How ZTE turns green goals into climate action that works

It's not easy being green, but comms giant walks the walk

Sponsored feature With innovative technologies and product solutions, ZTE serves global telecom operators, government and enterprise customers, and consumers. Focusing on the long-term goals of the AI era, "To lead in connectivity and intelligent computing", ZTE speeds up to accelerate the transformation toward "connectivity + computing" with firm confidence.

When China's Liaoning province was hit by continuous heavy rainfall in August 2024, Shenzhen-based ZTE deployed 191 personnel with backpack base stations, satellite comms devices, drones, and hundreds of spare parts to support disaster relief.

This shows how the telecoms and networking giant is committed helping both customers and citizens deal with challenging climate conditions that are unfortunately more common as the world grapples with climate change.

But dealing with climate or natural disasters is just one part of the equation. Preventing, or at least minimizing, climate change is the other. Which is why ZTE has committed itself to being green and energy efficient, and just as importantly, helping the rest of the industry do the same, from customers to partners and suppliers.

With innovative technologies and product solutions, ZTE serves global telecom operators, government and enterprise customers, and consumers. Focusing on the long-term goals of the AI era, "To lead in connectivity and intelligent computing", ZTE speeds up to accelerate the transformation toward "connectivity + computing".

ZTE is, of course, a business. Which makes it all the more notable that in 2024, it improved its overall energy efficiency by 20 percent compared to 2021, and reduced scope one and two carbon emissions by 13.4 percent year on year. All while achieving revenue to RMB121.3bn, and net profits of RMB8.4bn in 2024.

The goals ZTE sets itself around sustainability, and its progress and efforts to achieve them, are detailed in its 2024 Sustainability Report. This details its formal targets and metrics and highlights its award-winning efforts to work towards sustainability.

Such awards include Informa's Outstanding Green Fiber Use Case award for its Green Pon solution. CDP China and PWC China selected ZTE's case study of "Goal-Driven, Step-by-Step Decoding: Pathways and Actions to Achieve Climate Goals" for the Chinese Enterprise CDP Disclosure Analysis Report 2023.

The Sustainability Report also shows how ZTE's top executives are involved in shaping its sustainability agenda. In 2024 ZTE established its Strategy and Sustainability Committee, with a mandate to build out the company's governance system for strategic and sustainable development, with an explicit brief to tackle climate change, advance a circular economy, and manage environmental impact. ZTE's chairman, CEO, chief scientist and all level two unit heads serve on the committee. The same year, the Science and Technology Ethics Committee, which includes ZTE's CTO, was set up to promote responsible innovation and tech for good.

This is in addition to the Dual Carbon Strategy Implementation Project Team, set up in 2022, which in 2024 became the Environmental Working Group under the Sustainability Working Group. This organization directly addresses issues such as climate change and energy use, water use, pollutant emissions, waste management, environmental compliance, and circular economy.

A path to sustainability

It's one thing to set up a committee which makes plans years ahead. But the report shows how ZTE is making tangible improvements based on ongoing initiatives.

It is following a "green digital path" across four dimensions: corporate operations; supply chain; digital infrastructure; and green empowerment of industries.

So, it has set itself the target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions "in line with the 1.5°C temperature rise limitation pathway and ultimately reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 at the latest." The pathway is set out by the Science Based Targets initiative and specifies a 52 percent reduction by 2030.

By 2040, it aims to be operationally carbon neutral, with renewables accounting for 80 percent of power generation, and all the company's vehicles being electric. Likewise, 80 percent of procurement will be from suppliers committed to science-based carbon targets. By 2050, renewables will account for 100 percent of power generation, while 100 percent of procurement will be from suppliers committed to science-based targets. The Science-Based Targets Initiative has approved these targets.

This will require a cross-company effort, taking in both product development, R&D, and manufacturing and business operations. But, the sustainability report shows, this is well underway.

For example, in 2024 ZTE's telecoms products business recorded an 8.39 percent reduction in physical emissions intensity during the use and maintenance phase. This was thanks to efforts such developing new models, innovations in energy-saving technology, developing high-density and low-power boards, and improving the energy efficiency of power products. These measures were further boosted by increased use of green energy at communication sites.

Meanwhile ZTE's terminal products business achieved a 5.02 percent year-on-year reduction in absolute emissions over the entire product lifecycle in 2024. This was down to measures such as using low-carbon materials, including from post-consumer recycling (PCR), structural weight reduction design, and reducing energy consumption in transportation.

The company continues to push the use of post-consumer recycled materials in both its CPE kit, and terminal products. It already pushes for 85 percent PCR in system terminal devices, and has achieved over 95 percent in some, and 100 percent for some components in mobile terminal products.

It also achieved 78 percent compliant recycling in 2024 "compliant recycling and reuse of returned system products.".

This is more than simply breaking down end-of-life products. It's about reworking and repair, reducing excess product in the market, and ensuring that recovered materials are reused in new products.

Simply focusing on issues like weight reduction through substituting paper for plastic packaging contribute to reduced emissions, the Sustainability Report shows. This has saved 20 tons of plastic packaging a year.

More broadly, ZTE has achieved over 800 patents relating to green innovation. Again, each represents a multi-year effort.

A team effort

For all its efforts, ZTE obviously can't mitigate climate change on its own. However, it can also help other companies inside and outside its ecosystem to deliver on their sustainability goals.

For example, it used its ZTE Digital Nebula platform to help integrate 5G communication, IoT, and big data technologies at the Ningdong Aluminium Branch of State Power Investment Qingtongxia Aluminum Co., Ltd (Ningdong Aluminium Branch).

This means the organization has access to online energy monitoring, and intelligent analysis of power consumption data. This includes generating up-to-the minute alerts for abnormal energy usage, allowing it to spot leaks and overflows, and prevent energy wastage.

This has meant the Ningdong Aluminium Branch was able to become an "innovative, intelligent, and green" smelting enterprise. More tangibly, it has achieved an annual electricity saving of 2.1 million kWh while reducing carbon emissions by 1,800 tons.

ZTE uses the same approach back along its supply chain, with a dual-carbon strategy that is integrated into its supplier management IT systems. In 2024, it conducted onsite audits at 261 of its production suppliers. It has guided 100 suppliers on assessing their carbon impact and helped 10 suppliers set carbon reduction targets and work out how to achieve them. And it had provided training for dozens more on various carbon reduction efforts.

It has also collaborated with suppliers to develop new technologies, including a lower power antenna design, which has enabled base stations to cover larger areas with less input power.

But sometimes the impact of climate change is more immediate. As well as the response to the heavy rainfall in Liaoning, ZTE stepped up to mitigate the impact of super typhoon Yagi in September 2024. As the tropical cyclone swept through three separate provinces, the company stepped up 350 personnel and 1300 spare parts. But it also conducted an in-depth analysis of the networks affected, allowing it to identify key areas and get affected critical nodes back up and running quickly.

That's the thing about climate change; it's an enormous multi-faceted challenge that will unfurl over years, but which impacts many of us right now. As ZTE's Sustainability Report 2024 shows, tackling the problem and ensuring a sustainable future requires long-term planning and commitment. But it also requires the ability, and the will, to act today.

Sponsored by ZTE.