Environmental Sustainability
ESG by design shapes how we develop and provide our products and services and handle our impact on the environment. This commitment is not limited to our own operations - we work across our value chain to create a more sustainable future, supporting our suppliers and customers to improve their ESG performance.
1. Ambitious Science-Based Targets
Becoming the sustainable supplier of choice is a key pillar of our ESG strategy.
As a large company with Global operations, we want to lead by example when working with our suppliers, partners, customers and communities to reduce our impact on the environment.
We have comprehensive, Near-Term and Long-Term Net Zero emissions targets approved by the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi). Our Long-Term Net Zero target has been approved in accordance with the SBTi Net Zero Standard.
You can take a look at our Carbon Reduction Plan here.
We are already in the decade which will define the global response to the ever-increasing threat of climate change. It is important to Colt that we set robust, long-term targets firmly rooted in science to enable us to help mitigate the risk this has to humanity and the planet. The Science-Based Targets Initiative is recognised globally as the best authority in this space.
The long-term nature of science-based targets ensures that we have a clear direction for our business as well as shifting our focus towards the development of innovative solutions and new opportunities to support the transition to a low carbon economy. We also want to build in resilience to our operations by moving beyond current regulation.
This is the future of business, and our customers can rest assured that we will continually work hard to drive down emissions across our entire value chain. We must all act together for the greater good of our planet.
Adopted in 2015, the Paris Agreement is the first-ever legally-binding climate change agreement.
It sets out a global framework to avoid dangerous climate change:
- Agree to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees
- Aim to limit the increase to 1.5 degrees since this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change
2. Our journey to net zero
In 2023, the SBTi approved our long-term net zero targets, in accordance with the SBTi Net Zero Standard.
Our decarbonisation strategy focuses on improving energy efficiency, investing in renewable energy, and transforming supply chain practices as we continue to reduce our environmental impact and decrease our GHG emissions.
In 2024, we continued to enhance our decarbonisation strategy by incorporating Lumen EMEA activities and maintaining our ambition in the fight against climate change. This included developing a robust plan to achieve our near- and long-term targets and map out the associated financial impacts. We plan to complete our carbon roadmap and financial model analysis in 2025.
Following the GHG Protocol best practices and Colt Group’s rebaseline policy, we performed a comprehensive rebaselining exercise to accurately account for our expanded operational footprint due to the acquisition of Lumen EMEA. In 2025, we have engaged with the SBTi to communicate the increase in our emissions following the acquisition and to ensure that our SBTs hereafter will be reflective of our current operation and structural changes.
Near-term target
Scope 1 & 2
A 47% absolute reduction by 2030 from a 2019 baseline (1.5°C aligned)
Scope 3
28% absolute reduction by 2030 from a 2019 baseline (well-below 2°C)
Long-term net zero target
Scope 1, 2 & 3
Colt Group commits to reduce absolute Scope 1, 2 & 3 GHG emissions by 90% by 2045 from a 2019 baseline year.
3. Our net zero initiatives
We're aiming to achieve 100% renewable electricity procurement for all Scope 2 electricity by acquiring Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) for all sites globally by 2030.
As of 2024, 94% of Colt’s Group Scope 2 electricity consumption is procured from renewable sources through the use of renewable energy certificates, a 16% increase in global Scope 2 renewable energy procurement from 2023.
We're also working to:
Transition to more sustainable fuels for use in on-site backup generators for data centres.
Reduce emissions from refrigerant leakages by improving detection systems and transitioning to low GWP refridgerants.
Reduce indirect emissions by finding alternatives to travel & encouraging colleagues to choose better travel options for the environment. We have set an internal cost of carbon (€13 per tonne of CO2e) to generate funding for investment in carbon removal initiatives. In 2025, we will conduct a review of the internal cost associated with corporate travel, with plans to implement cost increases.
Decommission legacy SDG/TDM networks. In 2024, we shut down 32 switches and retired over 6,500 SDH devices across Europe, saving 13.2 GWh of grid electricity annually.
Decarbonise the in-house fleet through electrification and commit to a 75% pure electric fleet by 2030, with an interim target of 38% by 2025, which we achieved by the end of 2024 when considering the Colt and Colt DCS fleet (excluding the Lumen EMEA fleet). When including the Lumen EMEA fleet, we ended 2024 with 30% of BEVs and 42% Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs).
