Twenty-six companies, including many telecom service providers and vendors, have formed the European Green Digital Coalition, declaring their intent to invest in green digital technologies and create guidelines for green digital transformations, among other initiatives.
The group, which includes Telefoncia, Orange, Vodafone, Telenor, Telia, Nokia, Ericsson, Microsoft, IBM, Aruba and others, presented their plans during the virtual Digital Day Europe event last week, according to a European Union statement.
A separate statement from founding member Telefonica said that to join the coalition, companies “must have science-based targets to reduce their GHG (Greenhouse Gas) emissions by 2030 and become climate neutral or net zero emissions by 2040 at the latest.”
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In addition to investing in more energy-efficient and material-efficient green digital technologies and developing green transformation guidelines, the group also plans to develop tools to assess the net impact of green digital technologies on the environment. The group plans to release its first results and progress reports next year.
Telefónica's CEO, José María Álvarez-Pallete, said in his company's statement, "It is an honour to be part of the European Green Digital Coalition to accelerate the EU's green and digital transformation and contribute to an innovative, sustainable and resilient recovery. This coalition unites us around one goal: to be part of the solution to climate change, a historic opportunity that we cannot afford to miss."