14 July, 2021

ETNO welcomes EU climate leadership, calls for full recognition of ICT’s enabling potential

Brussels, 14 July 2021 – ETNO, the Association representing Europe’s leading telecom operators, welcomes the leadership of the European Union in fighting climate change.

Today, the European Commission unveiled the “Fit for 55” package, which aims at promoting socioeconomic transformation through a smarter and greener economy and society. Telecom operators will be pivotal to the achievement of the EU climate goals, both by continuing to significantly reduce their own impact and by empowering Europe’s traditional industries to become environmentally sustainable.

We therefore believe that policies boosting investment in digital networks and services also serve as key levers to accelerate the achievement of climate neutrality. Favourable regulatory conditions for deployment and adoption of 5G, fibre networks and digital solutions are a critical factor of success also for Europe’s climate policy. A full recognition of the enabling potential of the ICT sector remains a fundamental step towards the actual achievement of net zero.

New networks are known not only to be more efficient from the energy consumption viewpoint, but also they are regarded as a tool to significantly reduce emissions in other industrial sectors and across society (up to 15% CO2 reduction, according to a recent ETNO-BCG report).

Earlier this year, CEOs from leading telecom operators pledged to achieve climate neutrality by 2040, 10 years ahead of the general climate goals. What is more, they engaged to provide digital solutions for greening sectors such as energy, transport, manufacturing, agriculture and the building sector. In this context, ETNO has joined several other tech and sustainability associations in supporting the European Green Digital Coalition, with a view of digitally accelerating the transition to net zero.

© ETNO 2024
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