Greenpeace asks Airtel to switch off diesel

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Greenpeace activists on Wednesday gathered outside Bharti Airtel’s headquarters in Gurgaon, in the NCR, following the telecom leader’s alleged failure to respond substantively to specific questions pertaining to reduction in its carbon emissions and shifting to renewable sources of energy to power its network operations, in spite of repeated requests.

The activists displayed the sign 'Switch off Diesel' at the company headquarters as a reminder of the demand made on the leader to shift. Close to 50, 000 supporters have already signed a petition asking Airtel to go clean, said a press release.

Greenpeace representative meets Airtel official

Greenpeace representative had a meeting with Bharti Airtel’s representative on the above demand after the demonstration, said Greenpeace. Though the telecom giant has agreed to meet and discuss the issue, they are still non-committal on the demand, it added.

“Bharti Airtel has a real opportunity to set an example for telecom operators in India by extending their spirit of leadership and showing that businesses can flourish being powered by renewable energy sources” said Mrinmoy Chattaraj, Campaigner, Climate and Energy, Greenpeace India.

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He said the company’s failure to respond specifically to key issues on their carbon and energy management has left the organization with no choice but to gather outside the Airtel HQ and ask them to act on their professed commitments.

Earlier, on May 18, 2011, Greenpeace released its report “Dirty Talking - Case for telecom to shift to renewable”, which exposed how the subsidy on diesel has been aggressively exploited by the telecom sector, resulting in an annual loss of around Rs 2600 crore to the state exchequer.

However, the report also shows how the sector can become a transformative force by adopting renewable energy for their business operations and advocating for economy wide climate and energy solutions.

Greenpeace's demands

Greenpeace has been demanding Airtel to publicly disclose the carbon emissions of its entire business operation and establish progressive emission reduction targets and commit to shift the sourcing of 50 per cent of its energy requirements towards renewable energy sources and phase out diesel use in its business operations by 2015.