Nokia reduces CO2 emissions at Nokia facilities by 17 percent

Mobile phone giant Nokia said its facilities' CO2 emissions decreased by 17 percent, compared with the 2006 level.


In 2011, Nokia reduced greenhouse gas emissions from offices and R&D premises by 15 percent per person, compared to 2006.


Nokia's renewable electricity share in 2011 was 193 GWh, which is equal to 40 percent and which reduced its CO2 emissions by 54,500 tons.


In 2011, Nokia's CO2 emissions from air travel have been reduced by 36 percent from 2008 base level "“ but are 2.8 percent more than in 2010.


"In 2011, Nokia total waste amount was reduced 23 percent in comparison to 2010. Nokia also managed to continue our trend of sending less waste to landfill. However, we're slightly behind our factory target of halving landfill waste each year," said Stephen Elop, CEO, Nokia.


Nokia showed progress on this front in 2011, installing fuel cells at its facility in Sunnyvale in the U.S. and a small biofuel station in Chennai, India.


During product creation, Nokia focuses on energy efficiency, sustainable use of materials, smart packaging, and creating environmental services which engage people to adopt more sustainable lifestyles. During the last decade, the greenhouse gas footprint of Nokia phones has been reduced by up to 50 percent.


Nokia also introduced new features and capabilities that allow the mobile device to become a multifunctional product, and thereby reducing the need to buy multiple devices for different purposes. 


Another major positive impact comes from providing innovative solutions that enable people to reduce their own environmental impact related e.g. to travel and commuting. The implementation of environmental requirements, both legal and customer specific, have key importance for its business success.


At the end of 2011, Nokia had approximately 6,000 collection points in almost 100 countries. Only about 9 percent of people say that they recycle their phones. Nokia works around the globe to raise awareness and to ensure proper and safe recycling and take part in collective recycling schemes. Currently, its challenge is to show people how recycling phones is both easy and beneficial and inspire them to take action.


Though Nokia is not part of an energy-intensive industry and the CO2 emissions and water use in its own facilities is relatively small, Nokia still has possibilities to control and reduce its environmental impacts. As the number of devices that can access Internet increases, the energy consumption of data centers becomes increasingly important.

The vast majority of Nokia device life cycle environmental impact comes from its supply and logistics chain.


In Kenya, Nokia commissioned a report in 2011 that showed only 14 percent of citizens are aware that mobile phones can be recycled, and only 2 percent actually recycle their old mobile phones.