It will also help its business customers reduce their own carbon emissions by a cumulative total of 350 million tonnes globally over 10 years between 2020 and 2030, a target equivalent to the UK’s total annual carbon emissions for 2019.
Group CEO Nick Read said: “Our accelerated shift to 100% renewable electricity on our European networks will change the way we power our technology for good – reducing our reliance on fossil fuels, helping our customers manage their resources more effectively and reduce their carbon emissions, while helping to create a healthier planet for everyone.”
Vodafone dubbed this a “Green Gigabit Net” for its customers across 11 markets that will grow sustainably using only power from wind, solar or hydro sources.
The company said its new carbon reduction target was developed with support from global carbon and sustainability experts, the Carbon Trust, with which Vodafone has worked for a decade. The Carbon Trust calculated the total quantity of emissions Vodafone has helped business customers avoid and has modelled potential future scenarios to inform Vodafone’s target setting in this area.
Carbon Trust CEO Tom Delay said: “We have been working closely with Vodafone on its sustainability agenda since 2010, and for the last seven years on quantifying the carbon enablement impact of Vodafone’s products and services.”
Vodafone’s Green Gigabit Net commitment brings forward by three years an earlier pledge to source 100% renewable electricity for the company’s fixed and mobile networks by 2025.
Now the deadline will be just one year away from the announcement.
Vodafone said that around four-fifths of the energy used by its networks will be from renewable sources obtained directly from national electricity grids via power purchase agreements and green tariffs.
The remaining fifth, supplied by Vodafone’s landlords on buildings and other infrastructure, will be covered instead by credible renewable energy certificates, said the company.
Vodafone said that, where feasible, it will also invest in self-generation on site, mostly via solar panels.
The countries covered by the plan are Germany, UK, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Romania, Albania, Czech Republic and Hungary.
