Identifying Common Indicators for Measuring the Environmental Footprint of Electronic Communications Networks (ECNs) for the Provision of Electronic Communications Services (ECSs)-2

From an initial pool of 19 indicators, stakeholder consultation (survey and workshop) and desktop research prioritised 8 high-priority, denoted as “Must Have” in the report, metrics that should form the core of any future Telecoms Sustainability Code of Conduct: 

1. Energy Consumption. It is defined as the integral of power consumption over a specific time (e.g., one hour) and it is measured in Watt-hours (Wh). This metric is universally recognised as critical, often directly audited, and essential for tracking operational footprint across all network components. 
2. Energy Efficiency. It evaluates how effective the consumed energy is for performing a task, and, in general, relates consumed energy to traffic. Regarding the standards to be adopted to measure energy efficiency in the network indicated that ITU (ITU-T L.1330, ITU-T L.1310, ITU-T L.1331) and ETSI (ETSI EN 303 472) are the ones most adopted. 
3. Carbon emissions – Energy direct emissions or GHG Scope 1 emissions indicator. These are GHG emissions from owned or controlled emissions (ITU-T L.1450 2018). It is a vital indicator for assessing climate change and understanding the full operational footprint. 
4. Carbon emissions – Energy indirect emissions or GHG Scope 2 emissions indicator. These are GHG emissions from generation of electricity, heat or steam that have been purchased by the reporting organisation (GSMA 2023). It is a core indicator of growing importance for all the chain of stakeholders, from National Regulator Authorities and Third-party sustainability auditors to Data center operators and Network equipment providers. 
5. Carbon emissions – Other indirect GHG Scope 3 emissions indicator. These are any other GHG emissions from sources that are located along the reporting organisation’s value chain (GSMA 2023). Though challenging, comprehensive Scope 3 reporting is indispensable given it accounts for the largest source of total emissions. 
6. Use of renewable energy. This indicator is used to measure the percentage of renewable energy used in the development and operation of telecom networks. It is considered as an efficient way to reduce the climate impact as it is directly related to GHG Scope 2. 
7. Distribution or utilisation of recycled/refurbished/reused products. The reuse of refurbished products enables a circular economy where the waste of electronic components is minimised. In addition, the refurbishing and reuse of telecommunications equipment reduces also the problems associated with pollution generated by the disposal of electronic products. 
8. e-Waste. It is defined as waste electrical and electronic equipment and refers to electrical or electronic equipment which has been discarded by its end-user. This indicator is especially focused on mobile devices or customer premises equipment as described in (GSMA 2022b). Therefore, high lifecycle turnover in data centers and hardware makes this a key circular economy metric. 

This report sought to map the main indicators relevant for sustainability of telecommunications networks and assessed their impact along energy, climate and environmental dimensions as well as aspects of practical feasibility regarding the collection and calculation of reporting data.