Telecommunications Carbon Accounting

The telecommunications (telecom) industry consists of information transmission by electronic means, such as voice, data, and internet services. The telecom industry currently accounts for approximately 2% of global carbon emissions, however through emission accounting and reduction efforts, the industry has the potential to reduce up to 15% of global carbon emissions. This reduction would equate to roughly 12.1 million gigatons of carbon, showing the significant relationship between the telecom industry and carbon emissions. Reducing emissions proves to be difficult for a multitude of reasons, but most importantly the ever growing population and need for bandwidth causes increased energy consumption which is passed on to the telecom providers.