Photographer: Jack Atley/Bloomberg News

Telecommunications networks can help reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by almost five per cent by 2015 and deliver up to $6.6 billion a year in cost savings for Australian businesses and households, according to a new report released today by Telstra.

Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo said Telstra commissioned climate change experts to quantify the possible carbon and dollar savings that could be achieved by business enterprises, households and governments by using telecommunications networks to avoid or reduce rather than just offset their carbon emissions. 

“The Report found telecommunications networks can facilitate a reduction in Australia’s carbon emissions by 4.9 per cent or around 27 million carbon tonnes per year by 2015. This is equivalent to the annual emissions caused by nearly two-thirds of Australia’s passenger cars,” Trujillo said.

Towards a High-Bandwidth, Low-Carbon Future: Telecommunications-based Opportunities to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions is a study by climate change experts, Climate Risk.

The Report identifies seven major opportunities for Australian consumers and businesses to reduce or avoid the release of carbon emissions into the atmosphere. These opportunities, if implemented by 2015, could help reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions by around 27 million carbon tonnes per year. Individually, each opportunity could deliver per annum carbon emission savings of:

•    1.8 million tonnes (Mt) by using broadband to remotely manage power for appliances not in use or on "stand-by";
•    2.4Mt by improving business productivity with "in-person" high-definition videoconferencing;
•    2.9Mt with broadband based, real-time freight allocation systems to fill empty freight vehicles;
•    3.0Mt with presence-detecting services that turn off devices that are "on" but not being used;
•    3.1Mt with teleworking and working in regional centres by reducing commuter car traffic;
•    3.9Mt by bringing integrated personalised public transport to your door with a phone call; and
•    10.1Mt by increasing renewable energy use with networked demand-side management.

Climate Risk’s Director of Science and Systems Dr Karl Mallon said, “This report provides the first significant, practical analysis in Australia of the use of telecommunications to achieve increased energy conservation and clean energy production. Our analysis found that by harnessing smarter networks and devices it is possible to deiver reduced emissions while also reducing expenditure on energy for the end user.

A full copy of the Report plus Telstra's response to the report can be found at reports . 

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