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 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 Domeabra in the Northern region.

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