Bharti Airtel Monday committed to reducing 50.2% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across its operations by FY2031.
India’s second-largest telecom operator has joined the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi)’s ‘Business Ambition for 1.5°C’ campaign and has adopted targets to significantly reduce its carbon footprint and emissions from its network operations.
“With this, Airtel joins the league of leading global corporations who have committed to the 1.5°C pathway outlined by the SBTi – a partnership between CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute (WRI), and the World-Wide Fund for Nature (WWF),” the telco in a statement said.
Airtel has further committed to reducing absolute scope 3 GHG emissions by 42% over the same period.
As per the company, the targets will be achieved through green energy adoption across its network operations, an energy-efficient infrastructure, and processes. It will implement sustainable business practices, too.
“Climate change is the biggest challenge facing humanity. We must act collectively without further delay to ensure we do not go past the point of no return and have a sustainable planet. Businesses have a fundamental responsibility to contribute to this effort and Airtel has adopted an ambitious target in this direction and will report its progress transparently,” said Vidyut Gulati, Director – Legal, Bharti Airtel
In a related development, Airtel has also become the first Indian telecoms company to join the United Nations (UN) Global Compact — a global corporate sustainability initiative.
According to the Sunil Mittal-led company, it has achieved a 97% reduction in network emission intensity for mobile operations (from FY16), besides a 25% increase in renewable energy deployment in operations over the same period.
The company had commissioned a 14MWp captive solar power plant in Uttar Pradesh in April this year to meet the energy requirements of its core and edge data centers in the state.
It had signed an agreement for the acquisition of 1,743,560 (7.48%) equity shares in Sandhya Hydro Power Project Balargha at Rs 1.74 crore, to enable Nxtra in powering edge data centers in Delhi.
