Finnish telecommunications giant Nokia derived the majority of its electricity consumption from renewable sources last year as it continued to work towards ambitious efficiency targets.
The company’s ‘People and Planet Report 2015’, published last week, revealed that amidst ambitious targets for its clean energy drive Nokia reduced its total emissions by 12% in 2015 by both deriving a greater proportion of its energy from clean sources and cutting overall consumption by 7%.
Nokia did however fall just short of a 2015 target to reduce energy use at its factories by 2%, an aim which has been reinstated for this year.
Electric vehicles will also sit high on Nokia’s agenda for the current year as the company has confirmed its intention to “further develop” its fleet of low-emission vehicles.
It plans to do this by installing EV charging points at many of its facilities and also notify staff of both their energy use and ways in which it can fall.
Over the course of 2015 Nokia reduced its energy consumption by 33,000MWh compared to 2014 levels, saving the company around €3.3 million on its overall energy bill. It achieved this predominantly through the installation of environmental controls, LED lighting and more efficient equipment.
Nokia’s chief executive Rajeev Suri meanwhile stressed that the company could not be complacent, particularly after its well documented merger with Alcatel-Lucent, but pledged that the company “can and will improve”.
“As a new combined company, we are undertaking a new sustainable materiality analysis in order to create the necessary measurable long-term goals to ensure that Nokia’s 2015 success is improved upon. We are a new Nokia, and we will have sustainability goals to reflect this,” he said.
One area in which Nokia has been particularly active is in ensuring its radio and data transmission networks are as efficient as possible. The company’s Zero CO2 emission base station comprises more than 20 products to reduce on-site energy consumption by as much as 70%, which Nokia has said opens them up to being powered by renewable sources.
