Alcatel-Lucent has reduced its facility-based CO2 emissions by nearly 112,000 tons from 2007 to 2009, exceeding its goal of cutting annual CO2 emissions by 10 percent from the 2007 level by the end of 2010, according to the company's 2009 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report. The company has set a goal to reduce its carbon footprint from all sources 50 percent by 2020.
Key environmental highlights in 2009 include reducing the carbon footprint from facilities by 9.5 percent from the 2008 level and the company's entire carbon footprint by 13.1 percent. The company also cut business travel 19 percent by raising employee awareness of the environmental impact of air travel.
Alcatel-Lucent is on target to include carbon footprint information in the eco-declaration for new product families, starting in 2010. The company also is on target to meet and exceed its goal to improve the functional energy efficiency of key products (new or recently developed) by at least 20 percent by 2010 compared with 2008.
In January, Alcatel-Lucent and Vodaphone unveiled a hybrid-powered base station, which is powered by both solar and wind energy. Last year, the company launched a digital subscriber line (DSL) platform that provides more bandwidth while consuming up to 25 percent less power compared to conventional DSL solutions.
Alcatel-Lucent also has a program to take back, remanufacture and reuse network equipment. In 2009, the company remanufactured and reused 636 metric tons of equipment and increased the number of product types remanufactured by 36 percent, which exceeded the company's 10 percent product remanufacturing goal.
The company says remanufactured products reduce greenhouse gas emissions, with improvements of 30 to 44 percent based on the company's analyses, as compared to manufacturing new products.
In 2009, Alcatel-Lucent launched its CSR Council with Alcatel-Lucent CEO Ben Verwaayen as its chairman. The council will work with external stakeholders to discuss what the company needs to do to achieve its CSR goals. The council is comprised of six Alcatel-Lucent senior executives and two outside experts.
The networking giant also launched in 2009 the Alcatel-Lucent Alternative Lab in France, touted as the world's first alternative energy lab and pilot site dedicated to telecommunications.
Alcatel-Lucent increased by 40 percent the number of installed sites powered by renewable energy by the end of 2009, exceeding its original goal to increase installations by 30 percent.
The research consortium GreenTouch, initiated by Bell Labs, was launched in January 2010. The consortium, with 16 members, targets a 1,000-fold improvement in the energy efficiency of Internet and communications networks.
Alcatel-Lucent conducts on-site audits of suppliers to review the full range of CSR practices including environmental issues. The company is working with EcoVadis to implement a rating system to help Alcatel-Lucent better assess suppliers and help them improve their practices. Nearly 80 percent of the assessments were rated satisfactory.
