Talking the language of sustainability

Interview

Ahead of the recent World Communication Awards, we spoke with Sandra Klackenborn, Head of Sustainability at Arelion, to discuss the growing energy challenge and how the industry must do more to tackle the issue collaboratively

The growing energy challenge

With networks spanning hundreds or even thousands of miles, it is no surprise that energy consumption has always been a key concern for telcos when it comes to sustainability. Operating these massive networks not only generates a significant carbon emissions footprint, but also incurs a huge energy bill – both of which will only grow further as data demand increases and network density increases.

As a result, making these networks more energy efficient and sustainable is a huge focus for telcos like Arelion, which view the issue as both an environmental and financial imperative.

“Energy is such an interesting area. It’s a melting pot of issues,” explained Sandra Klackenborn, Head of Sustainability at Arelion. “You have concerns about energy costs, the challenge of sourcing renewable energy, and, of course, you have the environmental impact. These are all important topics that we focus on here at Arelion.”

Innovation to the rescue?

With data usage continuing to climb, energy costs sky high, and additional infrastructure being deployed every day, it can feel like telcos are fighting a losing battle against the energy curve.

In reality, however, innovation related to energy efficiency has proven surprisingly resilient in minimising the growth of network energy demand year-on-year.

“Improved energy efficiency can be somewhat built into the equipment upgrade cycle,” explained Klackenborn. “We are in an industry where technology moves really, really fast and things evolve all the time. For us to be able to provide the quality of data transfer that our customers expect from us, we need to develop and deploy more advanced technology, which, of course, is more energy efficient.”

“In our experience, we have been able to really curve that energy consumption, keeping it relatively flat despite ever growing demand,” she added. “In the ever-growing need for data capacity, this focus is important to keep striving for.”

Of course, regularly upgrading your hardware for better efficiency carries its own sustainability burden. The materials used to build these new components are finite and harvesting them can be carbon emission intensive.

As such, Arelion seeks to safeguard these natural resources by repurposing, reusing, and recycling old equipment wherever possible.

“We try to circulate the components we dismantle into a second life internally or resell to an external partner, so the resources can be utilized for as long as possible before being recycled back into original material,” explained Klackenborn, noting that circularity was a key element of the company’s sustainability approach.

Better understanding your sustainability footprint

At the heart of winning the technological race against an ever-growing energy demand is an increasingly precise understanding of exactly where your energy usage is coming from. Network infrastructure (both fixed and mobile) typically accounts for around three-quarters of a telco’s energy consumption – making it the prime candidate for improved energy efficiency – but granular data of each component’s energy footprint is a relatively recent development.

“Today, we probably have more data available than ever before, in terms of understanding, seeing, measuring, and predicting our sustainability footprint,” explained Klackenborn. “We know exactly how much energy a certain piece of technology consumes or how it transfers data.”

Beyond allowing for more targeted equipment refreshes, the wealth of data also allows for a much more accurate forecasting of energy consumption.

“There are the cost savings, of course, but in many ways the main driver behind this data is stability,” said Klackenborn. “It’s really important to know what your electricity bill will be for the next few years – that’s a really underrated benefit of measuring your sustainability footprint more carefully.”

The trouble with sustainability metrics

But while more data is available than ever before, collating and communicating it effectively, both internally and externally, remains a challenge. Sustainability metrics are far from standardised, making collaboration between telcos and partners far more complicated.

“It’s not always the easiest assignment to translate all the data into something as broad as a sustainability value, if you will,” said Klackenborn. “Sustainability is very difficult to report on accurately, particularly across different industries. With so much varied data, there is always a certain level of interpretation with top-level figures. While there are some standards, most companies are reliant on their own metrics to measure performance. That makes it very difficult to compare and share learnings.”

Regulations surrounding sustainability reporting, such as the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), are gradually helping to build usable frameworks, but there is still much work to be done.

“Currently, a lot of the reporting regulations don’t require you to break down the figures,” said Klackenborn. “For example, I don’t actually know exactly how much CO2 is generated at our colocators or per external site. If I had that information, I could make better decisions on how we can work together. We could discuss the topic in more detail and so better learn from each other.”

A team effort to build a greener future

Ultimately, making the telecoms sector more sustainable and energy efficient is a collaborative effort, requiring the formation of effective partnerships across borders.

“The focus for us is very international and collaborative when it comes to sustainability,” said Klackenborn. “There is a really strong awareness that we can’t do this by ourselves. We are part of a value chain and a bigger ecosystem. After all, our Scope 2 emissions are someone else’s Scope 3.”

“At Arelion we have the goals of achieving Net Zero carbon emissions for Scope 1 and Scope 2 by 2030, and for Scope 3 no later than 2040. To do this, we need to make sure we’re joining hands internally as well as across borders with other companies. Sustainability is everybody’s business,” she concluded.

Arelion were proud to sponsor the The Sustainability Award at this year’s World Communication Awards. Check out the full list of winners here.