Vodacom South Africa is looking to reduce its ecological footprint over the next three years. It announced a pledge that, when carried out, would see its environmental impact halved by the year 2025. Vodacom made the announcement last week during the Just-Transition Multi-Stakeholder Conference, of which it is a sponsor.
Vodacom has been planning this for a few years now. Other than being beneficial to the planet as a whole, it will also help South Africa achieve its Paris Agreement goals. The Paris Agreement consists of countries aiming to keep global temperature increases below 1.5°C – 2°C.
Saving the planet
Vodacom’s primary power supply comes from the same place as yours or ours — Eskom. This is why the pledge is such an undertaking for the company.
The telecoms company plans to reduce its usage by deploying more solar-powered base stations. It already has 1,088 in operation. Why not add a few thousand more? Additionally, Vodacom is increasing its renewable energy spending. This funding will be supplied directly by independent power providers.
In the past year, Vodacom has sourced around 1.2 million kilowatt-hours of energy from agreements made with those same independent power providers. It’s easy to see why Vodacom has opted to go this route. 12,272mtCO2e (metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent) will be reduced when Vodacom eventually makes the switch.
“While we honour our purpose to connect the next 100 million people in Africa for a better future, we do believe implementing this should not come at a cost to the environment,” said Takalani Netshitenzhe, External Affairs Director for Vodacom South Africa. “Our new target for energy consumption is one of the many ways we’re tackling our own environmental impact, because we understand that South Africa can only transition into a sustainable, climate-resilient, low-emission economy if everyone plays their part.”
Source: Vodacom