Telecom major Sprint announced its new climate protection commitments with World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) Climate Savers program.
Sprint CEO Dan Hesse made the announcement during his keynote address at CTIA. Sprint is the first Climate Savers partner in the United States that will address all scopes of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through their agreement with WWF.
As one of only 28 companies in the program, Sprint joins IBM, The Coca-Cola Company and Johnson & Johnson.
Sprint’s collaboration with WWF bolsters its already aggressive goals to reduce the company’s climate impact. As the only U.S. company to address all scopes of GHG emissions through the WWF agreement, Sprint joins KPN, a Dutch telecommunications company, as the only other partner in the Climate Savers program to commit to such a multifaceted GHG emissions reduction strategy for its own operations, suppliers and consumers.
Sprint’s commitments include:
Reducing Sprint’s own greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent.
Partnering with device manufacturers and suppliers to measure, report and reduce their emissions.
Identifying opportunities to reduce emissions associated with customers charging their mobile devices.
Identifying opportunities for Sprint to help other companies reduce their emissions, particularly through our machine-to-machine partnerships.
We are excited to have Sprint join Climate Savers and we look forward to a fruitful partnership,” said Jason Clay, senior vice president of Markets at WWF.
Sprint is the only U.S. telecommunications company to commit to reducing its GHG emissions by an absolute 20 percent by 2017.
Through energy efficiencies and renewable energy, Sprint has made significant steps to reduce the company’s carbon footprint. In late 2010, Sprint announced Network Vision. Through Network Vision, Sprint will upgrade its existing wireless network infrastructure to allow multiple spectrum bands, or airwaves, on single, multimode base stations. Sprint’s cell sites will be more compact, more energy efficient, and able to provide better coverage and call quality. Network Vision is expected to be a significant driver to achieve Sprint’s GHG reduction goal.
Sprint also has a considerable renewable energy strategy, which includes wind, solar, hydrogen fuel cells and geothermal power. Wind power provided more than 93 percent of the electrical energy needed for Sprint’s Overland Park, Kan., headquarters campus in 2010. This wind power purchase provided a reduction of 78,173 metric tons of C02 equivalents in 2010, and according to the EPA GHG equivalencies calculator, is the equivalent of:
Taking 15,328 passenger cars off the road for one year.
Consuming 181,798 fewer barrels of oil a year.
The electricity used in 9,747 households each year.
Preserving 774 acres of forest from deforestation.
Reporting and disclosure are critical for effectively setting and managing C02 emissions. Sprint worked with Trucost, a leading assessment firm, to develop a comprehensive analysis of Sprint’s supply chain carbon emissions.
Sprint was also among the first wireless carriers to complete and publicly release a supplier carbon assessment and leveraged those findings as part of their agreement with WWF. Sprint was the only telecommunications company in the S&P 500 to externally assure its 2010 scope 1 and scope 2 GHG emissions.
By Telecomlead.com Team
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