The transition to a carbon neutral economy concerns every industrial and service sector. Sustainability has become one of the top political priorities, underscored at the global level by the ratification of the Paris Agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. At the regional level, the European Commission’s December 2019  Green Deal translates this commitment into European law.  The Green Deal sets an ambitious roadmap towards a climate-neutral circular economy, where economic growth is decoupled from resource use. In addition to announcing specific actions on its revamped circular economy ambitions, the European Commission has mentioned climate actions for the ICT sector: for instance, data centres should become climate-neutral by 2030.

To contribute to this effort, ICT industry players are moving to 100% renewable energy, and multiple firms are introducing ambitious programs and green targets. In February 2020, landmark science-based targets (SBTs) were unveiled to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the telecommunications sector, in line with the latest climate science. The targets – developed by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI), the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and the GSMA – set sector-specific emissions reduction trajectories from 2020-2030 for mobile, fixed-line, and data centre operators in accordance with the Paris Agreement.

Against this background, the next GSMA Mobile Meetings Series roundtable will bring together a group of key stakeholders, including EU decision-makers and industry experts, to discuss among other issues:

1. What opportunities exist to accelerate the ICT sector’s efforts to decarbonise the industry, potentially becoming carbon-neutral by 2030, while reaching other Sustainable Development Goals?
2. How or why is improved sustainability a competitive advantage? How can financial institutions help the ICT sector make the best investment decisions in terms of sustainability?
3. What tools can the ICT sector use to further underpin the ability of other industry and service sectors to achieve their sustainability targets? Should Europe move ahead of other continents to make sustainability a competitive advantage?
4. How can EU finance instruments be used to ensure that European industry players are not placed at a competitive disadvantage vis à vis worldwide competitors?
5. What impact has and will the COVID-19 crisis have on the sector’s sustainability goal and performance?

This event is by invitation only and will be held under the Chatham House rule. For more information please contact: mobilemeetingsseries@gsma.com

This event is part of the GSMA Mobile Meetings Series which are small-scale, invitation-only meetings that provide a setting to explore, from a broader stakeholders’ perspective, issues that are central to the development of the mobile industry.

Join us for a different take on the main issues affecting the mobile communications industry and its place in Europe’s information society.

Follow the discussion on Twitter #GSMAmms

Take a look at our previous events