MTN Nigeria achieved 10.3% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions last year, against its 2021 baseline, according to data from its Sustainability Report for 2023.
The report provides feedback to stakeholders and interested parties on MTN’s material socio-economic and environmental performance for the period from 1 January to 31 December 2023.
In 2023, MTN Nigeria accounted for its Scope 3 emissions for the first time in the sustainability report, with 2021 being the baseline.
“We, together with our value chain actors, are working together to reduce our Scope 3 emissions. Our ambition is to achieve Net Zero carbon emissions in our operations by 2040,” MTN said.
Scope 1 covers emissions from sources that an organisation owns or controls directly – for example from burning fuel in MTN’s fleet of vehicles (if they’re not electrically-powered).
Scope 2 are emissions that a company causes indirectly and come from where the energy it purchases and uses is produced, for example, the emissions caused when generating the electricity used in MTN Nigeria office buildings would fall into this category.
Scope 3 encompasses emissions that are not produced by the company itself and are not the result of activities from assets owned or controlled by them, but by those that it’s indirectly responsible for up and down its value chain.
MTN says efforts to reduce its Scope 1 and 2 emissions will continue, and factor in expected increase in demand for mobile data services, subsequent increase in energy consumption and need to actively phase in renewable energy.
To mitigate the expected increase in GHG emissions due to data traffic growth, MTN Nigeria is deploying various energy efficiency measures, including deployment of new technologies such as 5G and fibre and leveraging more energy efficient data centres.
It is also deploying new network software that allows for optimisation of energy use by switching to standby or low-capacity mode at times of less network traffic.
Commenting on the report, Tobe Okigbo, Chief Corporate Services and Sustainability Officer, MTN Nigeria, explained MTN’s commitment to ESG,
“We have embedded sustainability and ESG considerations at the core of our governance structure, recognising their critical role in driving long-term value creation for our stakeholders. We are pleased with our progress so far, including achieving a reputation index score of 84, up 3.0pp from 2022.”
 Follow the MoneyCentral Nigeria channel on WhatsApp: Click here!
