O2 and the Carbon Trust have collaborated on research to determine the carbon footprint of the mobile phone company's voice and data services.
It is the first time a mobile network operator has been independently verified by the Carbon Trust.
The calculation of greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions embedded throughout the entire life cycle of O2’s voice and data services revealed that making a one-minute voice call on its network generates 3.6g CO2e, while transferring one megabyte of data amounted to 11g CO2e.
O2 says that making a five-minute call is the carbon equivalent of boiling enough water to make one cup of tea.
The company says that energy consumption and associated GHG emissions from its mobile telecom services make up the majority of its carbon footprint, and that the firm is seeking ways to address this issue through its sustainability strategy.
