NBN Co, Australia's broadband provider, has committed to source 100% of its electricity from renewables by 2025, which Greenpeace Australia Pacific has welcomed as a major leap towards decarbonising Australia's energy-intensive telco sector.
NBN Co, which is a publicly-owned corporation of the Federal Government, has signed up to the RE100 initiative and inked a renewable power purchase deal for twenty percent of its electricity by the end of 2023. Further power purchases are in the works to get the broadband behemoth to 100% renewable electricity by 2025.
Lindsay Soutar, director of REenergise at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said that NBN Co's power play will speed Australia's telco transition.
"Australia's streaming ahead with solar-powered internet! NBN Co's announcement that it will be the first major telco to join RE100 and switch to 100% renewable electricity by 2025 is a power play that will hopefully reboot Australia's telco energy transition," she said.
"NBN Co provides broadband connection to over 8.3 Australian homes and businesses, and is the 54th biggest energy user in the country. Big telcos and internet providers use enormous amounts of electricity, and having NBN Co join frontrunners Telstra and TPG Telecom in making the shift to renewables will have a major impact on Australia's emissions."
"As Greenpeace's recent report revealed, telcos and internet providers are one of the leading industries in Australia's energy transition. Now we need Optus, which seems to be perpetually stuck on dial up, to join the party."
A Greenpeace report revealed earlier this year that Australia's telcos, tech and data centre companies together consume approximately four percent of Australia's electricity, equivalent to 580,000 homes or more than all homes in Adelaide.
