19 March, 2021

Joint Statement by ETNO and the GSMA on the European Green Digital Coalition

Telecom CEOs join European Green Digital Coalition, commit to green and digital transformation

Brussels, 19 March 2021 – Today, 13 European telecom CEOs became founding members of the European Green Digital Coalition, and pledged their companies would be climate neutral by 2040 at the latest to accelerate the European Commission’s green ambitions.

The telecom CEOs were joined by 13 CEOs from leading companies from the ICT sector, as well as manufacturing and digital SMEs. The Declaration was signed on the Digital Day 2021, organised by the Portuguese Presidency of the European Union and by the European Commission.

The founding CEOs committed to developing “standardised, credible and comparable assessment methodologies for the net impact of green digital solutions on the environment and climate in priority sectors such as energy, transport, manufacturing, agriculture and the building sector”.

Additional CEOs are expected to join the coalition in the coming months and the results of their work will be presented in 2022.

The European telecoms sector has a long-standing commitment to reducing its carbon footprint, while promoting connectivity services and tools to reduce emissions across many sectors to benefit the environment and society. Mobile technologies help reduce emissions in other sectors by 10 times the amount produced by the telecoms industry, according to a GSMA study. In parallel, an ETNO report shows the sector has dramatically cut its own emissions and is rapidly increasing its use of renewable energy, with a 24% jump between 2018 and 2019 alone.

ETNO and the GSMA will work together with fellow digital associations GeSI, European Digital SME Alliance and DIGITALEUROPE to coordinate the ICT sector participation into the Coalition.

List of telecom signatories

  1. Timotheus Höttges, CEO, Deutsche Telekom AG
  2. Börje Ekholm, CEO, Ericsson
  3. Mike Fries, CEO, Liberty Global
  4. Pekka Lundmark, CEO, Nokia
  5. Miguel Almeida, CEO, NOS
  6. Stéphane Richard, CEO, Orange
  7. Guillaume Boutin, CEO, Proximus
  8. Henrik Clausen, CEO, TDC A/S
  9. José María Álvarez-Pallete, CEO, Telefónica
  10. Thomas Arnoldner, CEO, A1 Telekom Austria Group
  11. Jukka Leinonen, EVP Nordics, Telenor Group and CEO DNA
  12. Allison Kirkby, CEO, Telia Company
  13. Nick Read, CEO, Vodafone Group

Learn More

Read the Declaration

Watch the Digital Day

Connect with ETNO and the GSMA Climate Action

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