Annual Report 2016
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Sustainability

Environmental stewardship

Sustainability

Environmental stewardship

Environment Strategy
Improving energy efficiency whilst reducing emissions
Managing electronic waste

Along with managing our own impacts, we have a responsibility to improve efficiency across our value chain. Our extensive network coverage and depth of technical expertise means we have an opportunity to support government, businesses, customers and the community in addressing long term sustainability challenges.

 

Environment Strategy

We are working to minimise our environmental impacts, and help our suppliers and customers to do the same. Our Environment Strategy provides a framework for addressing our most important environmental issues and opportunities. Our strategy seeks to advance the environmental performance of our operations and our stakeholders, right across our value chain.

  • Operational Excellence: actively identifying and minimising material environmental impacts and operating costs.
  • Environmental Customer Value Proposition: quantifying and communicating how our products and services can enable our customers to reduce their environmental impacts, particularly energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Sustainable Supply Chain: working with and influencing suppliers to manage and reduce the environmental and social impacts of their operations and of the products and services they provide to Telstra.

    • Improving energy efficiency whilst reducing emissions

    Energy use in our networks is our most material environmental impact, accounting for around 95 per cent of our total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (Scope 1, 2 and 3) in FY16. Large amounts of energy are required to power our network equipment and keep it at an optimum operating temperature.

    In FY14 we set a long term target to reduce our GHG emissions per terabyte of data used (emissions intensity) by 55 per cent over the three year period from FY15 to FY17, from a baseline year of FY14.

    Our GHG emissions intensity has reduced by 56 per cent from our FY14 baseline year, meaning we achieved our FY17 target this year.

    While data loads carried over our network increased by 62 per cent in FY16, total GHG emissions (Scope 1, 2 and 3) decreased by two per cent, as a result of both a reduction in the emission factors published by the Australian Federal Government for the reporting period and our energy efficiency initiatives.

     
    Greenhouse Gas Emissions
    1. Australian operations for Telstra Corporation Limited. This includes relevant Australian subsidiaries, joint ventures and partnerships.

    Managing electronic waste

    Australia is one of the highest per capita producers of electronic waste (e-waste) in the world. We’ve recognised the importance of electronics reuse and recycling. This year we recycled 99.9 per cent of the 5,549 tonnes of e-waste collected. We also helped our customers deal more effectively with e-waste.

    Throughout FY16 we collected 16 tonnes of mobile phones and accessories from Telstra retail stores, offices and repair centres through the MobileMuster2 program.

    We also launched a pilot eCycle program in July 2015, offering small businesses a free collection and recycling service for a wide range of electrical equipment. eCycle recovered more than 60 tonnes of e-waste this year from more than 600 businesses across Australia.

     

    [2] MobileMuster is the official product stewardship program of the mobile phone industry and is managed by the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association

    Telstra 2015 AR