Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) is on the bottom of a four-name list that ranks US telecommunications companies on their use of renewable energy.
The list, or Clean Energy Wireless Scorecard, is kept by US not-for-profit organisation Green America, which monitors the big four telecoms’ progress on renewable energy commitments.
Besides Verizon, the scorecard features T-Mobile US Inc (NASDAQ:TMUS) and the telecom it merged with, Sprint Corporation, as well as AT&T Inc (NYSE:T).
In the 2020 edition of the "Clean Energy is Calling" report, Green America says Verizon will use only estimated 3%-5% renewable energy through current contracts despite setting the target to reach 50% by 2025.
In February 2020, Verizon announced its support for a 130-MW wind farm project financed with proceeds from a green bond issuance, but this will not be enough to meet the stated goal, the green organisation said.
T-Mobile tops the ranking with its ambition to use only renewable energy by 2021. The second-ranked Sprint sees 100% renewables in 2025. Before merging with T-Mobile, Sprint announced its first clean energy project, which would help it meet 30% of its power needs.
With the merger, T-Mobile has committed to updating the timeline for both companies.
AT&T is the only telecom on the list without a publicly stated renewable energy target or timeline. The third-ranked company has purchased more than 1.5 GW of clean capacity since 2018, which Green America estimates amounts to 25% to 30% of AT&T’s total electricity use.
The big four collectively use more than 3 million MWh of electricity each to power their wireless access networks, data centres, towers and other mobile telecommunications infrastructure, according to the organisation.
In 2017, the telecom sector barely relied on renewables, using less than 2% for its operations, Green America stated. Presently, if only AT&T and Verizon, as the two largest power consumers, switched to 100% renewable energy, the entire sector would be much closer to this target. Additionally, an increase in purchases of renewable power could also bring back thousands of jobs in the clean energy industry that were lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the organisation concludes.
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