Nokia outlined ambitions to halve emissions across its own operations and products used by its customers by 2030, as part of a commitment to fulfil new tougher objectives based on the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

SBTi, a programme pushing for climate action across the private sector, signed-off Nokia’s new targets to align its goals to a 1.5° Celsius global warming scenario, starting with 2019 as a baseline, the vendor stated.

Nokia first committed to SBT in 2017, initially with its goals based on limiting global warming to a 2° Celsius scenario, on which it claimed to achieve 90 per cent of its target savings within its own operations 11 years ahead of schedule.

It also said it was on target to deliver on products in use with its customers.

The shift to a new target was more ambitious, it said, considering the 1.5°C warning limit, which has also been expanded to cover a broader base closer to 100 per cent of the company’s current portfolio.

They will also now include emissions from both logistics and assembly factories within the supply chain, added Nokia.

The company revealed products in use were the largest part of its carbon footprint and stated it was looking to address the issue in multiple ways, from hardware and software energy efficiency, to product design, modernisiation and better use of resources.

For example, the ReefShark chip used in AirScale radio products is now able to cut energy use by up to 66 per cent through the introduction of a liquid cooled 5G base station.

CEO Pekka Lundmark said despite its efforts so far, “climate change is a race against time”.

“These tougher, new scientifically-calibrated climate targets mean we will go further and faster to reduce our carbon footprint,” he said.