Since the end of 2021, Arcep has been tasked with collecting indicators of the environmental footprint of the telecoms sector. The authority has just published its first annual survey based on data collected from the four largest operators.
Carbon emissions to watch
At first glance, there is good news since they have succeeded in reducing their carbon emissions*. The four main players emitted 362,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2020, down for the second consecutive year, and by 4% in one year in 2020. However, these figures must be taken with the utmost caution.
The pandemic has significantly reduced travel and therefore vehicle-related emissions due to the temporary reduction in activity. This could therefore start to rise again, even if operators have managed to improve the energy efficiency of their buildings since 2019.
And above all, at the same time, emissions due to electricity consumption are increasing. This is due to the uses that have exploded since the health crisis and the network deployments that have intensified. And the trend is not about to reverse. We will therefore have to monitor this indicator with the greatest caution in the medium term.
* for details on the scope taken into account, see box at the bottom of the article.
Networks consume more and more
Admittedly, the energy consumption of the networks weighed less than 1% on the total consumption of France in 2020. However, it did not stop increasing between 2016 and 2020 and now reaches 3,800 GWh. It essentially corresponds to the use of electricity and 85% comes from fixed and mobile access networks, ie the final part which is used to connect subscribers to the operator’s network. Collection networks and core networks only pump 15% of the total.
If we look at this energy consumption in detail, several lessons emerge depending on the technologies. It is the mobile network which is the most greedy, up to 58%, against 27% for fixed local loops. This is due to the fact that there are more SIM cards in circulation than fixed subscriptions.
We also now know that copper access networks consumed, on average, around 35 kWh per subscription in 2020, compared to less than 10 kWh on fiber networks. The transition from copper to optical fiber should therefore reduce the energy consumption of fixed networks.
Let’s not forget, however, that decommissioning copper and deploying optical fiber will induce additional greenhouse gas emissions, among other environmental impacts, as we already pointed out at the beginning of the article. Gaining consumption on one side can also be accompanied by an increase in impact in other areas. The environmental bill will therefore not necessarily be reduced.
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Progress to be made in reconditioning and recycling
The third indicator monitored by Arcep concerned mobile phones, their sale, reconditioning and recycling. In 2020, the four main operators sold 155,000 refurbished phones, i.e. 2% of their total sales of mobile terminals. This figure rises to 13% nationally. They therefore have progress to make in this area, mainly with companies that are reluctant to invest in second-hand equipment. The collection of unused terminals also leaves something to be desired since 53% of them remain in the hands of their owner. And, the number of phones collected has dropped with the health crisis. It is to be hoped that this practice will increase again.
This survey is a first version that Arcep promises to enrich. Next time, data from other players will be compiled like data center manufacturers or operators.
Source: theArcep
