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AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile: Hang Up on Fossil Fuels
We shouldn't have to compromise the planet to stay connected and informed.
AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile collectively use millions of megawatts of power for their networks and, until recently, that's largely come from fossil fuels.
Thanks to consumer pressure, since our campaign launched, we've seen significant movement in shifting the industry to clean energy!
- AT&T has announced purchase agreements for 1.7 Gigawatts of renewable energy in 2022. A major step forward, but it still has not committed to 100 percent.
- Verizon has entered into 20 contracts for renewable energy as of 2022, but has a long way to go to reach its goal of 50 percent clean energy.
- T-Mobile announced that they reached 100% renewable energy, but some of that is not putting new wind and solar on the grid.
Telecoms' Energy Impact
AT&T and Verizon continue to be laggards in the industry.
AT&T is a company with $168 billion in sales serving 150 million wireless subscribers in the US and Mexico. Verizon has annual revenues of $133 billion per year with about 146 million subscribers, and uses over 10 million MW of power per year.
According to the EPA’s Green House Gas Equivalency Calculator, the two companies’ combined electricity usage is enough to power 2.6 million homes. To address climate change, we need to be moving away from fossil fuels, and companies like AT&T and Verizon that state they are environmentally conscious should be leading the effort towards a fossil free future. We've seen major progress in the past two years, but there's still a long way to go to clean up wireless.
T-Mobile made a commitment to 100% renewable energy by 2021 and announced reaching its goal at the end of 2021. However, approximately 50% of this renewable energy is from unbundled RECS, which do not guarantee new solar or wind installations.
Energy & Environmental Justice
The three largest telecom companies - AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile - have a great deal of influence on the energy companies they do business with and the communities they serve.
Green America worked with our colleagues to create energy justice standards that all communication giants need to address to advance issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. See the energy justice standards for the telecommunications industry in part 1 of our report Calling for a Just, Clean Transition.
Campaign Goals
AT&T and Verizon need to adopt a goal of 100% clean energy by 2025, along with overall carbon emission reduction goals and a timeline to get there.
T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T need to rapidly increase their contracts that put new solar and wind on the grid to replace dirty energy, including coal and natural gas.
All three telecoms need to set clear climate emissions reductions goals that lead to a rapid decrease in emissions in the next decade.
All three telecoms need to fully address energy justice issues both internally and with the companies they are signing contracts with. Learn more in Part 1 of our report Calling for a Just, Clean Transition.
Learn more about the companies' scores in Part 2 of our report Calling for a Just, Clean Transition.
The big telecom companies, ATT, Verizon, and T-Mobile use massive amounts of electricity and bring in enormous revenues. Green America investigated the clean energy use of major telecom companies and whether the energy they use advances energy justice.
In Part 1, we discuss the challenges to stabilizing our global climate and actions needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, focusing on emissions stemming from the production of electricity, which accounts for 25% of climate change-inducing pollution.
Transitioning to clean energy is critical for the climate and communities, and we need to look at how energy is produced and consumed.
The telecommunications industry has an environmental justice problem, emitting 16 million tons of CO2 every year, often in low-income communities of color.
Victory
When our Hang Up on Fossil Fuels campaign began in 2017, a small fraction of Verizon's massive network was powered by clean energy. But since then, there's been major progress thanks to the thousands of people across the US who have signed our…
Green Living
While forward-thinking tech companies like Apple, Facebook, and Google have committed to running on 100% renewables and are investing in facilities powered by renewable energy, AT&T and Verizon continue source the majority of their energy from dirty energy sources.
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…Latest News
Here are some answers to common questions about this campaign. */
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