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We took part in the Carbon Disclosure Project (‘CDP’) for the first time in 2010. Although our submission was a challenge given the limited measurement of electricity and fuel consumption in some of our countries, we were ranked 6th out of the top 100 JSE-listed companies for our disclosure in 2010. We are busy collecting data for the 2011 CDP, which we expect to have finalised in July 2011.

Our goal in 2012 is to put mechanisms in place to reliably measure electricity consumption in all buildings and network sites possible. Complete and reliable data will allow us to measure the energy savings realised from our various initiatives against our targets.

CO₂ emissions (per 2010 CDP submission)

* Given the timing of our submission to the 2010 CDP, the latest data available was for the year ended 31 March 2009.

To put our Scope 1 and Scope 2 carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions into context, it is worth noting that they were far less than many companies, some of which run into the millions of tonnes of CO₂ emissions.

The Greenhouse Gas (‘GHG’) Protocol defines three scopes of emissions:

In South Africa, Tanzania and Mozambique, we are increasing the number of sites where we measure our energy consumption. In South Africa we have energy meters at 2 200 base stations and plan on installing more this year. Where consumption is not metered, we use billing information to come up with an estimate.

The increase in network electricity is due to the substantial increase in network capacity, from the addition of 948(#) more 3G base stations as well as an increase in the number of sites. Once the RAN swap is concluded we expect to realise savings.

Our mobile networks span five sub- Saharan countries as well as urban and rural areas. Our networks require energy to operate and we produce electronic waste when we maintain and upgrade them. Electronic waste also results from the sale of hundreds of thousands of new mobile handsets each year, particularly in South Africa.

We set ourselves the goal of reducing our Scope 1 and 2 emissions of 366 369 tonnes of CO2 emissions at 31 March 2009 by an estimated 73 000 tonnes, or about 20% by 31 March 2013 (assuming no growth in number of sites). We aim to do this by investing in new technologies, free cooling, and using alternative energy sources such as generator-battery power hybrid units, and wind and solar generation for remote base station sites.

We are part of the Vodafone Green Energy trial, which is a three-year strategic roadmap aimed at significantly reducing fossil fuel and electricity consumption. The plan aims to save costs and lower CO2 emissions related to network infrastructure. Based on these trials, we calculated we can realise up to 70% savings in energy consumption at 3G base stations, and 40% at 2G base stations.

We’re proud to say that we’re deploying the technologies that we and our suppliers have developed. It is now possible to build a site powered by renewable energy that makes economic sense. This allows us to service undeveloped areas not on the electricity grid, with the bare minimum environmental footprint.

Investment in new technologies

We are running two networks in parallel in all our countries (except DRC) – 2G and 3G networks.

We have started with the RAN swap process in South Africa, Tanzania, DRC and Lesotho, to upgrade our networks and replace them with more cost and energy-efficient components. In South Africa a third our network has been upgraded and we plan to complete this over the next two to three years. The annualised electricity savings from the base station sites already swapped is 33 GWh.

Free cooling

Free cooling means that we upgrade our network components to withstand higher temperatures and install individual battery coolers rather than cooling the whole facility. In South Africa, almost a third of our sites make use of free cooling, which has resulted in annualised energy savings of an estimated 11 GWh. In 2012 we plan to implement free cooling at another 1 000 sites.

Alternative energy sources

Diesel is used in powering some of our base stations. This is mostly in our International operations, where base stations are often not connected to the national grid, or where diesel is used for providing backup power. Converting to generator-battery hybrid power units can help us reduce diesel consumption. Intelligent controls monitor and control power from the electricity grid, batteries and generator by utilising the most effective source available. In South Africa, all off grid generators are being converted to hybrid systems to reduce fuel consumption and extend the generator life by as much as four times.

Alternative energy sources have been more widely used in our International operations, but we have started rolling this out in South Africa to boost energy savings. We now have 13 of these units and are planning to roll out at least another 100 in the next year.

We have looked at reducing diesel consumption even further by adding wind power to our hybrid sites. We have a pilot site in South Africa and if it proves effective we will roll it out to more sites this year. These will all be in coastal areas where there is enough wind. We are also looking at solar-powered base stations in rural areas where the sites are off the national grid. Solar panel theft remains a challenge though, so we only have three of them in place at the moment.

We also make use of fuel cells (using either pure hydrogen or methanol-water) as alternative energy sources for our base stations. We have 90(#) sites using pure hydrogen fuel cells instead of generators for backup power, and are using methanol-water fuel cells at two sites.

Infrastructure sharing

Wherever possible we share our network sites with other operators, which helps to reduce our CO2 emissions and operating expenses. It also eases pressure on planning authorities as they need to do fewer site reviews. We’ve reviewed network sharing opportunities in all our markets. We share more than half of our sites with other network operators in South Africa. Most of these are passive sharing agreements where we share sites and infrastructure but not network equipment. In South Africa and Tanzania we share our networks with other operators under roaming agreements.

Making our buildings and operations greener

Buildings account for 43.3% of our total CO₂ emissions (based on our 2010 CDP calculations for Scope 2 emissions).

We are a registered member of the Green Building Council of South Africa and we’ve started making our buildings more energy-efficient, fitting automatic switches that turn off lights and air conditioners outside working hours. We also use sensors that switch off lights when a room is vacant for a set time and energy-efficient light bulbs. Our head office makes use of sunlight deflection to stay cool.

We also aim to reduce our consumption of water and paper. Last year we reduced the number of water ponds on our campuses and eliminated the fountain sprays, reducing our water usage. The increase in water consumption this year is largely as a result of improved measurement.

We encourage greater use of video and audio conferencing to reduce our CO₂ emissions from travelling.

Our network makes up the biggest portion of our environmental impact, and is therefore the focus of our energy saving initiatives. But we realise that small changes in buildings and operations can have a positive effect that over time makes a big difference.

We’re working with suppliers to develop innovative alternative energy solutions, such as sites that run on a combination of battery and renewable power, and low-energy ‘no frills’ base stations for use in rural areas. We’re working with Vodafone to create the Vodafone Site Solution Innovation Centre in South Africa where our technology teams will work with external partners. We plan to open the centre in time for the COP 17 UN Climate Conference in Durban in November 2011.

Handset recycling and managing e-waste from our networks is challenging in some of our markets, which lack facilities for recycling and responsible disposal of e-waste. During the year Vodafone commissioned research to assess the systems for managing network waste in Ghana, India, Mozambique and South Africa, to explore how they can assist in building recycling capacity in these regions.

We aim to dispose of e-waste in an environmentally responsible manner by using accredited suppliers. They collect and dispose of our IT equipment, base station waste, old handsets and accessories old handsets, accessories and old batteries. Data on our network waste is sourced from network contractors, suppliers and service providers. We obtain safe disposal certificates and our Health, Safety and Environment department audits our suppliers to make sure waste is not dumped illegally.

In South Africa the amount of network waste we recycled in 2011 increased to 609 tonnes, compared to 208 tonnes the year before. This was mainly as a result of the RAN swap where old equipment is no longer used in other parts of the network but rather disposed of.

Our Vodacom Repair outlets (previously Vodacare) and our accredited recycling agency deal with recycling and scrapping of old handsets.

In the past we have made use of external service providers to perform environmental audits. This compliance evaluation will now form part of our Group Internal Audit responsibility. Due to this transition, we didn’t have an environmental compliance audit in the year. South Africa and Tanzania are ISO 14001 certified.