Vodafone has announced that starting 1 July, its European network will be 100% powered by electricity from renewable sources such as wind, solar or hydropower.
The operator originally aimed to go 100% renewable by 2025, but Vodafone this week declared that it has managed to bring the target forward by four years. The 2025 target will now apply to ensuring the same goal is met in Africa.
Vodafone’s shift to renewable energy is part of the company’s goal to achieve ‘net zero’ within its own carbon emissions by 2030, and across the company’s entire value chain by 2040.
Commenting on the announcement, Vodafone Group CEO Nick Read said that starting next month, “Vodafone’s customers across Europe can be reassured that the connectivity they use is entirely powered by electricity from renewable sources”.
“This is a major milestone towards our goal of reducing our own global carbon emissions to net zero by 2030, helping our customers reduce their own environmental footprint and continuing to build an inclusive and sustainable digital society in all of our markets,” he added.
Over 2020, Vodafone managed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 30% year on year to 1.37 million tonnes of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent), and instead increased the proportion of renewable electricity purchased in Europe from 33% in FY20 to 80% in FY21.
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Vodafone’s announcement follows a similar one made by Facebook, which in April also declared that it had achieved its goal of powering its global operations on 100% renewable energy. The social media company also managed to achieve the ‘net zero’ goal it had set three years ago.
Meanwhile, AWS Ireland is set to switch over to 100% renewable energy by 2025, which will be accomplished thanks to a new 115-megawatt wind farm in Ardderroo, Galway. The announcement builds on existing sustainability projects in Meenbog, County Donegal, and Esk, County Cork, with all three expected to make Amazon the largest single corporate buyer of renewable energy in Ireland.
The next decade is expected to be revolutionary in terms of sustainability among tech giants, with Google, Apple, Microsoft, O2, Netflix, and IBM all having launched plans to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
