Like most forms of economic activity, providing telecommunications services results in greenhouse gas emissions.
Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (PDF, 399KB) (sometimes referred to as carbon emissions) are made up of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and other gases, which trap heat close to the surface of the Earth, and contribute to global warming (climate change).
For Telstra, a massive percentage of our emissions arise from the energy we use to power our networks because Australia’s energy grid supply is still predominantly driven by fossil fuels.
Another big source of emissions comes from building those networks, including emissions associated with the production of steel, concrete and other materials to build telecommunications equipment.
It’s no surprise that these emissions add up, given that Telstra’s mobile network alone covers more than 2.5 million square kilometres – that’s 1 million more square kilometres than any other mobile network!
We announced three climate change ambitions in 2020, all aimed at minimising our impact on climate change:
We achieved our first ambition in July 2020. We offset the emissions from our operations, achieving Climate Active’s largest certification in Australia.
We’ve put in place plans to reduce our absolute carbon emissions, and have invested in carbon offset credits to counteract the emissions that remain after our reductions.
Our carbon offset credits are sourced globally, from projects related to renewable energy, biodiversity and Savannah burning.
To help decarbonise the broader economy, we’re also using technology to unlock smarter and more efficient ways of working and living.
See Telstra Climate Change Position Statement [PDF - 24kB]
In a nutshell - when you use our telecommunications services, you don’t have to worry about emissions from our networks and operations contributing to your carbon footprint, because we have offset these emissions - and at no extra cost to you.
We know there’s more work to do - we’re continuing to look for new ways to have an impact, by:
This means that we invest in projects (by purchasing offsets) that prevent or remove emissions from the atmosphere equivalent to the volume of emissions resulting from our business operations.
We are certified against the requirements of the Climate Active scheme operated by the Australian Government.
Each month we:
For its Climate Active certification, Telstra brings to net zero (neutral) all of “scope 1”, all of “scope 2” and a portion of “scope 3” GHG emissions and includes all emissions arising from our operations as defined in the Climate Active Carbon Neutral Organisation Standard. For this purpose:
Climate Active is a partnership between the Australian Government and Australian businesses to drive voluntary climate action based on strict standards as to measurement and abatement.
Telstra does not offset emissions associated with:
Because these emissions occur outside of our business, they are more difficult to measure and control. We are investing heavily in understanding these emissions better, and encouraging other businesses in the supply chain to both account for and abate the emission that they cause. The emissions intensity of energy used by our customers is of particular interest to us.
The carbon intensity (or GHG intensity) of our operations (expressed on a per GB basis) is calculated as follows:
This calculation uses GHG emissions reported in Telstra’s 2020 calendar year (See our Climate Active PDS) and these are based on FY19 GHG emissions which was used as a representative year to estimate 2020 full calendar year. Data traffic is based on FY19 calendar year to match the emissions reporting year.
We then take the GHG intensity of your share of the emissions from our operations and express that in kilometres. In effect, the emissions of our operations are estimated at 0.93km per GB (equivalent).
All telecommunications need energy to power radio towers, servers etc. No matter where you buy your telecommunications from, it is powered by the same energy grid.
The energy grid is supplied by power stations, some of which produce carbon emissions. Emissions associated with the supply of electricity is the dominant source of emissions for our business.
Because we can't control which energy source physically supplied to our business, we have committed to enabling renewable energy generation in Australia and in our other business locations equivalent to 100% of the energy we consume by 2025.
We have already underpinned major renewable energy generation projects in Australia (through our Power Purchase Agreements at Murra Warra and Emerald). These produce enough energy to power over 100,000 homes.