C" in Green ICT is Communications. Green America reports that, "The four largest companies – AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile – collectively use more than 30 million MWh of electric power each year. AT&T and Verizon, the two leading US companies in the industry, have a combined electricity usage that could power 2.6 million homes for a year...A large portion of this energy (90%) powers wireless access networks, towers and other infrastructure allowing cell phone users to access data and connect nationwide." Here's how telecoms are doing from a Green ICT perspective.

2018

T-Mobile is the top telecom on on the EPA's April 2018 Green Power Partnership, ranking #19.EPA recognized T-Mobile with a 2018 Direct Project Engagement Award for, among other achievements:
- Signing a financial power purchase agreement (PPA) for 625 million kilowatt-hours, which was the largest wind power investment to date made by a wireless company.
- Using 27 percent green power for its operations in the United States.
- Being a leader in its industry sector—T-Mobile is the first major U.S. telecommunications company to commit to 100 percent green power [by 2021].

2017

Newsweek's Green Ranking 2017 evaluated 500 publicly-traded US companies, assigning each a ranking and a percentage score. Nine "Telecommunications Services" companies are on the list and none did particularly well. The top two are Sprint (#67 @ 50.7%) and AT&T (#146 @ 35.5%). The other telecoms ranked #224 or lower with scores of 22.1% or lower. By contrast, two of the USA Top 10 were ICT companies.

Sprint told me in 2017 that, "All Sprint Prepaid and Postpaid handsets are required to complete UL 110 certification. As a result, Sprint has more UL 110 certified wireless phones than any other wireless carrier in the world. "

Corporate Knights, with whom Newsweek partnered on its 2017 rankings, does not have any USA telecoms in its 2017 Global 100 list.

Telecoms rank much higher outside the United States. Newsweek's Global 50 includes twenty-one telcos. Scoring higher than the top-ranked USA telco, Sprint (#157 @ 50.7%), are BT Group (#8 @ 82.5%), Orange (#37 @ 63.4%), NTT Docomo (#54 @ 59.8%) and Telecom Italia (#85 @ 56.7%). Seven more scored higher than AT&T. BT Group was also one of three ICT companies in Newsweek's Global Top 10.

BT Group was also the best (#41) of the four telcos in Corporate Knights 2017 Global 100.

The Tomorrows Value and ABI rankings, which we used in the previous post, appear to no longer exist.

Previous Post

This matrix uses sustainability rankings from multiple sources, illustrating how different methodologies and different peer groups can yield different results. BT, Deutsche Telekom, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, and Verizon also perform well in multiple rankings. (Verizon performs better with US rankings than in global ones.)

* Ranking is for wireless operation
** Ranking is for Orange Group

[1] Royal KNP is the only telecom to make the top 20 in Vestas' Corporate Renewable Energy Index [CREX] 2011, ranking #13 for RE as a percentage of energy consumption and #5 in total RE procurement.

[2] These companies appear on at least one top 10 list from world or regional 2011 Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes. These indexes include all sectors, not just telecom.

[3] These companies appear on at least one top 10 list from country or country group 2011 Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes. Top 10 performer not on the above table is SK Telecom (Korea Index). These indexes include all sectors, not just telecom.

[4] BT is the only telecom in the top quartile of IPE's ranking of tech companies on their environmental and human rights performance in China.

[5] Sprint, in October 2011, upped its commitment through the WWF Climate Savers program to reduce its GHG emissions by 20%. KNP is also pursuing an aggressive reduction through the same program.

[6] IDC Worldwide Mobile Operator 2010 Vendor Profiles: A Green Analysis — An Evaluation of 10 Key Mobile Operators' Mobile Phone Sustainability Efforts only discloses the top 5, unranked, out of 10 evaluated, to those who do not purchase the full report. Each of these are in the top 5.

[7] Compass Intelligence's 2012 report on Mobile Device Reuse and Recycling "...includes an assessment of the used device ecosystem and a ranking of the carrier trade-in/buyback programs. For the second consecutive year, Sprint’s Buyback Program is the top ranked out of the major U.S. carriers. The ranking compares the trade-in programs of Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and US Cellular."

[8] Greenpeace's April 2013 Cool IT Leaderboard includes five telecoms from around the world in its 21 participants. Sprint was the only telecom that scored in the top quartile.

British firm Two Tomorrows' 2011 sustainability ratings covers the 20 "world’s largest information and communications technology (ICT) companies." The companies score between 60% and 23% on a 100% scale. The top third - scoring 46% or better - are mostly product companies, but two service providers make the cut. Vodafone is #1 at 60% and France Telecom is #4 at 49%. We highlighted the top third in green.

Newsweek's Green Rankings 2012 ranks the US top public 500 and global top 500 companies. We highlighted the top third in each set's telecommunications sector in green.

ABI Research's European Green Operators Matrix ranks 10 telecoms on green innovation and implementation. Deutsche Telekom and Orange Group (France Telecom), #1 and #2, respectively, cluster distinctly ahead of the pack in ABI's matrix. ABI notes:

"The results of the study illustrate that innovation is the most important element for a carrier to be termed "green." Most European carriers do well implementing environmental and sustainable policies across their organizations. Most of them have internal processes, ISO 14001 EMS, and management structures in place to implement CSR policies. However what distinguishes carriers is their leadership ability in innovating and partnering with others in the industry to promote green energy-efficient technologies. Unlike their US counterparts, many of the top carriers in Europe have a good sense of how much energy is being consumed within their networks, and in fact disclose CO2 emissions based on standard protocols such as GHG or GRI."

We highlighted the top third in green.

In ABI Research's North American Green Carriers Matrix ranks 10 telecoms on green innovation and implementation. AT&T Wireless and Sprint-Nextel, #1 and #2, respectively, only fall a little below their European counterparts, while the other 8 carriers rank well below. We highlighted the top third in green.

The 2010 Global 100 list contained only 4 telecoms, with Vodafone delivering the best performance. We highlighted the top provider in green.

Product manufacturers, not telecom providers, dominate ICT sustainability lists like those of Two Tomorrows and Newsweek. An interesting question is whether this is a function of the ratings methodologies or of greater stakeholder exceptions for tech product companies. I suspect the latter. Note that tech product companies dominated the top of Newsweek's listings even when compared to all Fortune 500 companies, not just the tech sector. I see no reason why telecos could not perform as well in these product ratings if they had the same demand from customers and other stakeholders as do tech product companies.

Click on the 'comm' tag at the top of this post for more on green communications technologies and practices.