Supply chain and product-use emissions accounted for 79% of the telecom and digital sectors' total carbon footprint last year, according to the ITU's latest Greening Digital Companies report — a figure that puts Scope 3 far ahead of direct emissions (Scope 1) and those from energy use (Scope 2), and one that dominated the industry's September sustainability agenda.

The ITU also flagged a growing gap between market-based emissions reporting, which reflects corporate purchasing decisions, and location-based reporting tied to the actual power grid mix. While market-based figures have fallen rapidly, the ITU cautioned that not all measures behind that decline deliver equivalent support for new renewable capacity.

Cosmas Zavazava, director of the ITU's Telecommunication Development Bureau, told Light Reading by email that this has prompted closer scrutiny of "whether reductions in reported market-based emissions are accompanied by lower location-based emissions and demonstrable contributions to electricity-system decarbonization."

Tracking remains patchy. Fewer than half of the 200 companies the ITU surveyed report across all three scopes, and the categories companies include vary so widely that a full picture is hard to assemble — a problem Steven Moore, head of climate action at the GSMA, has previously acknowledged to Light Reading.

Resilience means more than kit

Against a backdrop of record heatwaves in Europe and what is shaping up as the strongest El Niño on record, operators are broadening their definition of resilience. "It's not just about how do we keep the box of kit with the flashing lights running," said Pete Carter, senior manager for business resilience and crisis management at VodafoneThree, speaking on a panel at the Connected Britain event. He pointed to organizational challenges such as staff becoming unavailable when extreme heat forced school closures in the UK.

VodafoneThree has also joined the National Emergencies Trust (NET), a UK disaster preparedness charity, as a patron and partner. The operator will help develop a community resilience toolkit and dashboard, and explore how connectivity can improve access to critical information and services during emergencies.

VMO2, meanwhile, has committed £3 million (US$4 million) to local recycling networks. The operator says 60% of unused devices remain repairable or reusable, and is urging customers to return handsets gathering dust rather than leave them in drawers.

Power grids wobble

nThe US government's decision to scrap emissions caps on coal and gas power plants — and to try to prevent future administrations from imposing restrictions on the power sector — has implications well beyond American borders. With AI-driven data center demand increasingly met by natural gas, and the leading AI companies all based in the US, the policy shift bears directly on telecom's energy outlook.

Climate stress on electricity grids is already producing knock-on effects for telecom infrastructure. "Whether it's hot or whether it's stormy, I think with basic electricity supply, the consistent presence is not as guaranteed as it was 15 years ago," said Alwyn Seeds, director of the EPSRC National Dark Fibre Facility, at Connected Britain.

Carter highlighted the mutual dependence of the two industries: power and telecom infrastructure need each other to operate. He said both sectors are working on an API-based approach to troubleshooting, which would make it possible to determine, for example, whether a loss of power at a mobile site stems from a grid outage or equipment failure.

5G for butterflies

On a lighter note, Danish operator TDC NET and Ericsson have partnered on a 5G project to track butterflies in Denmark. The companies chose butterflies deliberately: the insects are strong indicators of the health of their surrounding environment. With Scope 3 accounting still incomplete, US power policy in reverse and grid reliability eroding, telcos will need considerably more than monitoring projects and goodwill to close the gap between climate commitments and measurable outcomes.