Greentech Lead India: Smartphone industry can save 30
million tons in Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions over the next five years by
targeting the largest sources within its supply chain activities, notacturinbly
component manufag.
With smartphones taking over from mass market handsets,
the industry will need to streamline its operations.
Supply chain activities – raw material extraction,
component manufacturing, device assembly and transportation – result in twice
as much GHG emissions per smartphone, in comparison with other handsets. With
these devices proving more popular with consumers, vendors are faced with a
serious challenge to their green credentials: how to make devices smarter, and
sustainable.
With the company predicting that supply chain GHG
emissions will reach 24 million tons this year alone, and the number of
smartphones shipped per annum set to nearly double over the next five years,
the industry will need to adopt the aggressive strategies set out in Juniper’s
report – but the rewards will be huge.
“This 30 million tonne saving is the equivalent of the
GHGs emitted by 5.3 million cars in a year (1 out of 6 cars in the UK, or 3 out
of every 100 worldwide), or that of a 62 billion mile car journey. Over 30
billion tonnes of CO2 are produced worldwide every year,” said report author
Daniel Ashdown at Juniper Research.
Green handset shipments will reach 392 million by 2017 –
more than ten times the number the company expects to be shipped in 2012.
Mobile network operators can play a crucial role as green
champions due to their unique customer-facing position, including recycling
initiatives and providing eco-ratings at point-of-sale.
Smart devices are partly powered by the cloud, and
vendors need to consider the impact of data centres as part of the impact of
smartphones and tablets.