Greenpeace International has used MWC 2012 to blast the telecom industry’s climate laggards. While some operators and vendors have clear strategies for carbon reduction, others have shown what Greenpeace regards as a failure of leadership in wise energy choices.
Bharti Airtel, which is acknowledged as a market leader in terms of innovation, came in for particular criticism. Greenpeace gave Bharti a score of zero out of 60 for failing to disclose its carbon emissions, set any targets for emission reduction, or declare a roadmap for a move away from its dependency on diesel.
While Bharti’s overall “green” score was 6/60, NTT actually managed to achieve an overall score of zero. In comparison, NTT’s competitor Softbank achieved the highest score of 35/60, and received plaudits for championing clean energy.
Sadly, Greenpeace only compared a few operators, and scored vendors Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson on a common scale. This makes it difficult to evaluate the ratings or place the telecom industry in any kind of overall context.
Perhaps there is scope for a scale to rank NGO rankings too?
MORE COVERAGE OF MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS 2012