Nokia has announced that it will reduce emissions by 50 per cent across both its own operations and products in use by 2030.
The company’s new Science Based Targets (SBTs) fulfill its commitment to recalibrate in line with a 1.5°C global warming scenario.Nokia first committed to SBTs in 2017, initially with goals based on limiting global warming to 2°C. The company achieved 90 per cent of its target savings within its own operations (scope 1 and 2) 11 years ahead of target and was on track to deliver its ‘scope 3’ targets for products in use with its customers.
It is now adopting more ambitious targets which consider a 1.5°C warming limit, starting with 2019 as the baseline. These have been expanded to cover a broader base, close to 100 per cent of the company’s current product portfolio. They also now include emissions from both logistics and assembly factories within its supply chain, as well as emissions from Nokia’s own operations.
Pekka Lundmark, president and CEO at Nokia said: ‘We have led the way in reducing emissions from our own operations and helping our customers to do the same by continuously innovating to make our products more energy efficient in recent years. But climate change is a race against time. These tougher, new, scientifically-calibrated climate targets mean we will go further and faster to reduce our carbon footprint and ensure sustainability is at the heart of our product design and the smart solutions we enable’
Products ‘in use’ is the largest part of the firm’s carbon footprint, which it is addressing in multiple ways, from hardware and software energy efficiency to product design, to modernization and better use of resources. For instance it delivered a liquid cooled 5G base station into commercial operation, which can reduce the energy consumption of the base station cooling system by 90 per cent, and CO2 emissions of the AirScale radio products by 80 per cent including optional waste-heat re-use.
SBTs are authenticated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) that works with private sector businesses to validate their emissions reduction targets in line with global requirements.
