Telefónica, leader of the telecommunications sector in the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) for the second year in a row

This month of September, Telefónica received, for the second year in a row, the highest evaluation in the telecommunications sector in the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), which shows to 551 institutional investors with assets of 71 trillion Dollars the transparency and performance of companies in the subject of climate change. This achievement means the recognition of Telefónica’s efforts to increase the efficiency of its resource utilisation and reduce its environmental impact.

With a note of  90 points out of 100 -a point higher than last year-, Telefónica is the only Spanish company listed in the Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index (CDLI),- measuring the quantity and quality of information offered by companies regarding climate change and where 52 of the best companies are represented.

Since the European Commission has put decarbonising the economy at the heart of their vision for Europe’s development up to 2020 and beyond, we believe that we are in the right track for a transition to a low carbon economy. As the European Commissioner for Climate action, Connie Hedegaard, stressed: “joining the Carbon Disclosure Project is a way for businesses to prepare themselves for this transition -and maximise their chances of profiting from it.”

Therefore, what has Telefónica done to reach this position in the CDP?

The management of energy and CO2 emissions, green services and, in general, taking advantage of the opportunities and the minimizing of risks linked to climate change, have been the key to reach this position in the main carbon investment index.

In 2010, Telefónica considerable improved the processes of development of inventories of energy consumption and emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG), fundamental to make the right decisions, keeping total GHG emissions almost stable at around two million tons. At the same time, AENOR carried out a specialized verification of energy and emissions in all of the Group’s operations.

Also, the company carried out 44 global projects of energy efficiency in the network, with a reduction in energy expenses of seven million Euros. These initiatives helped Telefónica achieve half of the objective set in 2008 of the year 2015 of 30% reduction of energy consumption in networks of equivalent access.  The position of energy managers has been key to achieve all this, position created within the area of Operations created by the Climate Change and Energy Efficiency Office of Telefónica to manage the energy of the companies in different countries.

To help clients improve their energy efficiency, the company launched the model Green Customer Experience, which offers them a green experience from the moment they make the decision to buy a device, its use and until the end of its life-cycle. This model includes the development of green applications which promote efficient habits among the customers. In the same manner,  Telefónica continued to promote the services already offered of inmotics, tele-conmuting, fleet management and virtual hosting and it participated in various electric car projects and smart cities and it subscribed to the European Union Codes of Conduct on energy efficiency for data processing centers and broadband equipment for customers.

Of the various industry initiatives in which the company took part in 2010, we can stand out the collaboration with the ITU (International Telecommunications Union) in the development of methodologies to quantify the impact of the TIC sector regarding CO2, as well as the products and services for final users. On the other hand, it collaborated with GSMA to create a standard methodology to measure energy efficiency of mobile networks.

The CDP also gives enormous importance to the transparency of the companies on the subject of climate change. Telefónica includes in its annual report, delivered to its shareholders, and in its annual CR and Sustainability information its strategy and achievements on this matter. At the same time, it has 2.0 channels to inform and debate on energy efficiency, green services, measurement of indicators, etc. In 2010, it celebrated its first global workshop on energy efficiency in which employees, experts, industry analysts, manufacturers and the media took part.  Also and, as part of its activities to inform society, it published together with the ITU and the GeSI the document “Using ICTs to tackle Climate Change”, presented in the Climate Change Summit in Cancun.

In 2011, Telefónica continues with its activities. Promoted by the Climate Change and Energy Efficiency Office, with a strategy based on the management of risks and opportunities linked to climate change and energy.