Improving methods to estimate energy and carbon footprints of global telecommunications

摘要

Companies are increasingly estimating and reporting their greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) for voluntary and mandatory purposes. This paper includes a review of the quality of company GHG reporting for the global telecommunications sector. We find that company emissions vary significantly, from 3 metric tons CO2 equivalent per million dollars operating revenue (MTCO2e/$M) to 215 MTCO2e/$M. We find that company reported emissions can also vary significantly annually (over 50% in some cases). Some of this variance is due to boundary issues, exclusion of in-scope emissions, unit conversion issues, and differences in electricity GHG intensity. We also find that focusing on Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions may distort a company's GHG estimates by ignoring Scope 3 emissions, which are likely a significant part of its overall GHG footprint. We end by offering recommendations on improving reporting methods.