Interview with Huawei Technologies on Climate Transformation

Interview partner: Xiang Ao is the Sustainable Development Officer at Huawei Technologies Deutschland GmbH. The multinational technology corporation has set climate targets within its own organization and along the supply chain to address the global threat of climate change.

Climate Significance of the Telco IndustryToday, the telco industry accounts for about 3% of global CO2 emissions, which is about twice that of civil aviation. With global data traffic expected to increase around 60% each year, the ICT industry could be responsible for up to 14% of global carbon emissions by 2040. This means that the telco industry is a huge lever for decarbonization and an opportunity for real change within the economy.

So how does a major global telco company still on the path of climate transformation, like Huawei, go about reaching its climate goals? This is what we will find out in this interview:

We are pleased to have partnered with Huawei Technologies Deutschland on the Climate Performance Assessment. Can you briefly introduce yourself?

Huawei Technologies is one of the world's leading providers of information technology and telecommunications solutions. More than a third of the world's population and more than half of the German population use Huawei technology directly or indirectly. With the headquarter in Shenzhen, the company has 207,000 employees worldwide and operates in 170 countries through its three business units Carrier Network, Enterprise Business and Consumer Business.

Huawei has been operating in Germany since 2001 and employs more than 1,700 people in 17 locations. Huawei's largest European research center is located in Munich. As one of the world's leading providers of digital information and communication technologies, we are a long-standing and reliable partner of German mobile operators and many fixed network providers. In its role as an infrastructure provider, Huawei has played an important role in the digitalization of Germany for many years. We are a service provider for our customers, and thus not only the starting point for every form of digitization, but also the catalyst for social developments.

Sustainable development is an important part of Huawei’s overall strategy. To address the global challenge of climate change, we believe that technology is a key enabler of sustainable development, to create a more inclusive and environmentally friendly world. Huawei hopes to work with global customers, suppliers, and partners to promote green and sustainable development in various industries and build a low-carbon society.

How are you positioning yourself in terms of climate transformation? What climate targets have you defined for yourselves?

Green and low-carbon development is rapidly becoming a global priority. Huawei believes that digital technology will be a key enabler of nature conservation, green development, and response to environmental challenges like climate change. Digitalization and decarbonization build upon each other and can together promote green development. For years, we have followed our pledge of “Tech for a Better Planet” to proactively address climate and environmental challenges. We use innovative ICT solutions to protect our shared home by focusing on three areas: advancing energy conservation and emissions reduction, promoting renewable energy, and contributing to a circular economy.

More specifically, we are striving to achieve the following goals by 2025:

1. Reduce the carbon emissions (Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions) per unit of sales revenue by 16% by 2025 compared with 2019

2. Increase the average energy efficiency of our main products by 2.7 times by 2025 compared with 2019

3. Ensure all of Huawei's top 100 suppliers (by procurement spending) will have set carbon emissions reduction targets by 2025

We are very impressed with the well-organized structure and detailed questions of the Climate Performance Assessment, which will help us not only to internally assess our maturity in climate performance management, but also to benchmark where we stand in the industry. From this perspective, our current status is quite positive. To have such professional and easy-to-use scoring system is a big Win for the companies who wants to recognize its management status.

The structure of the assessment plays a very important role: the current 5 dimensions methodology, which ranges from climate strategy, governance & leadership, stakeholder management, carbon footprint to decarbonization measures, is quite efficient during this program.

What are the next steps you want to address as part of your climate transformation?

Huawei will continue to contribute to climate protection by integrating more emission reduction technologies and measures, and cooperating with other stakeholders to build supply chain responsibility. Huawei is currently in the process of managing its sustainability development together with climate protection to reach a higher level.

How do you deal with your supply chain and the emissions generated here?

Huawei manages sustainability in line with industry best practices and globally recognized standards. Sustainability plays a vital role in our procurement strategy and is a key part of our supplier management process, from supplier qualification and selection to performance appraisals and portfolio management. We regularly appraise suppliers' sustainability performance and facilitate their continuous improvement by working closely with customers, suppliers, industry organizations, and other stakeholders.

Huawei has established its procurement CSR management system based on the OECD's Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct and the IPC-1401 Corporate Social Responsibility Management System Standard, and incorporated CSR requirements into our procurement strategy and business processes. Our Supplier CSR Agreement is prepared according to the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA) Code of Conduct and the Joint Audit Cooperation (JAC) Supply Chain Sustainability Guidelines.

What tips and best practices would you like to share with other companies?

Environmental protection and decarbonization require the participation and contribution of all of us. Huawei has already made efforts in various fields and areas by promoting product improvement and technologies development, such as the industry's first MetaAAU to support 384 antenna elements to reduce energy use by 30%, and industry's first smart optical modem to reduce power consumption by 30% etc.. It would be great to see our suppliers, customers and business partners move forward, and we are happy to share more details and experiences with all interested parties.

Thank you for the honest and insightful interview, Xiang Ao. We are very pleased about the cooperation with Huawei Technologies Deutschland GmbH and look forward to driving forward the climate transformation of the economy together.