Protecting the environment, improving energy efficiency and offering technological services and solutions capable of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other polluting agents, involving its employees in greentopics – these are the guidelines which the TIM strategy for the creation of a more inclusive and sustainable digital society is based on. TIM, with a renewed strategy for creating shared social value, wants to meet emerging social needs in an ever-improving manner – starting with its own business activities. As a responsible and innovative market leader, it wants to supply concrete solutions to the needs of the communities in which it operates.
Today, on “TIM Energy Day” – the initiative included in the events promoted by the European Commission for the Sustainable Energy Week (15th to 19th June 2015) – taking place in the TIM space at the EXPO, the main actions taken by the Group (the second largest user of electricity in the country) were recalled in the presence of Marco Patuano, CEO of Telecom Italia and Giuseppe Sala, EXPO2015 Sole Commissioner.
“Protection and respect for the environment is one of the most important challenges that society, at a global level, must face. TIM, a leader in innovation and an enabler for the future of our country, has been committed to these issues for a long time. Sustainability is an integral aspect of our company's way of doing business - said Marco Patuano, Telecom Italia Chief Executive Officer. The contribution that TIM can make to the relaunch of Italy's economy goes beyond the construction of latest generation network infrastructure and internal efficiency, and aims at providing innovative technologies with positive environmental, social and economic impacts for the community”.
TIM is fighting against climate change by reducing its own emissions on one hand, and offering its own customers efficient products, dematerialisation services and innovative services on the other. In terms of sustainability, the company has constantly been developing initiatives aimed at reducing the impact of its services and teaching a “sustainable” lifestyle, using a wide range of "green" solutions to reduce energy consumption, cut down CO2 emissions and improve quality of life of citizens; from cloud computing and Data Centers, to ICT platforms for small and medium-sized enterprises.
In particular, the initiatives performed involve the introduction of more than 300,000 low consumption LED lights in common areas, and an efficient increase in energy production for local self-consumption, to reduce company electricity consumption and emissions. The most important project is focused on the Telecom Italia Surveillance Center in Rome – a cutting-edge technological centre which helps to correctly manage available resources. Thanks to around 30,000 sensors located within exchanges, mobile radio stations and offices, the Surveillance Center will constantly monitor TIM’s consumption, to locate areas for improvement and offer innovative energy-saving solutions.
Currently, all the energy collected by the electricity grid and consumed by the Group is guaranteed to be from renewable sources, allowing a 70% reduction of CO2 emissions thanks to the Agreement on the Guarantees of Origin signed with A2A for the first Energy Day in 2014.
Over the last two years, White Certificates were awarded for 28 innovative TIM projects which allowed an annual energy-saving of around 50,000 TOE (Tonne of Oil Equivalent) and an estimated income in economic terms of around 44 million euros in five years.
TIM’s international leadership in energy efficiency was also recognised due to its participation in the European Code of Conduct regarding Broadband and Data Centers, of which it was one of the first signatories.
TIM is also proceeding with the technological modernisation of plants and network platforms, which improve efficiency in data transmission. Over the last 10 years, TIM has managed to improve its efficiency in data transport by 25 times (in 2003 with one joule around 140 bits were transported, in 2014 around 3500). A further increase of more than 30% in terms of eco-efficiency is expected for 2015.
In the field of experimentation TIM is the only telecommunications operator in Italy which has used Solarcooling - innovative technology which, using a heat source, produces cold in the form of chilled water or air conditioning - applying it to a telecommunications exchange in Canicattì (AG), leading to an energy saving of 70%, predisposing it for future use in five other plants in Sicily.
At EXPO, TIM, the first company chosen as an “Official Global Partner”, gave life to the first Italian Digital Smart City, giving the exposition site latest generation fixed and mobile ultrabroadband connectivity, through the laying of more than 300 km of fibre-optic cable and installation of six macro 4G LTE antennas and 12 micro antennas, providing the connectivity for more than 100 buildings.
Just next to the EXPO site, TIM is experimenting with small wind turbines using 4 turbines, which produce a total of 12kW, placed on the Torre di Pero for the energy self-production that could be replicated by the company on network structures. Thanks to its data centers, TIM has allowed the event to be managed completely using cloud technologies, providing the company and its partner businesses with over 450 virtual and physical servers, 100 terabytes of storage and more than 90 applications and web sites.
TIM has also implemented the technological platform that is the cornerstone of the Command and Control Centre (EC3) on via Drago, the heart of the Expo 2015 Smart City. Based on an innovative approach to integrating all technologies and correlating information processed with Big Data logic, the platform allows Expo Milano 2015 to manage the control room and to coordinate and track all technological, logistical and public safety processes during the event.
In the sphere of sustainability, Telecom Italia is positioning itself as an industry leader at a European and global level within the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, as well as confirming its presence in the FTSE4Good (Global and Europe) Index, and was included for the first time in the Carbon Disclosure Project Italy 100 Climate Disclosure Leadership Index. The 2014 Sustainability Report, following the guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative, has obtained the G4 Comprehensive level, the most complete and significant result that can be obtained in terms of breadth, clarity and depth of information supplied to stakeholders.
Rome, 18 June 2015
