MOVING TO GREEN
TECHONOLOGIES
VODAFONE GHANA EXPERIENCE
by
Mamle Asare
Sustainability Manager
Vodafone Ghana
Contents
• Vodafone Global Objectives
• What Does Green ICT mean and what is the
role of ICT companies in Combating Climate
Change effects
• What efforts is Vodafone Ghana making to be
green
• Future Plans
Vodafone Global objectives on environment
• Be recognized as a ‘green’ brand in at least 75% of the
developed markets where we operate by March 2012
• Be recognized as a communications company that is
making one of the most significant contributions to
achieving the Millennium Development Goals by March
2015
• Offer an option to facilitate hearing impaired, visually
impaired and elderly
• Contribute to building capacity to manage electronic
waste in three emerging markets (India, Ghana and South
Africa) by March 2012
• Develop joint CO2 reduction strategies with suppliers
accounting for 50% Of procurement spend by March 2012
What is the role of ICT companies in
combating Climate Change?
As operators within the ICT sector we have a big role to
play in helping the cause of Climate Change. Among the
things we could do are;
• To look at the future impact of ICT by exploring
quantitative and qualitative ways that could influence
future environmental sustainability.
• To make access to information very easy and increase
knowledge among policy makers and the general
population through ‘capacity building’.
• Another way ICTs can help in reaching people in
remote areas is the ‘Green Power for Mobiles’
initiative which is pioneering alternative power sources
such as solar and wind for mobile base stations to
serve the one billion people without access to grid
electricity.
Cont’d
• Ghana lacks an effective infrastructure for handling
electronic waste. It is therefore necessary to apply the
principle of producer responsibility by holding them to
minimize their waste stream.
• Limiting sales models that make ICT products of little
no value in a short period of time.
• Support for intelligent systems for recycling and other
forms of recovery, thereby decreasing the waste
fraction that goes to final disposal and incineration.
What is Vodafone Doing to be green?
• Vodafone is collaborating with Environmental Protection
Agency on a project called ” Integrating Climate Change
into Telecommunication Industry”- this is a two year
project which we launched in July 2010. We have done
training for relevant stakeholders (National Disaster
Management Organization), EPA, Ministry of
Communication, Environmental Journalists,
Metrological Services Department and selected
Vodafone staff) on Climate Change and we are
currently piloting an Early Warning System at
Fanteakwa in the Begoro District, in the Eastern
Region.
• We have our first green sites in the Western and
Northern Regions - by this we have removed the diesel
generators and replaced with batteries to power up the
sites reducing CO2 emissions. These sites are
Kayankaw; Kukruku in the western region and
Cont’d
• As a telecommunications company we are further contributing to
reducing CO2 emissions by promoting video conferencing and
audio conferencing internally and minimizing air travel for
international meetings
• Vodafone is partnering 3 NGOs in the Upper east region on a tree
growing project named” Green Mobile community Project” where
local people are trained and employed to care for the seedlings
and report progress of growth via mobile phone hence the name
green mobile. This was launched in September 2010
• Vodafone is engaging with its suppliers and contractors on
responsible disposal policy making sure that they follow our global
waste disposal standards- this forms part of our procurement
process.
Cont’d
• Vodafone Ghana is working with it’s staff to reduce
energy usage within it’s facilities
• We are in the information age and people can only
impact a change with easy access to information. We
are making that contribution and in June we launched
and handed over a 100 seater internet café for the
Odorgonno Senior High school, equipped with 40MB
speed internet access to the students
Vodafone Collaboration with ITU
• Vodafone is engaging with ITU to provide technical
support on the EPA/VF partnership. ITU provided a
technical expert who trained selected stakeholders
(NADMO, Metrological services, Vodafone staff and
environmental journalists) in “ICT and Climate Change”.
• Vodafone is again relying on ITU expertise to do a
country assessment on Climate Change for Ghana.
• ITU currently is providing not just technical support to
Vodafone but will be using the Vodafone/EPA project to
launch a bigger project in Ghana soon under the name
“Moving to a Green Economy through ICT standards “–
this project will involve all Telcos in Ghana in impacting
positively to climate change.
END
Thanks for your attention