Greenpeace [a non-governmental environmental organisation] on Wednesday urged the government not to provide subsidised diesel to profit-making telecom sector for running mobile towers, and force them to shift to greener energy solutions like solar-powered towers to check pollution being emitted from generators which are used to run around four lakh towers across the country.
Releasing its report – ‘Dirty talking: A case for telecom to shift from diesel to renewable'– the global NGO said that the diesel consumed for running telecom towers was causing an estimated loss of Rs.2,600 crore annually to the government in the form of subsidy.
The report says that a subsidy of Rs.7 to Rs.11 per litre on diesel reduces the cost of the fuel by around 21 per cent, allowing it to be sold at a lower price primarily for the transportation of essential goods, public transport and agriculture. Due to the absence of dual or differential pricing of diesel (so that the benefit of subsidy could be passed on to farm or transport sector), mobile operators have aggressively exploited it, as the sector's consumption of diesel has grown to 300 crore litres by the end of 2010-11.
Pointing out that the telecom sector emitted over 5.6 m tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2008 and is growing rapidly due to the sector's rapid growth, Greenpeace India's senior campaigner (Climate and Energy) Abhishek Pratap said: “For telecom operators, there is a robust case to switch to renewable energy. The government should not give subsidy to telecom companies on diesel. Subsidy makes sense if it is given to poor people of the country.”
Mr. Pratap said the telecom sector spends Rs.12,600 crore annually on diesel fuel and if the subsidy is removed, this would go to Rs.15,200 crore. “It is estimated that an investment of Rs.1.51-lakh crore will be needed to power the entire telecom towers in the country. But shifting to renewable technologies will result in a close to 300 per cent reduction in total costs for telecom operators, in comparison to a diesel generator-based tower over 10 years,” he said.
Alleging that the Indian mobile operators were hiding facts on their carbon emission footprint and were not serious towards environment conservation, Greenpeace India climate and energy campaigner and the report's co-author, Mrinmoy Chattoraj said that considering the rapid growth of Indian telecom sector, it would require 26 billion kilowatt of electricity and 3 billion litres of diesel by 2012, which will enhance carbon emission from the country to significant level.
“The telecom sector can become a transformative force by adopting renewable energy for their business operations and advocating economy wide climate and energy solutions. It is well positioned to transit to a low-carbon growth trajectory. They must use their influence to promote policies that will allow them to grow responsibly without helping to fuel climate change,” he added.