Actively engage with our suppliers that represent 93% of our supply chain emissions. Through Colt Sustainability Schedule we request our suppliers to develop and implement a plan to reduce carbon emissions. We also request they set their own Science Based Target for Scope 1 and 2 emissions aligned with limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C within two years. In 2024, 56.8% of our supply chain emissions were from suppliers that have already set a SBT (or similar) or signed a Sustainability Schedule.
4. Innovating for a sustainable future
Our role as a digital infrastructure provider gives us a platform to accelerate sustainability transformations through innovation and the application of technological solutions, becoming the sustainable supplier of choice and helping customers improve their ESG performance.
We aim to advance our full value chain towards a more sustainable future by driving pioneering solutions and by creating a more agile, energy-efficient and modular digital infrastructure platform. Our innovation efforts steer cutting edge advancements, such as the ability to deliver on-demand solutions, reduce customer hardware requirements, and develop new smart building services, while continuing to lead in high-performance networking technology.
As our ESG strategy evolves, our product and operations teams collaborate with our ESG and marketing teams in a cross-functional forum to ensure the integration of sustainability across all aspects of our business.
Colt’s on-demand NaaS platform is a cloud-based service model that allows organisations to outsource their networking infrastructure instead of building and maintaining their own network components. By extending the efficiency of cloud business models to the networking domain, we enable our customers to reduce costs, increase business agility and significantly reduce the environmental impact of their IT infrastructure and operations.
Colt’s intent-based NaaS features, set to launch in 2025, introduce new advanced Software Defined Networking (SDN) microservices to deliver intelligent, user-friendly network management. Designed with sustainability at its core, the platform uses advanced software to help users control their network in an efficient and intent based way.
Colt is an industry leader in the use of Universal Customer Premise Equipment (uCPE) that consolidates functions such as routing, firewalls and edge computing onto a single hardware platform. When combined with software defined wide area networking (SD WAN), Network Function Virtualisation (NFV) and emerging technologies such as SASE, uCPE reduces the total amount of hardware deployed at customer locations, therefore reducing energy consumption and complexity while also improving security and customer agility to adopt new technologies without replacing hardware.
We piloted an award-winning Smart Buildings programme, an AI-driven sustainable building management platform that monitors, controls, and improves the performance of a building’s core systems (e.g., heating, ventilation and air conditioning), thereby reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions.
Colt teamed with Communications Infrastructure Networks (CIN) to create an edge compute pilot system called Street Edge, using Intel® architecture technology. Street Edge supports fibre connectivity and access to networking services, internet access, cloud-native edge servers for tenant applications, and space and power to accommodate up to three 4G/5G base stations. By processing data close to the source, edge computing minimises the energy consumption associated with long-distance data transmission.
The application of virtual Customer Premises Equipment (vCPE) and edge driven networks (EDN) also offers significant advantages over traditional CPE, such as reduced hardware requirements, reducing power, cooling and environmental impact.
5. Our progress against our 2019 baseline
In 2024, Colt’s Group total market-based carbon footprint was 352,635 tonnes of CO2e, a reduction of 35% in emissions compared to our baseline year 2019.
This is a reduction of 10% compared to the year prior. The emissions figures include the Lumen EMEA business which has been integrated into Colt Group’s carbon footprint through a rebaselining exercise.
As part of our carbon roadmap, we continue to focus on the decarbonisation of our value chain. In 2024, we have increased the percentage of renewable power that we procure by and have worked on increasing the accuracy of emissions related to our supply chain by incorporating more emissions-based data to replace some spend-based data.
Greenhouse gas emissions refer to the release of gases into the atmosphere that contribute to the greenhouse effect and global warming.
Our carbon footprint measures the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused both directly and indirectly by an organisation.
We have completed an extensive investigation into where emissions are created in Colt and also across our value chain.
6. Our achievements
We report our sustainability activities to standards organisations such as the CDP and EcoVadis.
Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)
Climate Change: In 2023, we received an A- from CDP for our outstanding environmental performance, positioning us within the leadership category for sustainability.
2024 CDP Score to be released.
EcoVadis
In 2024, we were awarded the EcoVadis platinum rating for the third consecutive year. This is the highest rating and places us in the top 1% with regards to how well we have integrated sustainability principles into our business and management systems. This year's ranking positions Colt in the 99th percentile, with an overall score of 81 out of 100 - an increase from 79 in 2023.
