Greenpeace termed the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) consultation paper on “Green Telecommunication” as insubstantial and without a clear roadmap, especially in addressing the Telecommunication sector’s role in climate change.
Commenting on the TRAI Consultation Paper, Mrinmoy Chattaraj, Climate & Energy Campaigner, Greenpeace India said “In the absence of emission assessments and standards, the promotion of false solutions like carbon credit and offsetting is designed to retard the sector’s inclination to undertake measures to mitigate emissions.
The paper is also silent on disclosure of GHG emissions by the sector, a pre-requisite for any emission reduction protocol like carbon credit policies”.
TRAI had initiated this process, seeking submissions from industry, civil society and other interested parties, on measures to be undertaken towards “Greening of the Telecom Sector” in July,2010. Greenpeace had submitted its suggestion in this pre-consultative process and will continue to monitor this process.
In response to Pre-consultation on “Green Telecom”, Greenpeace suggested prior to initiating or enabling any carbon credit policy, a comprehensive assessment within the Indian telecom sector is critical to qualify the potential for mitigation within the sector, segregated further as high and low cost mitigations.
This is vital to understand and inform any decision, on whether the evolution of a carbon credit policy for the Indian telecom sector, would actually hamper domestic mitigation for the sector.
varun Chandra February 8, 2011 at 9:46 pm
Hi Everyone
I would just like to bring to everyone notice that consultation papers from TRAI do not give any roadmap. They expect all stakeholder to give their response and educate TRAI on what in their opinion should be the roadmap like. After reading all the responses TRAI comes with their observation. These helps them to involve all stakeholders as part of policy making
Mustan February 8, 2011 at 2:36 pm
I can’t seem to find any info on the web about how much power bts s and other telecom equipment use. We could have speculated on the pollution aspect then. And if the emissions are substantial the green route could yield huge profits from carbon credits.