Nokia has announced that it has committed to reducing its total global greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) to net zero by 2040, accelerating its previous target by ten years, and putting it ahead of the Paris Agreement target of net zero by 2050.

Nokia will also double down on its existing near-term, or 2030, target.

Having already committed to halving its GHG emissions across Scope 1,2 and 3 by 2030 from a 2019 baseline, it announced it will further accelerate the decarbonization of its own operations.

Pekka Lundmark, President and CEO of Nokia, said: “Our new emission reduction targets show that net zero is a business priority for Nokia. We already help our telecoms customers to decarbonize by building sustainable, high-performance networks, and we work with a rapidly growing range of enterprise partners to reduce emissions and improve productivity. That journey will only accelerate, as Nokia launches more energy efficient solutions in next generation mobile, fixed, IP and optical networks and in software, silicon and systems. By committing to net zero by 2040 we build on our previous climate targets as we look to create technology that helps the world act together.”

Nokia was the first telecoms vendor to have its 2030 Science Based Target (SBT) validated by the SBTi in 2017 and was among the first 100 companies across all sectors to do so.

It recalibrated its near-term targets in 2021 in line with a 1.5°C warming scenario, committing to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030 from a 2019 baseline. This target implied that Nokia would reach net zero by 2050.

With the announcement Nokia reiterates its existing near-term target to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 50% across its value chain (Scopes 1, 2 and 3), accelerates the decarbonization of its own operations (Scopes 1 and 2) as part of its near-term targets with complete decarbonization its car fleet and facilities, and explicitly sets a new long-term target to reach net zero by 2040 (Scopes 1, 2 and 3) by 2040.

To ensure its new long-term target aligns with climate science, Nokia has submitted its net-zero letter of commitment to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), a partnership between CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

Nokia has also defined a net-zero pathway that will help it reduce emissions across its value chain. Key levers in the net-zero pathway include:

Product design and innovation: With more than 95% of emissions resulting from products in use, Nokia continues to improve the energy efficiency of its products and solutions.

Achieved a 50% reduction in the average power consumption of 5G mMIMO Base stations by 2023 from 2019 baseline.

Introduced the Quillion chipset, which can help reduce power consumption for broadband access products with 50% less power needed in fiber installations than previous generations.

Its FP5 network processor offers a 75% reduction in power consumption compared to its previous generation.

Its latest optical network technology, the PSE-6s, can reduce network power consumption per bit in optical transport by up to 40% compared to the PSE V.

Low-carbon electricity: Nokia is committed to using 100% renewable electricity in its own facilities by 2025 and is working with its supply chain as it transitions to renewables.

Already achieved 63% renewable electricity in its own facilities in 2022.

It uses a mix of on-site solar, Power Purchase Agreements, renewable electricity products directly obtained from an energy supplier, and renewable electricity certificates to procure the renewable electricity.

Energy and material efficiency: Nokia aims to achieve 95% circularity by 2030 in relation to operational waste (waste from offices, labs, manufacturing, installation, and product takeback), driving actions to reduce landfilling.

In 2023, Nokia announced it would reduce packaging waste for its Fixed Networks Lightspan portfolio. This will lead to a 60% decrease in packaging size and a 44% reduction in the overall weight.

Carbon removals: Credible, permanent carbon removals and storage may be required to neutralize some residual emissions to reach net zero.

Nokia is examining credible solutions for carbon removals to support long-term net-zero targets.

Nokia is one of the few telecommunications vendors with its own fleet of marine vessels, playing a vital role in laying the cables that connect continents. Currently, Nokia-owned Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) has an installed base of more than 650,000 km of optical submarine systems deployed worldwide, enough to circumnavigate the globe 15 times. With marine fleets globally still largely reliant on fossil fuels, this presents a unique challenge for decarbonizing Nokia’s Scope 1 emissions. Nokia is targeting marine fleet emission reductions aligned with the International Maritime Organization decarbonization pathway and has already invested in more efficient vessels and trialed the use of biofuels to reduce emissions.