Environmental sustainability is core to Telkom's business
Blurb: Commemorated annually on 5 June, World Environment Day was established by the UN General Assembly in 1972 and remains one of the world body’s principal vehicles to stimulate worldwide environmental awareness.
In line with an intensifying global trend, Telkom is also expediting and consolidating its greening initiatives in alignment with the Company’s ISO 14001 certified Environmental Management System (EMS).
“This is important for us as an EMS that meets the ISO 14001 requirements becomes a valuable management tool in enhancing our operations towards becoming more environmentally sustainable. It also helps us to identify and control the environmental impact of our activities, to continuously improve our environmental performance and implement a systematic approach to setting environmental objectives and targets,” says Theo Hess, Telkom’s Group Executive for Capability Management.
Hess also heads the Telkom Green Initiative, a cross-functional project which seeks to consolidate all new and existing environmental and energy initiatives across the Group in order to ensure that all targets enforced by legislation, as well as those set by Telkom itself, are met and sustained.
“It is common knowledge that some businesses still perceive greening initiatives as being an expense. However, the opposite holds more truth as greening initiatives are not only an investment in environmental sustainability but could impact a company’s bottom line very positively,” states Hess.
He adds that Telkom is currently scrutinising its electricity costs with a view to optimising energy consumption. “Obviously, we need to balance some of the potential interventions against operational efficiencies, but based on a lab report, we could ultimately be looking at substantial electricity savings on an annual basis.”
Hess also points to pilot investigations at some Telkom sites that are not only yielding positive results in terms of energy efficiencies but also generating additional spin-offs such as the recovery of old equipment that could be used as spares.
“Overall, we are, inter alia, aiming to measure our carbon footprint, reduce and offset our emissions as well as integrate and consolidate all our ‘green’ principles into our marketing philosophy, “ says Hess, adding that the core pillars of Telkom’s EMS centre around biodiversity management as well as the management of waste, energy and emission, water and fossil fuels.
“Our initiatives at using renewable energy by harvesting natural phenomenon such as sun and wind energy, thereby reducing the energy required from fossil fuels, probably rank among our better known projects,” says Hess.
In preparation for the 1994 general elections and the Rugby World Cup (1995), Telkom embarked on a huge drive to power remote telecommunications infrastructure from solar panels in order to complement Eskom’s reach. Thousands of crystalline silicon solar panels were installed. Despite a massive theft problem, recent successes in combating solar panel theft, augurs well for the continued use of these types of solar panels as a viable source of renewable energy.
Wind turbines have also been used as a source of renewable energy. “By working closely with a local manufacturer, we have fine-tuned a horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) which we currently use at 19 sites. We are also exploring other options that could expand our renewable energy portfolio,” says Hess.
He emphasises that companies that have not yet formally embraced environmental considerations into their business operations, should not discount the effectiveness of ad-hoc actions by individuals and business units within their broader organisations in paving the way towards a quality EMS.
“Telkom is littered with a multitude of such good news stories, especially from our Corporate Employee Wellness and SHE (Safety, Health and Environment) colleagues,” enthuses Hess.
From recycling brightly-coloured optic-fibre cable PVC sheathing to serve as visual enhancers so that Blue Cranes in the Middelburg area of the Free State do not fly into our aerial lines, to sourcing advice from experts in Hectorspruit (Mpumalanga) on how to relocate bats that had started roosting in the ceiling of a remote Telkom Exchange, examples of business operations in an environmentally friendly manner abound at Telkom.
“In the Kalahari area, for example, we have also devised basket-like structures that enable weaver birds to build their massive nests on our masts and towers at a height that do not hinder maintenance or repair work by our technical staff. We are currently working with Bird Life South Africa and the local conservation community in the Wakkerstroom area (Mpumalanga) to jointly formulate interventions to mitigate the probable impact of Telkom overhead infrastructure on the flight paths of migratory birds at one of the province’s internationally renowned wetland reserves,” says Hess.
He adds: "Looking ahead, we're in the process of commencing discussions with relevant communities and stakeholders about the sustainability of our conservation-related interventions that are tied to our existing infrastructure. This is necessary on account of technology replacement and advancements that are likely to occur," adds Hess.
“Ultimately,” concludes Hess, “for our businesses to be sustainable, we all need to ensure that our operations and practices become environmentally friendly. While there is a lot more that must be done, it is important for us to walk the talk. To this end, Telkom will also participate in this year’s Carbon Disclosure Project.”