Carbon footprints for telecommunications, site by site.
We measure the inventory of network operators and service providers at the level of detail investors and corporate customers ask for: every data centre, exchange and radio base station with its electricity, its generators and its cooling, and the network equipment declared by component.
GHG Protocol
ISO 14064‑1
ITU-T L.1410
SASB TC-TL
CDP
IFRS S2
Every radio base station is an electricity load, a diesel backup and a cooling unit. The inventory takes them one by one.
The network
End to end, with the emissions of every segment
An operator's footprint is spread across thousands of points that use energy around the clock. So the inventory follows the network: from the data centre to the customer's home, with every source in its scope.
Data centres and exchanges
Electricity for servers and cooling
Cooling equipment refrigerants
Backup generators
Transport network
Fibre and data cable (capital goods)
Electricity for nodes and repeaters
Base stations and access network
Grid electricity
Diesel at off-grid and backup sites
Equipment, batteries and rectifiers
Technical fleet
Fuel for maintenance and installation vehicles
Customer equipment
Lifetime energy use of sold equipment (category 11)
End of life of that equipment (category 12)
Swipe to see the whole network
Scope 1
Scope 2
Scope 3
Electricity
Electricity, location- and market-based
For an operator, electricity is usually the largest part of the inventory. So how it is reported matters: the GHG Protocol asks for two figures, one with each country's grid factor and another with the renewable energy contracts each site holds.
Consumption not covered by contracts uses the grid's residual mix, not the average. That way the market-based figure isn't inflated with renewable energy another consumer has already claimed.
Two scope 2 figures
Location- and market-based, per site and for the company.
Contracts per site
Certificates and power purchase agreements assigned to the sites they cover.
Residual mix
The adjusted grid factor for consumption with no instrument.
SASB indicator
The three TC-TL-130a.1 figures —total energy, grid share and renewable share— are already in the energy inventory.
Scope 2 · 2025Illustrative example
Location-based18,400 t CO₂e
Market-based11,200 t CO₂e
Consumption covered by renewable contracts38%
The rest, with the grid's residual mix
SASB TC-TL-130a.1
Total energy
412,000 GJ
Grid electricity
91%
Renewable
38%
Equipment and scope 3
Network equipment, declared by component
Emission factor databases have almost no data on telecom equipment: there is no factor for a base station or a router. So equipment is declared by component and by weight, which is the figure on the manufacturer's datasheet, as Recommendation ITU-T L.1410 proposes.
The same goes for each site's power backup: lead-acid or lithium batteries, rectifiers, generators and solar panels, each with its own factor.
Network equipment
Router, switch and base station per kilo of electronics; data and fibre cable per metre.
Site power
Batteries, rectifiers, generators and solar panels as capital goods.
Sold equipment
Its lifetime electricity use (category 11) and its end of life (category 12).
Refrigerants
Cooling equipment leaks with IPCC AR6 global warming potentials.
Inventory by sourceIllustrative example
Electricity (location-based)46%
Capital goods: network and power equipment18%
Purchased goods and services14%
Use of sold equipment11%
Site and fleet diesel6%
Refrigerants3%
End of life and other categories2%
% of total
Standards
The standards the sector requires
GHG Protocol and ISO 14064‑1
Corporate inventory · scopes 1, 2 and 3
Location- and market-based scope 2
All 15 scope 3 categories, measured or justified
Inventory by site and network type
ITU-T L.1410
Information and communication technology equipment
Equipment declared by component
Each site's power backup
Use and end of life of sold equipment
SASB TC-TL · CDP · IFRS S2
Sustainability reporting
SASB Telecommunication Services standard
Operational energy and product end of life
CDP and IFRS S2 drafts
Benchmark
How your company compares with its sector
We compare your targets with those of telecom and technology companies in the region that have entered the Science Based Targets process: how many have a validated target, what reduction they commit to, and by when.
How do your targets compare with your sector in the region?
Illustrative values. Universe: sector companies that entered the SBTi process.
Frequently asked questions
Each data centre, exchange or group of sites goes in as a site, with its electricity use, its generators and its cooling equipment. The inventory is broken down by site and by scope, so you can see where most of the emissions are.
With the two figures the GHG Protocol requires: location-based, with the grid factor, and market-based, with each site's contracts and certificates and the residual mix for the rest of the consumption.
By component and by weight, as Recommendation ITU-T L.1410 proposes: the kilos of electronics in each piece of equipment, the metres of cable, and each site's batteries and rectifiers, each with its own factor.
Yes. Its lifetime electricity use goes into scope 3 category 11, and its end-of-life treatment into category 12.
Yes. The SASB Telecommunication Services standard (TC-TL) is already in the Disclosure module, alongside the CDP and IFRS S2 questionnaires, which are filled in from the same inventory.
Want to see your network in the platform?
Bring your sites' electricity use and in the demo we'll show you the inventory by site, location- and market-based scope 2, and the network equipment.
