Most scientists agree that climate change is due to the carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted by energy consumption

Telefónica O2 UK welcomes the pressure for businesses to scale up their actions against the world’s rising CO2 emissions.

Our business is growing and diversifying so it is a major challenge to reduce our carbon footprint. 

In 2007 we defined our goals more clearly by setting the target to reduce our carbon emissions per unit of call traffic by 20 per cent by the year 2020 from a baseline set in April 2006.

This committed us to further action in two areas:

• Reducing and conserving energy.
• Buying energy from renewable sources.

We have opted to reduce, conserve and procure green energy rather than offsetting our effects through capital investments in renewable initiatives as many companies do. It’s the most difficult option available, but the most enduring and cost effective.

During the year we put our signature, one of 150, to the Bali Communiqué, drawn up under the auspices of The Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change. This was ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2007 and called for world leaders to agree a legally-binding UN agreement to tackle the issues, arguing that not to do so would seriously undermine future economic growth.