- Since November, 100% of the company’s electricity consumption in Brazil will be from clean sources, percentage that Spain, the United Kingdom, and Germany already have.
- The multinational company will reach its 2020 global goal two years ahead of time, and is accelerating to be renewable in all its markets by 2030.
Madrid, 24 October 2018. Telefónica is stepping on the accelerator to have the most efficient network in the market in terms of energy and carbon. Thanks to the advances in its Renewable Energy Plan, 2018 will finish with 50% of its consumption from renewable electricity, compared to 47% at the end of 2017. The company is expected to exceed 70% in 2019.
The Plan is supported on four action areas according to the different markets in which it operates, and the current regulations in each of them: acquisition of renewable energy with a guarantee of origin, long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs), shorter bilateral agreements, and self-production.
The main advances this year have occurred in Brazil, Mexico, and Chile. As of November, 100% of Telefónica’s energy consumption in Brazil will come from renewable sources, with the attainment of certified renewable energy. And in December, it will have distributed generation of energy from Hydroelectric Power Plants (CGH for its Spanish original) in the concessions area from the company Compañía Energética de Minas Gerais – CEMIG. Thus, as of 2019 Vivo will reduce its CO2 emissions by 65%.
“Telefónica’s transition towards decarbonisation is a fact. We’re growing while simultaneously controlling our energy consumption, and we use renewable electricity. This is positive for both the company and the customers and planet. With this we are not only reducing our operating costs, but also offering our customers a greener network with which we can together contribute to curb climate change”, explains Enrique Blanco, Global CTIO of Telefónica.
This Renewable Energy Plan will report to the group potential savings of 6% in the energy bill by 2020, and up to 26% by 2030, and will prevent approximately 1.5 million tons of CO2 from reaching the atmosphere each year by 2030.
TAILOR-MADE PROJECTS
Furthermore, in Mexico Telefónica has begun to consume energy from the largest solar park of the country, KAIXO Solar, which has a surface area similar to 200 football pitches. Thus, 40% of the company’s electricity consumption in the country will be renewable.
In more regulated countries such as Chile, Telefónica buys 20% of its power in the free market, thus allowing it to opt for a renewable supplier.
In Uruguay and Costa Rica the company has continued to strengthen the use of solar energy and are already practically 100% renewable thanks to the generation mix of the country itself.
In addition to purchasing, Telefónica is committed to incorporating renewable self-generation in the most suitable locations. Today the company has more than 4,000 base stations that work with renewable energy, and in countries like Uruguay, the company is committed to even selling the surplus clean energy of its activity to the electrical distribution network.
GLOBAL ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE GOALS
In addition to the Renewable Energy Plan, Telefónica has the Energy Efficiency Programme for reaching the company’s global commitments regarding Energy and Climate Change for the 2015-2020 period, backed by the ‘Science Based Targets (SBTi)’ initiative for contributing towards the reduction of CO2 emission established in the Paris Agreement:
- Reducing the energy consumption per unit of traffic by 50%, goal achieved in 2017, two years ahead of time.
- Start to decouple the growth of the business from greenhouse gas emissions, reducing them by 30% in absolute terms by 2020, and by 50% by 2030.
- Save 90 million euros for energy efficiency projects.
- Commit to renewable energies as a sustainable source for the business, using 50% of all electricity from renewable sources by 2020, goal that has been reached, and 100% by 2030.
