Advertisment

Ericsson: Going the green way for sustainability

author-image
Deepa
New Update

BANGALORE, INDIA: Swati Rangachari, vice president- communications & corporate affairs, in an e-mail interaction with Deepa Damodaran, talks about sustainability and how private public partnership can be a game changer in addressing it. Excerpts:

Advertisment

CIOL: What is sustainability for Ericsson?

Swati Rangachari: We have a holistic approach that encompasses reducing our own carbon footprint consistently and having a life cycle management approach to the products/solutions we develop - right from developing new products that consume less energy, to reducing energy consumption in live networks through our services offering, tracking life of previous generation products deployed in networks, and collecting and recycling them in an environmentally friendly manner.

Ericsson's Psi Ψ 3g coverage solution focuses on reducing power consumption by up to 40 per cent, while the Antenna-Integrated Radio (AIR) cuts energy consumption by 40 per cent. Internally, Ericsson has also increased its video conference rooms globally by 60 per cent in 2012.

Advertisment

For 2013, we are looking at two important areas- Operations and Portfolio. On our own operations side, the longer term target is that by 2017, we will keep our absolute emissions on the same level as 2011, while continuing to grow business for the next 5 years. Our targets are implemented globally. We also aim to reduce CO2 emissions per employee by five per cent on Ericsson own activities (business travel, logistics and facilities).

CIOL: By how much is energy/carbon footprint expected to increase by 2020 and then in 2050? To what extent can we reduce carbon footprint?

Swati Rangachari: ICT and Entertainment & Media (E&M) sectors are estimated to account for around two per cent of total CO2e emissions by 2020. It also has significant potential to reduce 98 per cent of emissions that come from other industries. The carbon footprint of an average ICT user is estimated to decrease 20 per cent between 2007 and 2020.

Advertisment

Additionally, today half the world's population lives in cities. By 2050, that will rise to 70 per cent, according to the United Nations. Since 70 per cent of CO is generated by cities, national governments are looking for ways to reduce the urban carbon footprint.

As per the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and GeSI report, smart grids can help us address 67 per cent of the energy lost due to inefficiencies before reaching the consumer. Mobile broadband has an important role in sustainable urbanization and in shaping low-carbon economies of future.

CIOL: How can ICT play a role in addressing this issue? How can a networked society present opportunities to advance sustainable development?

Advertisment

Swati Rangachari: The Networked Society presents enormous opportunities to advance sustainable development. Our data shows that by 2017, 85 per cent of the world's population will have access to 3G mobile communication and 50 per cent will have access to 4G. This will dramatically change the ways we can address many of the world's global sustainability challenges. Unleashing the full potential of ICT across the economy however requires multi-stakeholder engagement, right government incentives and legislative frameworks.

We envision a continued evolution, from having connected 6 billion people to connecting 50 billion "things". Anything that can benefit from being connected will be connected, mainly via mobile broadband in the Networked Society that is beginning to come to life - that is natural progression - however how we connect those ‘things' is what matters.

CIOL: How in the first place can OEMs and manufacturers make devices, networks, equipments which spew so much carbon? What is needed to be done and what more is required to address this issue?

Advertisment

Swati Rangachari: Technological developments are happening faster than ever and will always come with new solutions to current challenges. By designing and manufacturing products and solutions with reduced energy consumption, OEMs, manufacturers etc. can reduce their environmental footprint and that of their customers.

We strongly believe that for larger global goals to be achieved, public private partnership is fundamental. To sustain that, corporate responsibility needs to be handled like a business.

CIOL: With new technologies, that promise consolidated, more processing power, more capacity etc, and are being developed at a fast pace, how effective are the counter measures?

Advertisment

Swati Rangachari: Looking not only at designing things with less energy usage, less hazardous materials during the design phase, to seeing that they are recycled properly.

It becomes imperative for us to look for solutions that target sustainability at each step of the cycle. Our Life-Cycle Assessment approach shows that our greatest environmental impact is when our products are in use, so our strategy is to provide energy-efficient and low energy-consuming products and solutions. Through this strategy we not only aim to create effective solution, but also track them through their life-cycle over the next 10-15 years and eventually deliver end of life solutions to dispose of them properly.

CIOL: On whom is the onus to bring down carbon footprint?

Swati Rangachari: Addressing sustainability and contributing towards reduction of carbon footprint in an effective way requires the entire eco-system to come together and work towards a greener tomorrow. Hence an engagement model with a wide range of stakeholders, including customers, employees, investors, suppliers, industry partners, government, consumer and business users of telecommunications services, non-governmental organizations, standardization bodies, research institutes, and media is a must.

Enabling our customers to solve their energy efficiency challenges is a priority for us and emerging markets like India are important.

tech-news