Mobile Tech Must Be On Copenhagen Agenda Says GSMA

Telecoms organisation GSMA is putting pressure on the UN to include discussion of mobile technology and its potential to tackle climate change in the upcoming talks in Copenhagen, despite rumours that IT will be largely passed over at the event.

The organisation issued its Mobile Green Manifesto at the Mobile Asia Congress event this week in Hong Kong, which sets out the group’s plans for how mobile technology can help countries meet climate change targets and how the industry is improving its efficiency and use of renewable energy.

“With the right public policies in place, the mobile industry can make a major contribution in the fight against global warming, lowering emissions in other sectors by more than 4.5 times mobile’s own footprint, which is the equivalent of taking one in every three cars off the road,” said Rob Conway, chief executive and member of the board, GSMA.

“The mobile industry could enable greenhouse gas emission reductions of 1,150 Mt CO2e in 2020 – twice the present emissions of the United Kingdom. We will be calling upon governments at COP15 to ensure that mobile solutions are at the forefront of the global fight to prevent climate change and mitigate its consequences.”

But the GSMA’s plans to put mobile technology on the Copenhagen agenda could fall on deaf ears, as it emerged recently that the conference won’t focus IT’s role in combating climate change. “We need IT on the COP15 agenda,” said Catalina McGregor, founder of the UK government’s Green ICT delivery unit. “The funding door may close if it is not there.”

McGregor and other campaigners have booked a slot on 16 December in the COP15 teleconference programme, set up by Cisco to lobby for greater awareness of the power of IT in the COP15 proceedings.

The GSMA report outlines goals including a commitment for the mobile industry to cut its greenhouse gas emissions per connection by 40 percent by 2020 compared to 2009 levels. The GSMA said the commitment covers emissions from all the energy sources under the control of mobile operators from energy consumed by radio networks to emissions from transport.

But despite the GSMA’s plans to curb emissions, there is some argument in green circles on what baselines companies should adopt if they are serious about cutting carbon long-term. Some green campaigners say that cuts are only meaningful if they are based on a commonly accepted baseline. Last year the EU said member states should cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent from 1990 levels by 2020.

The UN advisory body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), has recommended that developed nations cut emissions by 25 to 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2020. In the US for example, total emissions levels in 2005 were around 18 percent higher than 1990 levels. Green groups such as Greenpeace have also criticised the US government for changing its baseline for measuring carbon reduction. In a statement released in May, Greenpeace said that the US climate bill or The Waxman-Markey bill was being watered down by only including a 2005 baseline.

However, some companies argue that that they simply don’t have the data on carbon emissions going back far enough to allow for older emissions baselines. Speaking at an event in Budapest recently, European chairman of HP’s environmental board Klaus Hieronymi said that his company could not adhere to a base-line further back than 2005. “We couldn’t do it because we don’t have the data. The first thing that you need to do to change is to measure,” he said.

The GSMA report also examines the energy efficiency of handsets and includes a plan to cut consumption in standby and in when in use by 40 percent by 2020.